More than three-dozen Filipino workers who helped build stadiums for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar have filed a lawsuit against Jacobs Solutions Inc. alleging they were trafficked and forced to work on the project under grueling conditions. Jacobs subsidiary CH2M Hill Cos. managed the multibillion-dollar project, which included construction of seven stadiums, upgrades to one other stadium and related infrastructure work.
The 38 workers, identified only by their initials in the complaint filed in federal court in Denver, say their passports were confiscated after arriving in Qatar, preventing them from leaving the country. Once there, they say they were in some cases made to work 24 hours or longer straight and denied promised pay while living in squalid conditions.