Several Filipino guest workers have filed a class action lawsuit in the United States against an American company. They worked for the company as part of the preparations for the FIFA World Cup in Qatar in 2022.
Almost 40 people jointly filed a lawsuit with the federal court in Denver, Colorado, through a law firm on Thursday a lawsuit. They accuse the American construction company Jacobs Solutions Inc of subjecting them to dangerous and inhumane conditions during work in Qatar, as reported by the Reuters news agency and the NBC broadcaster.
Jacobs and several of the company’s subsidiaries that oversaw the construction projects forced workers to live in cramped, dirty barracks and work in the heat for up to 72 hours at a time without food or water, according to the indictment. The workers also report unpaid wages and confiscated passports. This meant they could neither change employers nor travel home.
Law firm: “The lawsuit is the result of a comprehensive investigation”
Jacobs knew or should have known about human rights violations in Qatar, but made a conscious decision to exploit workers, the lawsuit says. The company and its subsidiaries are accused of violating a U.S. law that prohibits human trafficking or forced labor, even if the alleged conduct occurs outside the United States. The workers are now demanding compensation.
“This lawsuit is the result of a comprehensive international investigation into labor rights violations during construction of the World Cup in Qatar,” attorney Eli J. Kay-Oliphant of the law firm Sparacino PLLC told NBC. “We believe these workers were exploited during the construction of the stadiums. We are proud to stand up for them and help them get their rights.”
Numerous Human rights violations documented in Qatar
Qatar was criticized during the 2022 World Cup primarily because of its treatment of guest workers. Massive human rights violations were documented during the construction of the stadiums and other infrastructure for the World Cup. There were repeated discussions about the death toll. According to Qatar statistics, more than 15,000 people of non-Qatari nationality have died since the 2010 World Cup. How many of the victims were connected to World Cup projects was not published. According to FIFA, only three workers died explicitly as a result of work-related accidents during stadium construction.
FIFA under President Gianni Infantino and Qatar repeatedly referred to improvements and reforms. There is talk of a minimum wage, the possibility of changing employers, or abolishing the kafala system. In the Kafala system, the employer can exercise extremely strong control over the guest workers. However, human rights organizations repeatedly criticize that these reforms sometimes only exist on paper and are hardly or not at all implemented in practice.