The Wall Street Journal reported on a lawsuit filed on October 12, 2023, by Sparacino PLLC and its co-counsel, Olson Grimsley Kawanabe Hinchcliff & Murray, against Jacobs Solutions and its subsidiaries.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of more than three dozen Filipino workers who helped build the multibillion-dollar stadiums hosting last year’s World Cup in Qatar, alleges Jacobs Solutions and its subsidiaries, in their role overseeing and managing construction of those stadiums, knew or should have known that the workers were routinely exploited, abused, and denied humane living and working conditions.
As alleged, workers suffered a litany of abuses: passports were confiscated, preventing them from leaving the country or changing jobs; some were forced to work more than 36 hours straight; many were routinely forced to work overtime, for which they were not compensated; they were not provided adequate food, water, or rest, despite the scorching heat of Qatar’s summers; and they were forced to live in cramped, dirty housing barracks.
The lawsuit also alleges that Jacobs is liable under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act because while it profited handsomely from the World Cup construction venture, those profits were extracted from the workers’ forced labor.