Indian workers who built US Hindu temple file suit alleging abuse

The complaint, filed in the US District Court in Newark, New Jersey, on behalf of more than 200 Indian construction workers, alleges ‘shocking violations of the most basic laws applicable to workers in this country, including laws prohibiting forced labour.’

Hundreds of marginalised workers from India were recruited to build a massive Hindu temple in New Jersey where they were forced to work long hours for low pay in violation of United States labour and immigration laws, according to lawsuit filed on Tuesday. The complaint, filed in the US District Court in Newark on behalf of more than 200 Indian construction workers at the temple, alleges “shocking violations of the most basic laws applicable to workers in this country, including laws prohibiting forced labour.” The suit, filed by five of the workers, accuses their employer, Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, or BAPS, and related entities of recruiting them in India, bringing them to the United States and forcing them to work on the temple for more than 87 hours a week for $450 a month, or about $1.20 an hour.