Hundreds of Lawsuits Have Been Filed Against Donald Trump Alleging That He Doesn’t Pay His Workers

By Lily Lou  |  June 10, 2016 | 3:10pm
Photo by Andrew Renneisen/Getty
Politics News Donald Trump

Republican presidential nominee and popular face to use for memes Donald Trump has been facing hundreds of lawsuits over not paying his employees. USA Today reports that “at least 60 lawsuits, along with hundreds of liens, judgments and other government filings reviewed by the USA TODAY NETWORK, document people who have accused Trump and his businesses of failing to pay them for their work.” Many of the people involved have gone bankrupt from legal fees or have been forced to give up or settle their cases because Trump had allegedly been extending the timeframes of the suits.

One case involved the Edward J. Friel Company, which was hired to build cabinets at a casino in Trump Plaza for $400,000 during the 1980s. However, Trump did not pay $83,600 and still has not paid that amount to the company. The company later filed for bankruptcy in 1989 because of overwhelming legal fees.

The latest case took place in May, when Trump Miami Resort Management LLC settled a dispute with 48 workers for not paying them overtime. Initially, Trump claimed that a contractor hired the workers, and he counter-sued the contractor demanding payment. In the past, Trump faced other cases similar to this, including accusations that Trump’s businesses did not let workers take breaks and did not give tips to servers. According to U.S. Department of Labor data, Trump’s businesses have violated the Fair Labor Standards Act 24 times since 2005 for not paying workers overtime or minimum wage.

In an interview with USA TODAY, Trump and his daughter Ivanka responded to these claims by saying that those companies or workers were not paid in full because they were unhappy with the work.

“Let’s say that they do a job that’s not good, or a job that they didn’t finish, or a job that was way late. I’ll deduct from their contract, absolutely,” Trump said. “That’s what the country should be doing.”

However, Trump noted to the Friels that they could be rehired to work on future Trump projects, despite calling their work inferior.

In one case against Trump, Juan Carlos Enriquez, owner of The Paint Spot, filed a lien and later a lawsuit against Trump for not getting paid for painting the Trump National Doral Miami resort. In the suit, the judge ordered Trump’s Doral resort to be foreclosed, sold and to have proceeds pay Enriquez. Two years later, Enriquez still hasn’t been paid.

Trump is also currently being sued over his for-profit institution, Trump University. Maybe Hispanic judges aren’t the only ones against him anymore.

 
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