Report: Trump has refused to pay hundreds of workers

Hundreds of workers and contractors have accused Donald Trump of not paying his bills over the years, according to an investigation by USA Today.

{mosads}The report found hundreds of liens, judgments and at least 60 lawsuits against Trump and his businesses alleging that he has not fully paid workers for their labor and in some instances refused to pay commissions for his own lawyers and real estate brokers. 

Since 2005, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s businesses have also racked up 24 violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act for not paying employees minimum wage or overtime pay.

The report found a tendency for Trump’s businesses to engage in lengthy legal battles over relatively small dollar figures, often making settlements that require confidentiality from the plaintiffs. 

During construction on the Trump Taj Mahal Casino in Atlantic City, N.J., in 1990, records show that Trump failed to pay at least 253 subcontractors in full or on time.

In an interview with USA Today, Trump said that if he refused or reduced payments, it was because a contractor’s work wasn’t up to his standards.

“Let’s say that they do a job that’s not good, or a job that they didn’t finish, or a job that was way late,” he said. “I’ll deduct from their contract, absolutely. That’s what the country should be doing.”

But one cabinet-builder alleged that after he had finished a $400,000 contract at Trump Plaza in Atlantic City and Trump had refused to pay a final bill of $83,000, Trump then said he would be willing to hire the contractor again.

In the interview for the report, Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, also defended the company’s practice and said the amount of money her father does pay to employees overshadows the instances in which Trump businesses withold payments.

“We have hundreds of millions of dollars of construction projects underway. And we have, for the most part, exceptional contractors on them who get paid, and get paid quickly,” she said. “But it would be irresponsible if my father paid contractors who did lousy work. And he doesn’t do that.”