Study Finds Federal Contracts Given to Flagrant Violators of Labor Laws
Tens of billions of dollars in federal contracts have gone to dozens of companies who have over 100 violations of wage and safety laws and paid millions in fines, as found by a new congressional report. The violations took place between 2007 and 2012 and involved contracts as large as $94.8 million. A few of the contractors, like Imperial Sugar, were found to have had unsafe workplaces that have led to over a dozen workers being killed in a single incident. The report cites one year in which 49 of the companies received over $81 billion in federal dollars, but were convicted of 1,776 separate violations and paid approximately $196 million in fines for violating labor laws. The report signals, among other things, a lack of coordination between federal agencies and a lack of measures to be taken to keep violators from receiving future taxpayer dollars.
See "Study Finds Federal Contracts Given to Flagrant Violators of Labor Laws", Steven Greenhouse, The New York Times, December 10, 2013