Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – The federal government has filed a complaint accusing a Dallas company of exploiting dozens of mentally challenged workers. The abuse was exposed mored than three decades ago but workers were rescued only in 2009 after a fire marshal visit.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says Henry’s Turkey Service, which is owned by Texas-based Hill Country Farms, inflicted severe abuse on 31 intellectually disabled men who worked at a processing plant.
According to the agency’s lawsuit, Henry’s employed the men for 20 years under a contract with the West Liberty processing plant.
The company paid the men $65 a month for full-time work, which was below the required minimum, and subjected them to physical and verbal abuse.
In addition, Henry’s limited their movement and freedom, forced them to live in substandard living conditions and refused to provide medical care when the men required treatment. Punishment was meted by having the workers carry heavy weights.
The EEOC said the company violated the Americans with Disabilities Amendments Act, which bans discrimination in wages and employment conditions on the basis of disabilities.
The abuses were first exposed in a 1970s Des Moines Register report. A 1974 memo from a social worker also urged official action on the exploitation.
The memo, which was released by the Iowa Department of Human Services when the plant was closed in 2009, was written nearly a decade before the state began implementing a law protecting mentally disabled adults.
Internal emails in 1997 also showed that Human Services officials decided against taking action against Henry’s because they believed the department did not have jurisdiction and there was no allegation of abuse of a intellectually hallenged adult.
The men were all once residents of Texas, where they stayed in institutions. They were sometimes returned to the institution but “more often, the Texas Rehabilitation Commission has reopened services and the man has re-entered a period of training,” the memo said.
The full scale of the exploitation was exposed only two years ago, when a fire marshal declared the dilapidated plant dangerous and the workers, known locally as the “Atalissa men,” were removed. The discovery led to hearings in Washington and prompted statewide reforms.
In its lawsuit, the EEOC is seeking to recover damages and lost wages for the workers since the plant was closed in 2009. The company faces a trial later this year under a separate lawsuit from U.S. Department of Labor over violations of minimum wage and overtime pay laws.
Last month, the Iowa Department of Workforce Development issued its final decision on whether the company violated minimum wage and room and board statutes. It fined the company $1.16 million.
The workers, who lived in an old schoolhouse with boarded up windows and no heating during their employement at Henry’s, received services of a non-profit that supports the disabled after they were rescued. Most of the men have left Iowa to live with relatives in other states.
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