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
Crushed | California | November 21, 2016
Hua Quing Ruan, a forklift operator, was killed when the forklift he was operating tipped over at the bottom of a ramp leading from the company’s loading dock. Ruan was descending the ramp with a bag of mortar mix on a wooden pallet to load into a customer’s car. The bag fell off and blocked […]
Trench Collapse | Massachusetts | October 21, 2016
Two construction workers drowned while working in a 14 feet deep unshored trench when the trench collapsed, burying the workers up to their waist in dirt. A fire hydrant supported by the collapsed dirt was suspended by its water line, which snapped, and filled the trench with water in seconds. Firefighters spent hours digging through […]
Caught in Machine | New York | May 4, 2016
Justus Booze was killed when he was pulled into a wood chipper. It was his first day of work and he was helping to remove large trees and brush from a residential lot. The owner of Countryside, Tony Watson, did not offer any training to workers about the hazards of getting caught in a wood […]
Crushed | California | January 28, 2016
An unqualified LC employee lost control while operating a steamroller and ran over the victim, Maurilio Rojas. Rojas’s body was crushed, and he later died at the hospital.
Trench Collapse | Washington | January 26, 2016
Harold Felton was killed when the walls of a 7 feet deep by 2 feet wide trench he was working in collapsed and buried him. He was working for Alki Construction, owned by Phillip Numrich. Alki Construction had been hired to replace a sewer line. The trench had partial shoring, but the unshored portion of […]
Wage Theft | New York | January 1, 2016
An investigation conducted by New York Attorney General Letitia James found that between 2016 and 2019, Gotham Pizza and its owner Michael Shamailov knowingly and intentionally failed to pay at least 10 employees proper minimum wages, overtime pay, and tips at its three locations in Manhattan. The investigation found that workers were paid under the […]
Wage Theft | New York | November 26, 2015
Defendants stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from their employees by underpaying them for work performed at a construction project in Brooklyn.
Wage Theft | New York | November 16, 2015
The defendants did not pay 300 current and former workers at nine Papa John’s franchise establishments the legally required overtime pay. They paid overtime hours in cash and created fake names for the employees in the timekeeping system to get around paying overtime pay. They filed fraudulent tax returns that left off the cash payments […]
Wage Theft | New York | October 21, 2015
Defendants stole more than $90,000 from at least six workers.