Seven Gold Mantis workers sue for injuries at worksite

Seven construction workers from China is suing Gold Mantis Construction Decoration (CNMI) LLC in federal court over injuries that they allegedly sustained at the casino worksite of Imperial Pacific Resort.

The men, who allegedly paid large fees on promises of high-paying construction jobs on Saipan, were hired by Gold Mantis, which reportedly had a $160-million agreement to build the Imperial Pacific International (CNMI) Ltd.’s casino project in Garapan. They were allegedly forced to work for long hours for below minimum wage under extremely dangerous conditions.

Tianming Wang, Dong Han, Yongjun Meng, Liangcai Sun, Youli Wang, Qingchun Xu, and Duxin Yang, through counsel Bruce Berline, sued Gold Mantis last Monday for alleged negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

The seven asked the U.S. District Court for the NMI to hold Gold Mantis liable to pay them damages in an amount to be proven at trial. They demanded a jury trial.

Saipan Tribune was still trying to obtain comments from Gold Mantis as of press time yesterday.

The plaintiffs were allegedly among the Gold Mantis employees who staged numerous protests against the company in 2017 over unpaid wages.

Gold Mantis reportedly reached a settlement with the U.S. Department of Labor in which it agreed to pay millions of dollars for wage violations that occurred during these workers’ employment.

According to the complaint, Tianming Wang, Dong Han, Yongjun Meng, Qingchun Xu, and Liangcai Sun began working for Gold Mantis on the casino worksite in January or February 2017. Youli Wang and Duxin Yang began working for Gold Mantis in November and December 2016, respectively.

After learning of the plaintiffs’ injuries during separate accidents at the casino project worksite, Gold Mantis allegedly refused to take them to the hospital’s emergency room, call for emergency medical assistance, or arrange any other form of medical attention.

Berline said Gold Mantis never compensated the plaintiffs for their injuries, and never provided them with any pay for the time that they were unable to work.

In Tianming Wang’s case, Berline said that, in the evening of March 17, 2017, the plaintiff was cutting a long piece of metal with a torch at the construction site.

Berline said the sparks produced by Wang’s cutting work ignited a substance in a nearby overturned barrel. The substance in the barrel exploded and a flame shot out of the barrel, engulfing Wang’s lower left leg.

The fire and explosion incinerated Wang’s pant leg and caused burns on his lower left leg.

Berline said Gold Mantis officials told Wang that, because he was working on Saipan illegally, he could be arrested if he went to the hospital.

Instead of arranging any form of medical attention, Berline said, Gold Mantis transported the worker back to the dormitory and left him to tend to his injuries himself.

Wang was unable to work after his injury. He allegedly spent hundreds of dollars of his own money to purchase medication to address his injury and pain.

In Dong Han’s case, on March 17, 2017, he was loading heavy metal pipes with other workers when the stack of pipes shifted.

The pipes crushed Han’s pinky on his right hand, causing severe pain, swelling, and bruising. Hang was allegedly unable to work for some time after.

With respect to Yongjun Meng’s situation, he was allegedly recruited as a construction worker, but Gold Mantis transferred him to kitchen duty in February 2017. Berline said Meng was not provided with any training for this new position.

In March 2017, Meng and two other kitchen workers were loading a vat of soup onto a vehicle for transport to the construction site. As the workers were lifting the vat into the vehicle, the hot soup allegedly spilled onto Meng, causing severe burns to his left hand and left leg.

Gold Mantis allegedly told Meng not to go to the hospital because of his undocumented status.

Meng went to a clinic, where he was given medicine for the burn. He allegedly purchased a cream from a supermarket to ease his pain on multiple occasions, costing him hundreds of dollars.

Berline said Meng was unable to work for months after his injury due to the pain.

As for Qingchun Xu’s claim, he was allegedly required to work a shift lasting a full day on several occasions and then return to work roughly eight hours later. On March 30, 2017, Xu was working at the casino worksite, moving heavy pieces of stone. Xu and another worker were using ropes to lift a piece of stone up the stairs. However, the stone was too heavy and fell onto Xu’s left lower leg.

Berline said Xu went to a small medical clinic on his own and paid for the costs himself.

In Liangcai Sun’s case, on Jan. 26, 2017, while working in what is now the lobby of the casino, he and another employee were transporting large heavy boxes when one of the box fell onto Sun’s left hand, smashing his index finger. The injury caused a partial amputation of his finger.

Berline said the company’s supervisor instead told Sun to go home and rest. Sun bought some medicine and a bandage but, due to the pain, Sun went on his own to the Marianas Medical Center, where he was required to go back for numerous appointments and was told to consult a hand surgeon. Berline said Sun paid hundreds of dollars of his own money for the consultation alone. Sun was unable to afford the suggested X-ray for his hand. He was unable to work after the injury.

Berline said a doctor at the Commonwealth Health Center, told Sun that he needed to consult a surgeon concerning the possible need to amputate the tip of his index finger. Upon Sun’s return to China, medical providers there told him that he requires further surgery. Berline said Gold Mantis never compensated Sun for his injury, his inability to work, or his medical expenses, which reached over $1,000.

In Youli Wang’s case, on Jan. 20, 2017, while he was loading beams of steel onto a piece of plywood, the plywood snapped, sending the load of steel and the workers falling to the ground. This caused the steel pieces to shift, smashing Youli Wang’s left hand, fracturing his left ring finger. Youli Wang’s fingernail was torn completely off of his finger.

Berline said when Youli Wang was finally brought (not by Gold Mantis) to CHC many months after the accident, the physician confirmed the fracture of his finger and that the fingernail was now growing into his hand.

With respect to Duxin Yang’s claim, in mid-December 2016, he was at the casino worksite moving heavy pieces of plater. While moving a large piece along the floor, it fell over and crushed the middle finger on his right hand. Berline said several weeks after the accident, Yang went to CHC because he was still suffering from his badly injured finger.

Berline said Gold Mantis breached its duty by failing to provide a safe worksite and safe working conditions, comply with federal government regulations concerning workplace safety, and appropriate equipment to complete the tasks.

“Gold Mantis’ conduct constitutes gross negligence, and/or a reckless and/or malicious and/or willful, wanton disregard of plaintiffs’ rights, wellbeing, or safety,” the lawyer said.

Berline said Imperial Pacific’s construction site had an injury incident rate above the national average. There were safety violations in plain sight, he said, and employees received neither adequate training nor protective equipment.

Rather than seek to improve conditions on the worksite, Berline said, Imperial Pacific and its contractors sought to conceal the severity of the problem from government authorities, medical providers, and any other party that might hold them accountable.

Imperial Pacific had denied the allegations before. The company also previously stated that it “denounces in the strongest terms harboring of illegal workers by some of its contractors and subcontractors and will continue to work with authorities in the amicable resolution of issues.”

Not only did Gold Mantis refuse to take the injured workers to the hospital, Berline said, but in order to keep hidden their own illegal practices, also threatened plaintiffs that they risked being arrested if they sought medical attention on their own.

Berline said Gold Mantis employed roughly 500 construction workers for the casino project, including plaintiffs.

In March 2017, Berline said, after federal government authorities began investigating contractors on the project, Gold Mantis abandoned its workers on Saipan. He said Gold Mantis’ managers and supervisors returned to China while plaintiffs and their coworkers were left unpaid and without food and water.