Miami — The U.S. government owes 30,000 Panama Canal workers $1.2 billion for cheating them out of severance and Social Security benefits, according to a civil lawsuit the workers filed against the government.
The Panamanian workers were laid off when the United States handed over the canal to Panama on Dec. 31, 1999. The federal suit alleges that the non-citizens were treated differently than U.S. citizens doing the same type of work on the canal from 1979 to 1999, when the Panama Canal Commission was in charge.
The workers are seeking a total of $300 million in actual damages, ranging from about $8,000 to $60,000 for each employee. The plaintiffs, members of the canal workers' organization known as ASEDAC, also want $900 million in punitive damages.
The Secretary of the Army, the Panama Canal Commission, the Office of Transition Administration, and the Treasury Department were all named as defendants in the suit.
The United States completed the Panama Canal in 1914 and ran it for more than 80 years. In 1977, then-President Jimmy Carter signed a treaty with Panama, providing for the handover of the canal to Panama. The transfer took place on Dec. 31, 1999.
According to the suit, the United States was bound by treaty to comply with Panamanian labor laws which required companies to provide workers an extra month's pay for each year of employment. Part of that money was to go to Panama's Social Security system.
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