Karma For KBR???

[DeSwiss]

Iraq contractor fights suit over toxic exposure
Tax loophole may subject construction firm to damages

Boston Globe
By Farah Stockman
March 25, 2008

WASHINGTON - When the American team arrived in Iraq in the summer of 2003 to repair the Qarmat Ali water injection plant, supervisors told them the orange, sand-like substance strewn around the looted facility was just a "mild irritant," workers recall. Edward Blacke, a safety representative on the project, said he tried to raise safety concerns but was told not to get involved. The workers got it on their hands and clothing every day while racing for 2 1/2 months to meet a deadline to get the plant, a crucial part of Iraq's oil infrastructure, up and running.

But the chemical turned out to be sodium dichromate, a substance so dangerous that even limited exposure greatly increases the risk of cancer. Soon, many of the 22 Americans and 100-plus Iraqis began to complain of nosebleeds, ulcers, and shortness of breath. Within weeks, nearly 60 percent exhibited symptoms of exposure, according to the minutes of a meeting of project managers from KBR, the Houston-based construction company in charge of the repairs.

Now, nine Americans are accusing KBR, then a subsidiary of the oil conglomerate Halliburton, of knowingly exposing them to the deadly substance and failing to provide them with the protective equipment needed to keep them safe. But the workers, like all employees injured in Iraq, face an uphill struggle in their quest for damages. Under a World War II-era federal workers compensation law, employers are generally protected from employee lawsuits, except in rare cases in which it can be proven that the company intentionally harmed its employees or committed outright fraud.

KBR is citing the law, called the Defense Base Act, as grounds to reject the workers' request for damages. But the company's own actions have undermined its case: To avoid payroll taxes for its American employees, KBR hired the workers through two subsidiaries registered in the Cayman Islands, part of a strategy that has allowed KBR to dodge hundreds of millions of dollars in Social Security and Medicare taxes.

That gives the workers' lawyer, Mike Doyle of Houston, a chance to argue to an arbitration board that KBR is not an employer protected by federal law, but a third-party that can be sued.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/03/25/iraq_contractor_fights_suit_over_toxic_exposure/?page=1">MORE

- Oops, don't tell me that they left a loophole opened??? This whole criminal outfit needs dismantling. And prison.....
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DeSwiss


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on edit: correct letter style (bold)

[Eric J in MN]

1. Really strange. You can't sue your employer for your workplace injuries overseas...

...but you can sue a third party, which in this case is similar to an employer.

It would be nice if we had enough Democrats in power to return to the idea of workers' rights.

[DeSwiss]

3. Worker's rights as a concept, officially ended when Reagan.....

....broke the Air Traffic Controllers Union. Now its more like every man/woman for him/herself.

- Still, I hope they can sue them down to their drawers...

[varelse]

2. Ah, more of our tax $$ at work

rebuilding the uhhh Iraqi infrastructure... of course it's about OIL and not hospitals, schools, roads, and public water supply. It doesn't surprise me that these people don't care about their contract workers - they're funded by our money stolen by sociopaths who don't care about anything but their own greed and lust for power. This story exposes more than one kind of sickness :'(

[DeSwiss]

4. The irony here....

...aside from the decrepit water systems we're still having to use here at home, is that Iraq still doesn't have water. And according to this article they started "fixing it" in 2003 when these injuries occurred.

- Turns out they were injured for nothing. Like so much else in this war. All for nothing....

[varelse]

6. *sigh* they weren't there to rebuild water systems for people :'(

The workers got it on their hands and clothing every day while racing for 2 1/2 months to meet a deadline to get the plant, a crucial part of Iraq's oil infrastructure, up and running.

I'd try to type more but I'm well into outrage overload atm :grr:

Thank you for posting this - it's the kind of ammunition we need to fight the war on self-induced ignorance here in the states.

[DeSwiss]

8. And thanks for clearing that up....

...because I read "water injection plant" and assumed it meant for the water supply.

But that's almost even worse. Not only were they fixing the water injection system to get at the oil, but they decided to do that BEFORE the people had potable water. And it looks like they didn't get either one fixed.

:grr: These oil profiteers should all be imprisoned....

[Eric J in MN]

5. Good point about the tax dollars.

Even if Congress can't bring itself to require all US companies operating overseas to have decent standards, AT LEAST Congress should require that US companies paid with our money have decent standards.

For example, any company with mandatory arbitration agreements (which KBR says means a woman gang-raped by her fellow KBR employees can't sue) should NOT receive our tax dollars.

[DeSwiss]

7. Excellant point.

Makes you wonder why none of our elected officials have never said that....

[goforit]

9. Well, under what jurisdiction would this take place. Iraq? US?

KBR has a get out of jail-free card.

[Mnemosyne]

10. Jurisdiction of Fallujah, everyone there paid dearly. n/t

[DeSwiss]

11. Paraguay???