String 'em up...

[SEC=UGA]

They may need to look into changing this law.

 

Also, the owners of these two companies should be flogged in a public square and left in stocks for 12 weeks so that people can pepper them with rocks.

 

IOWA CITY, Iowa — A Texas company that profited for decades by supplying mentally disabled workers to an Iowa turkey plant at wages of 41 cents per hour must pay the men $1.37 million in back wages, a federal judge ruled late Tuesday.

The judgment against Henry's Turkey Service, in Goldthwaite, is the third of more than $1 million against the company after state authorities in 2009 shut down a dilapidated bunkhouse in rural Iowa where the men had lived since the 1970s.

The 32 employees had been paid $65 per month to work the processing line at a huge turkey plant in West Liberty after Henry's improperly deducted fees for room and board, care, transportation and other expenses out of their pay and Social Security checks, U.S. District Judge Charles Wolle ruled. The amount they were paid never changed during the 30-year period they worked at the plant, regardless of whether they worked more than 40 hours per week, he found.

The ruling came in a lawsuit filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which alleged that Hill Country Farms violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by paying the workers discriminatory wages. Wolle ordered a trial in March on the rest of the claims in the EEOC's lawsuit, which alleges that the men faced a hostile work environment, harassment, verbal and physical abuse and other "adverse terms and conditions of employment" because of their disabilities.

Hill Country Farms, which did business as Henry's Turkey Service, offered little resistance to EEOC's wage claims. The company had been on contract to supply workers to the plant starting in the 1970s, when it was owned by Louis Rich Foods. By 2008, the company's contract with owner West Liberty Foods was worth more than $500,000 for work performed by the men in the evisceration department.

Wolle said the company "engaged in unlawful and discriminatory pay practices" that deprived workers of wages they earned. He said the $1.37 million represents how much more the intellectually disabled workers should have been paid between February 2007 and February 2009 for their work, based on wage rates paid to similarly-situated and experienced workers. Despite their disabilities, the workers "performed as productively and effectively as non-disabled workers doing the same jobs," he ruled, and testimony showed they even helped train their replacements when Henry's Turkey was winding down operations.

Even though they'd been there for decades, the law limits their recovery to the two-year period before the violations were reported.

A handful of the workers were employed at the bunkhouse, a converted former schoolhouse a few miles from the plant that Hill Country Farms rented from the city of Atalissa for $600 per month. It was shut down after investigators found substandard construction and other unsafe living conditions, a leaky roof and insect infestation.

Dallas-based EEOC attorney Robert Canino, who is litigating the case, said the country has made strides in offering employment opportunities for persons with mental, intellectual and developmental disabilities.

"Unfortunately, this case also reflects the sad reality that we still have a ways to go to ensure that employment of persons with disabilities does not require them to sacrifice their true earning capacity or their human dignity," he said in a statement.

He said company officials could not explain why they deducted $1,000 per month from each employee's wages to cover their room and board and other expenses — and hundreds of dollars from their disability benefits "for the very same described 'expenses'."

"Anyone could plainly see that the math just didn't add up, while the personal costs to the men continued to multiply," he said.

The U.S. Department Labor earlier won a $1.76 million judgment against the Henry's on behalf of the workers for violating wage and overtime laws, and Iowa Workforce development issued a $1.2 million fine against the company for violating state labor laws.

The company had agreed to change its wage practices in 2003 following a federal investigation, but it never did so, Wolle ruled.

The Iowa Attorney General's Office last year declined to bring criminal charges against the company or its owners, Kenneth Henry and Jane Ann Johnson, saying it felt that the civil penalties sought by regulators were enough to hold them accountable.

 

[westvirginia]

F that, just shoot the bastards.

[nuke'em ttg]

my wife says they got room and board so thats what i'm dealin with can't believe that chit can happen

[stevegrab]

"The Iowa Attorney General's Office last year declined to bring criminal charges against the company or its owners, Kenneth Henry and Jane Ann Johnson, saying it felt that the civil penalties sought by regulators were enough to hold them accountable."

 

 

The people of Iowa need to toss out their AG and get somebody else in there. If these folks have been caught and fined more than once, and continue to do it obviously financial penalties are not enough. They probably make so much money that this doesn't bother them.

 

And how are they getting away with paying them 61 cents/hour, isn't minimum wage like 10 times that? Or was that part of the money being recovered (in addition to the bogus deductions for various expenses).

[SEC=UGA]

"The Iowa Attorney General's Office last year declined to bring criminal charges against the company or its owners, Kenneth Henry and Jane Ann Johnson, saying it felt that the civil penalties sought by regulators were enough to hold them accountable."

 

 

The people of Iowa need to toss out their AG and get somebody else in there. If these folks have been caught and fined more than once, and continue to do it obviously financial penalties are not enough. They probably make so much money that this doesn't bother them.

 

And how are they getting away with paying them 61 cents/hour, isn't minimum wage like 10 times that? Or was that part of the money being recovered (in addition to the bogus deductions for various expenses).

 

 

From a number of things I've read involving the mentally deficient, companies are allowed to pay them lower wages. It is a practice instituted so that the mentally deficient will be hired, whereas if they had to pay them "real" wages they would not be hired at all. What's the old adage about good intentions?

 

Companies being allowed to do this is also one of the reasons I make so little money.

Edited September 20, 2012 by SEC=UGA

[cliaz]

From a number of things I've read involving the mentally deficient, companies are allowed to pay them lower wages. It is a practice instituted so that the mentally deficient will be hired, whereas if they had to pay them "real" wages they would not be hired at all. What's the old adage about good intentions?

 

Companies being allowed to do this is also one of the reasons I make so little money.

 

 

but there are state and federal programs that make up the difference in pay. When I worked for Safeway back in the day most of our bag boys/girls were people with special needs. They got paid min. wage and the state paid the rest of their wages to bring them up to the normal level of a clerk. This; however, is nothing like that. These people used individuals with mental disabilities to make large profits without regards to what it did to these poor souls. This right here is a great example of what drives me to ensure my kids have enough money after the wife and I are gone so they do not have to fall in to state or federal group housing and programs. This right here is what truly terrifies me in life.

[Pope Flick]

I can believe it can only go back two years. That's messed up.

[TimC]

I can believe it can only go back two years. That's messed up.

 

+1

 

I wonder if this applies to tip sharing?