is paying your child support slavery?

Recently, Boston Federal agents arrested Pizza maker Stavros Papantoniadis, a/k/a “Steve” 47, of Westwood for forced labor, i.e. slavery.

According to court documents, Papantoniadis is the owner and operator of Stash’s Pizza, a chain of pizzerias which has locations in Dorchester and Roslindale, and previously had pizzerias in Norwood, Norwell and Randolph.

Over the course of several years, Papantoniadis allegedly targeted victims who lacked immigration status, employed them at depressed wages and demanded that they work, in most cases, six to seven days per week, at times for far more than eight hours per day and often without breaks or overtime compensation. Papantoniadis also allegedly withheld wages. 

The charges

Papantoniadis is being charged under 18 USCA § 1589:

18 U.S.C. § 1589

Whoever knowingly provides or obtains the labor or services of a person–

(1) by threats of serious harm to, or physical restraint against, that person or another person;

(2) by means of any scheme, plan, or pattern intended to cause the person to believe that, if the person did not perform such labor or services, that person or another person would suffer serious harm or physical restraint; or

(3) by means of the abuse or threatened abuse of law or the legal process,

shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.

is being forced to pay child support slavery?

The federal statute criminalizing forced labor makes clear that threats of abuse of law or legal process falls under the category of punishable offenses.

In Massachussetts if a judge believes that a parent is able to work and is simply not doing so, the judge can make a reasonable calculation of what the parent would be earning if they were working. This is income attribution, and when it’s used correctly, the judge can base child support amounts on the attributed income and not the real income of that parent.

Would this type of coercion be considered “involuntary labor” under federal law?

Probably not, but it’s an interesting idea.