Michael Grabell

They got hurt at work. Then they got deported.

How insurance companies use a Florida law to get undocumented immigrants arrested and deported when they get injured on the job — and what it means in Trump’s America

Michael Grabell

Howard Berkes

August 18, 2017

At age 31, Nixon Arias cut a profile similar to many unauthorized immigrants in the United States. A native of Honduras, he’d been in the country for more than a decade and had worked off and on for a landscaping company for nine years. The money he earned went to building a future for his family in Pensacola, Florida. His Facebook page was filled with photos of fishing and other moments with his three boys, ages 3, 7 and 8.

A ProPublica Story

Corporate campaign to ditch workers’ comp stalls

Michael Grabell

Howard Berkes

March 9, 2016

Posted with permission from ProPublica; this story was co-published with NPR. A campaign by some of America’s biggest companies to “opt out” of state workers’ compensation — and write their own plans for dealing with injured workers — was dealt a major blow Friday when an Oklahoma commission ruled the alternative system unconstitutional.

Inside corporate America’s campaign to ditch workers’ comp

One Texas lawyer is helping companies opt out of workers’ compensation and write their own rules. What does it mean for injured workers?

Michael Grabell

Howard Berkes

October 19, 2015

Standing before a giant map in his Dallas office, Bill Minick doesn’t seem like anyone’s idea of a bomb thrower. But backed by some of the biggest names in corporate America, this mild-mannered son of an evangelist is plotting a revolution in how companies take care of injured workers.

A ProPublica report:

How much is your arm worth? Depends on where you work

Michael Grabell

Howard Berkes

March 11, 2015

At the time of their accidents, Jeremy Lewis was 27, Josh Potter 25. The men lived within 75 miles of each other. Both were married with two children about the same age. Both even had tattoos of their children’s names.

Senator asks OSHA about temp worker buried alive in sugar

Michael Grabell

July 16, 2014

The head of the U.S. Senate's workplace safety subcommittee has asked the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to explain its handling of the death a temp worker who suffocated under a pile of sugar at a Pennsylvania plant. The details of OSHA's investigation were reported Sunday by ProPublica and Univision.

U.S. lags behind world in temp worker protections

‘Permatemping’ cases highlight lack of U.S. protections for temp workers. Other countries limit the length of temp jobs, guarantee equal pay and restrict dangerous work.

Michael Grabell

February 27, 2014

For nearly six years, Limber Herrera has toiled as a temp worker doing the same work for the same company in Mira Loma, Calif. About 40 hours a week, he unloads shipping containers for NFI—one of the largest freight distribution firms in America—moving goods that will eventually stock the shelves of Walmart and Sam’s Club.

From ProPublica

Temporary Work, Lasting Harm

Michael Grabell Olga Pierce Jeff Larson

December 20, 2013

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – This was it, he told his brother Jojo. He would finally be able to pay his mother back for the fender bender, buy some new shoes and, if things went well, maybe even start a life with his fiancee who was living in Atlanta.

The Expendables: How the temps who power corporate giants are getting crushed

Michael Grabell

July 1, 2013

It’s 4:18 a.m. and the strip mall is deserted. But tucked in back, next to a closed-down video store, an employment agency is already filling up. Rosa Ramirez walks in, as she has done nearly every morning for the past six months. She signs in and sits down in one of the 100 or so blue plastic chairs that fill the office.

Walmart accepted clothing from banned Bangladesh factories

Michael Grabell

June 17, 2013

Since the Rana Plaza building collapse killed more than 1,100 people in April, retailers have faced mounting pressure to improve safety at Bangladesh garment factories and to sever ties with manufacturers that don't measure up.

Taken for a ride: Temp agencies and ‘raiteros’ in immigrant Chicago

Low wage workers pay to work

Michael Grabell

May 3, 2013

Ty Inc. became one of the world's largest manufacturers of stuffed animals thanks to the Beanie Babies craze in the 1990s. But it has stayed on top partly by using an underworld of labor brokers known as raiteros, who pick up workers from Chicago's street corners and shuttle them to Ty's warehouse on behalf of one of the nation's largest temp agencies.