An American contractor building the United States’ new consulate in Milan has committed nearly €31 million to resolve an Italian labour investigation centred on the treatment of migrant workers hired through subcontractors.
Caddell Construction’s Italian unit made the commitment in a submission to Milan prosecutors. Almost €20 million is intended for workers, while the balance would go to Italy’s social-security agency and labour inspectorate. The amounts include unpaid wages, contributions and administrative penalties arising from work on the diplomatic compound.
The investigation concerns hundreds of labourers, many of them from India, who prosecutors say were recruited through intermediaries and then paid less than required under Italian employment rules. Authorities also examined working hours, accommodation and the workers’ immigration status. Those remain allegations; the company has not admitted wrongdoing.
Italy’s labour minister publicly announced the settlement on Sunday. The company’s payment would allow the case against the corporate entity to be closed, according to the filing, although proceedings involving two executives may be resolved separately. Any dismissal or plea agreement will still require the relevant judicial approvals.
The structure of the settlement is important beyond one construction site. Italian investigators have increasingly looked through contracting chains when alleged exploitation is embedded in subcontracting arrangements. A principal contractor can face legal and financial consequences even when the workers were formally employed by another business.
The project, on a former industrial site in Milan, is being developed for the US State Department. Diplomatic ownership does not remove private contractors and their local subsidiaries from Italian labour law. The agreement, if completed as proposed, would compensate workers while ending the company-level prosecution without a trial or a finding of guilt.
