Italy Probes Alleged Exploitation of 'Hundreds' of Indian Workers at US Consulate Project in Milan
New Delhi: Italy is investigating a US construction giant which allegedly exploited several Indians who had been signed on to build the new US consulate building in Milan.
A report on the Italian outlet i24News has it that "hundreds" of Indians were exploited, while Reuters reported that the prosecutor's judicial decree had the statement of 35 Indian workers.
On May 26, the Milan Public Prosecutor's Office, headed by Marcello Viola, ordered an emergency judicial inspection for forced labour against the American Caddell Construction. The company specialises in large projects, and handles contracts for US embassies and military facilities.
The Milan US embassy contract was reportedly worth US $ 200 million.
According to one of the reports, Italian prosecutors Paolo Storari and Mauro Clerici have issued a warrant of arrest against the company manager, Ulas Demir.
It is written in the 103-page decree that the Indian workers were hired by Caddell through a recruitment drive conducted by a third party called 'Dynamic House' in New Delhi. Internet searches with the keywords 'Dynamic House' point to a firm called Dynamic Staffing Services which has an office in New Delhi. The Wire has reached out to the firm to confirm if they are the same as the concern referred to as 'Dynamic House' in the Italian report.
The report says that the workers had to give around Rs 50,000 in order to be able to work there on a 36-month contract. In India, the workers were made to sign an employment contract providing hourly pay ranging from €1.31 ($1.53) to €1.91, with food and accommodation paid for by the company, Reuters says in its report.
One of the labourers who were quoted in the i24News report said that he had to pay € 6.50 a day to get the company lunch.
The worker also said that they had to pay about € 300-350 in cash to an Indian employee of Caddell's human resources department because the worker threatened him "all the time."
The contract in India was written in English – which none of the 35 quoted in the decree said they knew. Two of the workers said they could not read at all.
A worker recounted, according to i24News: "I had to sign other papers whose contents I did not understand, but I was forced to sign them."
Once the workers arrived in Italy, they signed another employment contract with Caddell's Italian unit, which complied with Italian labour law. But a copy of this contract was not given to the workers.
The prosecution claims that the workers were exploited with wages "clearly not in line with collective bargaining and significantly below the poverty line."
An investigation by the Italian labour authorities and witness statements found that the Indians had to work 12 hours a day, six days a week, Reuters reports, far exceeding Italy's legal limit of 40 hours.
"While they formally earned between €1,300 and €1,500 a month, mandatory deductions for housing and food, that they had not been warned about, stripped away roughly €800 of their earnings each month," the report said.
i24News reports that the investigation found that the workers would be fired or sent back to India if they did not accept those conditions.
Sources in the Ministry of External Affairs said that this was a "contractual matter" and that local authorities are looking into it. "We are aware of it and in touch with Italian labour authorities," they said.
Out of a workforce of 311 to 394 people at Caddell's Italian unit, 316 were from India in 2025, the decree says. In February 2026, the workforce numbered 261.
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