Qatar World Cup Stadium Workers Advance US Forced Labor Lawsuit

Filipino laborers who say companies involved in building Qatar’s FIFA World Cup facilities forced them to work up to 72 hours straight can pursue some of their trafficking allegations, a federal magistrate judge said.

The workers sufficiently pleaded the company defendants took part in a venture that harmed them through forced labor, and that portion of the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act applies beyond US borders, the US district court for the District of Colorado said. But there’s no personal jurisdiction over two of the five defendants, the Thursday opinion added.

A Qatari government committee picked CH2M Hill Companies Ltd., CH2M Hill International Ltd., and CH2M HILL International BV to manage soccer stadium construction for the 2022 World Cup. Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. acquired CH2M and took on those responsibilities, hiring contractors for the actual construction. Those contractors brought in Filipino workers to build stadiums between 2012 and 2021.

Widespread reporting detailed the kafala sponsorship system that allowed Qatari employers significant control over migrant workers and the harsh conditions—including deaths—that ensued. The board of Jacobs Solutions Inc., which took over Jacobs Engineering, faces ongoing litigation from investors who say it looked the other way while workers suffered.

The companies said that the workers lacked standing to sue them, arguing that their conduct didn’t cause the forced labor. But Congress has “made explicit its judgment that persons like the plaintiffs ought to have standing to sue” under the TVPRA, Magistrate Judge Cyrus Y. Chung said. The harm alleged “is fairly traceable to the defendants,” Chung added.

Two CH2M defendants headquartered in Colorado, and employees at Jacobs Engineering aided stadium construction from Colorado, Chung said. But there’s no personal jurisdiction over Jacobs Solutions or CH2M BV, dooming claims against them in Colorado, the opinion said.

The companies argued that the TVPRA can’t reach conduct in Qatar. But Congress extended the law’s reach outside the US, “though not quite as far as the plaintiffs claim,” Chung said. The magistrate judge dismissed allegations under one section of the law for lack of extraterritorial reach.

The defendants said the remaining TVPRA claims weren’t well-pleaded and should fail for that reason. But the workers sufficiently alleged that the companies participated in a venture to build stadiums and knowingly benefited from it to the tune of $50 million, Chung said. They also properly pleaded that employers in Qatar took the workers’ passports, housed them in inhumane conditions, and repeatedly made them work overtime, the opinion said.

The workers pointed to numerous media reports of construction site conditions, so they sufficiently alleged the companies’ knowledge or reckless disregard of forced labor, Chung said. They also alleged that the companies’ oversight role would have made them aware of labor abuses, according to the opinion.

Olson Grimsley Kawanabe Hinchcliff & Murray LLC and Sparacino PLLC represent the workers. Debevoise & Plimpton LLP and Wheeler Trigg O’Donnell LLP represent the companies.

The case is F.C. v. Jacobs Sols. Inc., 2025 BL 222532, D. Colo., No. 1:23-cv-02660, partial dismissal 6/26/25.