Worker broke a leg on the job and reported it. His boss helped ICE arrest him, feds say
When a construction worker reported falling off of a ladder and breaking his leg while on the job, his boss “retaliated” — resulting in the worker’s arrest by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement in Massachusetts, federal labor officials said.
The worker, who experienced “anxiety, lack of sleep, and physical pain” while in the custody of ICE, was arrested in front of his young son in May of 2017, according to a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Labor.
His employer, the CEO of Tara Construction, Inc., had police look into him after his reported injury led to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration launching an investigation into the company, a June 22 Labor Department news release said.
A Massachusetts federal jury found that the CEO, Pedro Pirez, and his company unlawfully retaliated against the worker who has been awarded $650,000 in damages that Pirez and the company must pay, according to the release.
OSHA “prohibits employers from retaliating against employees….regardless of the employees’ immigration status,” OSHA’s Regional Administrator in Boston, Galen Blanton, said in a statement.
An attorney for Pirez, Daniel Dwyer, told McClatchy News in a statement that there are “strong legal grounds for overturning the verdict” and Pirez and his company “are considering an appeal” after he was “misjudged” by the jury.
In May 2017, a complaint was filed with OSHA on behalf of the worker after he suffered a broken leg falling from a ladder while working for Tara Construction in March of that year, according to the lawsuit’s complaint.
As OSHA was investigating the company, Pirez is accused of contacting a Boston Police detective and asking him “to look into (the worker’s) identity” and gave the detective some “identifying documents,” the complaint said.
Afterward, the detective reached out to an individual who worked for a joint ICE/Boston Police Department task force, according to the complaint. Then, this person began communicating with Pirez.
Pirez is accused of telling the ICE officer he was meeting with the worker at his office and that “he had no problem” if ICE came and detained him, the complaint said. After the worker met with Pirez and drove away with his young son in the car, he was stopped and detained by ICE on May 10, 2017.
Dwyer told McClatchy News that “Pirez arrived as an immigrant from Cuba owning nothing, and he cares deeply for people in (the worker’s) situation.”
“Mr. Pirez unionized his own company, has employed thousands of immigrants, and has always treated injured workers with compassion and generosity.”
Dwyer added that at the time, a hospital asked Pirez about the worker’s “real name” and that he “was altogether within his rights to inquire” about it. “He never foresaw where his inquiry would go from there.”
“Later, ICE learned information on its own that led to its decision to arrest. Pedro Pirez was tragically caught up in it all.”
Meanwhile, Blanton said that the jury’s verdict “sends a strong message to employers that there will be severe consequences when they violate the law and employee rights.”
As of February, 2018, the worker was authorized to work in the U.S., the complaint said. He began working a new position in April 2018.
This story was originally published June 24, 2022 at 4:09 PM with the headline "Worker broke a leg on the job and reported it. His boss helped ICE arrest him, feds say."
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