I live nearby. It was built by slave labor and human trafficking.
Simultaneously with the FBI's raid on the temple, a sensational lawsuit was lodged in a New Jersey federal court. The suit accused the BAPS Robbinsville leadership of enticing workers from India and making them work close to 90 hours weekly, compensating them at approximately $1.20 per hour.
This article said workers were flown in on missionary visas, confined to small trailers, and were forced to work 90 hour weeks for around $450/mo.
Construction on two locations was halted after DOL investigation confirmed workers were paid cash and the company has no workers compensation insurance.
The lawsuit said the men’s passports had been confiscated, and they were confined to the fenced-in and guarded site, where they were forbidden from talking to visitors and religious volunteers. They subsisted on a bland diet of lentils and potatoes, and their pay was docked for minor violations, such as being seen without a helmet, according to the claim.
It gets worse. A 15-year-old volunteer from Pennsylvania lost their life in 2017 while helping to build this. I had friends who went to school with him and was told they lacked proper safety equipment. It’s a shame; if he were still alive, he would have graduated college about now.
cobracommander00 on April 27th, 2024 at 01:42 UTC »
Fuck this place.
I live nearby. It was built by slave labor and human trafficking.
Simultaneously with the FBI's raid on the temple, a sensational lawsuit was lodged in a New Jersey federal court. The suit accused the BAPS Robbinsville leadership of enticing workers from India and making them work close to 90 hours weekly, compensating them at approximately $1.20 per hour.
DylanHate on April 27th, 2024 at 03:28 UTC »
This article said workers were flown in on missionary visas, confined to small trailers, and were forced to work 90 hour weeks for around $450/mo.
Construction on two locations was halted after DOL investigation confirmed workers were paid cash and the company has no workers compensation insurance.
Source - NYT, 2021
I don’t understand how these people don’t go to prison for human trafficking.
Naive_Insurance on April 27th, 2024 at 06:01 UTC »
It gets worse. A 15-year-old volunteer from Pennsylvania lost their life in 2017 while helping to build this. I had friends who went to school with him and was told they lacked proper safety equipment. It’s a shame; if he were still alive, he would have graduated college about now.