BARTLETT, Ill. (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- A Hindu temple in the northwest suburbs has been added to a lawsuit that accuses an organization of human trafficking.
Workers from several Hindu temples in northwest suburban Bartlett including the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir as well as California, Texas and Georgia allege in a lawsuit they have been exploited at those temples, according to the Associated Press.
The original lawsuit was from workers at a temple in Robinsville, N.J. They claim they are forced to work for a $1.20 per day.
"At the Robbinsville temple and elsewhere, the defendants intentionally caused the workers to reasonably believe that if they tried to leave their work and the temple compounds, they would suffer physical restraint and serious harm," the lawsuit claims.
The temples named in the lawsuit are all affiliated with Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, also known as BAPS, a corporation registered in Delaware with offices in Piscataway, N.J. as well.
The workers said they're from marginalized communities in India and are being paid well below minimum wage, are not allowed to have their passports, and sleep in large halls on temple grounds that are monitored by security guards.
An emailed response from a lawyer for the BAPS does not address the major allegations and refers to those workers as "artisans who volunteered" and said that government officials regularly visit all the construction projects which they worked on.
