Welcome to CPR's first- and only-of-its-kind Crimes Against Workers Database. Here you’ll find detailed information about state criminal cases and grassroots advocacy campaigns against employers responsible for crimes against workers – leaving them dead, maimed, seriously injured or sick, or robbing them of some or all of their paychecks. You'll also find links to Google Drive folders with source materials. Search using the tools below.
You can also help us grow the database. We plan to expand the database as we discover new cases and gather new information and materials. You can help us by notifying us of new incidents or additional information about incidents already in the database. To let us know about an incident, contact CPR Senior Policy Analyst Marcha Isabelle Chaudry.
Disclaimer: Before you begin your search below, please review the database terms and conditions.
Showing 127 results
Wage Theft | New York | January 1, 2018
Between 2014 and 2018, the owner of Laser Electrical Contracting Inc., Jagdeep Deol, pocketed $1.5 million that should have been paid to his employees. Deol’s company secured contracts with the New York City School Construction Authority and the New York City Department of Education, but paid his employees substantially less than the prevailing wage for […]
Fall | Ohio | November 4, 2017
Gerardo ‘Jerry’ Juarez died on his second day on the job when he fell from the roof of a three-story apartment complex upon which he was working without fall protection. According to OSHA, Juarez slipped on the damp cedar roof, slid to the edge, rolled over a jack board, and fell 25 feet to the […]
Fall, Wage Theft | New York | September 21, 2017
Juan Chonillo fell 29 stories from a condominium building under construction. He fell while working on a scaffolding system. A foreman of SSC High Rise, Inc. directed employees to move the scaffolding system using a crane while workers, including Chonillo, were still on the platform. The investigation into Chonillo’s fatal fall uncovered that the company […]
Fire | Maryland | September 10, 2017
Daniel Beckwitt, a millionaire day trader, feared a possible missile attack from North Korea, so he hired Askia Khafra in 2017 to help him dig a network of tunnels 20 feet deep and spanning roughly 200 feet in three directions under his property in Bethesda, Maryland. An electrical fire broke out in Beckwitt’s basement while […]
Wage Theft | New York | September 1, 2017
The company failed to pay nearly 29 workers approximately $90,000 in wages.
Burned | Florida | June 29, 2017
Underneath the furnaces at a coal-fired power plant were water-filled tanks designed to catch and cool the molten “slag” — a by-product that drips down from the furnace. On the day of the incident, hardened slag had accumulated at the top and bottom of the tank. Rather than shutting down the furnace, the company called […]
Trafficking | Minnesota | January 1, 2017
Batres brought workers to Minnesota and threatened to report them to immigration officials if they raised complaints about dangerous workign conditions or underpayment of wages. He threatened workers who had been injured that they would be deported if they sought medical attention. One of the workers suffered from spinal fractures after a prefab wall fell […]
Wage Theft | New York | January 1, 2017
Defendants stole approximately $39,000 from 6 workers. In addition to failing to pay workers properly, the defendants also failed to contribute to the Unemployment Insurance Fund during the second, third, and fourth quarters of 2016.
Suicide | Missouri | December 21, 2016
Suttner committed suicide by shooting himself outside of his family’s home. The manager of the Dairy Queen, Harley Branham, where Suttner was employed had harrassed him over the course of several months leading up to his death. An investigation was requested by the local coroner, and a coroner’s inquest was conducted. Jurors empaneled to hear […]