--- title: Donald Trump Paid $1.4 Million Over Undocumented Workers description: Donald Trump quietly paid $1.4 million in 1998 to settle a class-action lawsuit over underpaying undocumented Polish laborers. canonical: https://time.com/5039109/donald-trump-undocumented-polish-trump-tower-bonwit-teller/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-11-28T19:19:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T18:22:05.923Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read the Legal Settlement Donald Trump Signed in Dispute Over Undocumented Workers og:description: He paid $1.4 million to settle the class-action lawsuit. og:url: https://time.com/5039109/donald-trump-undocumented-polish-trump-tower-bonwit-teller/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt16bd2f818ddba98d/6988bb25f887dc72abe99255/trump2.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Trump Tower Entrance og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read the Legal Settlement Donald Trump Signed in Dispute Over Undocumented Workers twitter:description: He paid $1.4 million to settle the class-action lawsuit. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt16bd2f818ddba98d/6988bb25f887dc72abe99255/trump2.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Paid $1.4 Million in a Dispute Over Undocumented Workers. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Nov 28, 2017 7:19 PM UTC  The signage above the entrance to the Trump Tower in New York City on Jan. 21, 2017. The signage above the entrance to the Trump Tower in New York City on Jan. 21, 2017.Epics / Getty Images by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Nov 28, 2017 7:19 PM UTC Donald Trump quietly paid $1.4 million in 1998 to settle a class-action lawsuit that alleged he stiffed a union pension fund by employing undocumented Polish laborers to [demolish a department store](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,40405,00.html) to make way for [Trump Tower](http://time.com/4578832/meet-the-people-hanging-out-in-donald-trumps-lobby/). The amount became public this week after a judge released previously sealed settlement documents in response to a motion filed by Time Inc. and the [Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press](https://www.rcfp.org) in 2016. “This Order shall remain confidential in accordance with the parties’ agreement at the October 26, 1998 settlement conference,” reads the settlement agreement, which was signed on Dec. 30, 1998, by District Court Judge Thomas P. Griesa of New York’s Southern District. The [case originated in the summer of 1980](http://time.com/4465744/donald-trump-undocumented-workers/), when Trump was under pressure to finish the demolition of the Bonwit Teller building on Fifth Avenue in New York City so that he could begin construction on his signature project, the Trump Tower. As noted in [an Aug. 25, 2016, story in TIME](http://time.com/4465744/donald-trump-undocumented-workers/), Trump hired a group of undocumented Polish laborers who put in “12-hour shifts with inadequate safety equipment at subpar wages that their contractor paid sporadically, if at all.” Their hiring led to years-long litigation that Trump finally settled in 1998. Read the plaintiffs’ memoranda in support of a settlement, the notice of a motion on the case, a transcript of a conference on the settlement and the settlement below. [Donald Trump Bonwit Teller Demolition Memorandum in Support](https://www.scribd.com/document/365766750/Donald-Trump-Bonwit-Teller-Demolition-Memorandum-in-Support#from%5Fembed) by [TIME](https://www.scribd.com/user/219212029/TIME#from%5Fembed) on Scribd [Donald Trump Bonwit Teller Demolition Plaintiffs Affidavit](https://www.scribd.com/document/365767946/Donald-Trump-Bonwit-Teller-Demolition-Plaintiffs-Affidavit#from%5Fembed) by [TIME](https://www.scribd.com/user/219212029/TIME#from%5Fembed) on Scribd [Donald Trump Bonwit Teller Demolition Notice of Motion](https://www.scribd.com/document/365754133/Donald-Trump-Bonwit-Teller-Demolition-Notice-of-Motion#from%5Fembed) by [TIME](https://www.scribd.com/user/219212029/TIME#from%5Fembed) on Scribd [Donald Trump Bonwit Teller Demolition Plaintiffs Memorandum](https://www.scribd.com/document/365753713/Donald-Trump-Bonwit-Teller-Demolition-Plaintiffs-Memorandum#from%5Fembed) by [TIME](https://www.scribd.com/user/219212029/TIME#from%5Fembed) on Scribd [Donald Trump Bonwit Teller Demolition Court Order](https://www.scribd.com/document/365768932/Donald-Trump-Bonwit-Teller-Demolition-Court-Order#from%5Fembed) by [TIME](https://www.scribd.com/user/219212029/TIME#from%5Fembed) on Scribd [Donald Trump Bonwit Teller Demolition Legal Settlement](https://www.scribd.com/document/365752865/Donald-Trump-Bonwit-Teller-Demolition-Legal-Settlement#from%5Fembed) by [TIME](https://www.scribd.com/user/219212029/TIME#from%5Fembed) on Scribd [Donald Trump Bonwit Teller Demolition Transcript](https://www.scribd.com/document/365769217/Donald-Trump-Bonwit-Teller-Demolition-Transcript#from%5Fembed) by [TIME](https://www.scribd.com/user/219212029/TIME#from%5Fembed) on Scribd [Donald Trump Bonwit Teller Amended Order](https://www.scribd.com/document/365769074/Donald-Trump-Bonwit-Teller-Amended-Order#from%5Fembed) by [TIME](https://www.scribd.com/user/219212029/TIME#from%5Fembed) on Scribd ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5039109/donald-trump-undocumented-polish-trump-tower-bonwit-teller/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5039109/donald-trump-undocumented-polish-trump-tower-bonwit-teller/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Paid $1.4 Million in a Dispute Over Undocumented Workers. 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