NEW ORLEANS — The Hard Rock Hotel construction worker who faces deportation made a complaint with federal investigators last week.
Delmer Ramirez-Palma told investigators with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Department of Labor that he made several complaints about the safety of the construction site before it collapsed in October.
In one of his complaints, Ramirez told management the 14th floor was shifting the day before the collapse, but he was told to keep working.
Ramirez was framing windows for the hotel when a portion of the new construction at the site collapsed, killing three construction workers.
Having a reputation for speaking up about safety concerns on the work site, Ramirez complained about frayed harnesses and not having enough guards when a forklift was in use.
When Ramirez raised safety concerns, supervisors would tell him they can find someone else to do the work if he wouldn't, the complaint said. Ramirez understood that to mean he'd be fired unless he continued to work in those conditions.
Using lasers to level his work, Ramirez made noticed something was off at the Hard Rock Hotel construction site.
"In this work, he noticed that the Hard Rock Hotel building was not level," the complaint said. "He reported the measurement of the discrepancy of the level of the building regularly to (his supervisors)."
In the complaint, Ramirez said the floor level was two inches off. He noticed it the first day on the job and told supervisors as soon as he noticed it.
"Mr. Ramirez Palma specifically raised the alarm about the building not being level various times, on more than 5 different occasions to (supervisors)," the complaint said. "(They) said that he didn’t care and to keep working."
Working on the 14th floor the day before the collapse, Ramirez felt the floor shifting like an earthquake.
"This wasn’t normal," the complaint said. "He also noticed the laser measurements show the laser visibly moving from the markings 2 to 3 inches up and down, showing that the building was moving."
The complaint said Ramirez told the other workers he was afraid.
"He specifically said to them that he was afraid something would happen on Saturday," The complaint said. "He thought maybe the building could crumble but he did not say this out loud."
Two days after the Oct. 12 collapse that killed three people and injured dozens more, Ramirez was arrested by U.S. Fish and Wildlife officers and turned over to ICE officers shortly after he gave an interview about the collapse to the Kenner-based Spanish language outlet Jambalaya News.
OSHA's whistleblower and retaliation division had plans to interview Ramirez, his attorney told The Associated Press.
Originally from Honduras, Ramirez was awaiting deportation at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement staging facility at the Alexandria International Airport last week after he was arrested.
Ramirez was scheduled for deportation Monday, but later, a federal immigration spokesman said Ramirez wouldn't be deported that day.
His attorneys said his arrest and deportation has prevented other workers from coming forward about the collapse for fear of the same outcome.
► Get breaking news from your neighborhood delivered directly to you by downloading the FREE WWL-TV News app now in the IOS App Store or Google Play.