Mentally disabled turkey plant workers awarded $240M for years of abuse

[Poll_Blind]

Source: NBC

An Iowa jury on Wednesday awarded a total of $240 million to 32 mentally disabled Iowa turkey processing plant workers for what government lawyers described as years of around-the-clock abuse and discrimination by the Texas company that oversaw their care, work and lodging.

The federal jury in Davenport determined that Henry's Turkey Service, of Goldthwaite, Tex., violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by creating a hostile living and working environment and imposing discriminatory conditions of employment. The jury also found that the company acted with "malice or reckless indifference" to the men's civil rights.


Jurors awarded each of the men $7.5 million apiece after a weeklong trial that featured emotional testimony from social workers who described the physical and verbal abuse they suffered. That includes $5.5 million apiece in compensatory damages for their pain and suffering and $2 million apiece to punish the company for knowingly violating the law.

The company, which is now defunct, is not expected to be able to pay anywhere near the full amount of damages. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has suggested it will go after the defunct company's assets, including up to $4 million that was transferred to founder T.H. Johnson's widow after he died in 2008.

Read more: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/mentally-disabled-turkey-plant-workers-awarded-240m-years-abuse-6C9693069

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More at the link!

PB

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Sometimes people just suck.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. Disabled men receive $240M judgment

Disabled men receive $240M judgment

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20130501/NEWS/130501009/Disabled-men-receive-240M-judgment

Des Moines Register

An Iowa jury has awarded $7.5 million to each of the 32 mentally disabled Iowans who faced decades of discrimination and abuse while working for Henry's Turkey Service in Atalissa.
....

Dr. Sue Gant, an expert witness who testified for the EEOC on the hardships suffered by the disabled workers, said the judgment represents "a groundbreaking advancement in that it demonstrates that the men have value that is equal to people without disabilities."
....

Over a period of 40 years, Henry’s sent hundreds of disabled men from Texas to Iowa where they worked in a West Liberty meat-processing plant for 41 cents an hour. The men were housed in a 100-year-old Atalissa school building the company converted to a bunkhouse. The operation was shut down in February 2009, after The Des Moines Register asked state officials about conditions inside the bunkhouse and the company's lack of a license to care for disabled adults.
....

{Henry's attorney, David Scieszinski} blamed the city of Atalissa -- which owned the bunkhouse and leased it to Henry's -- for conditions inside the building, which included a lack of central heat, fire-safety violations and cockroaches so numerous that one social worker said she could hear them in the walls.

[Butterbean]

3. Stories like this are why I worry all the time about my disabled son.

I feel physically ill now.

[Poll_Blind]

6. It should not be a cause for worry but for vigilance. That's just my take on it. nt

PB

[Butterbean]

9. I worry about what will happen when I am not there to be vigilant any more.

Every special needs mom I talk to echoes the same fear that I have: how can I possibly find someone to love my child and care for my child like a mother after I'm gone? It's scary, especially when your kid is developmentally and intellectually disabled, and will never be a "grown man" in the cognitive sense. He will be a child in an adult's body.

I am vigilant, believe me. I'm also scared to death. People are cruel to the defenseless.

[Poll_Blind]

11. I have a female friend who has a daughter who is in a similar situation and...

...an acquaintence with a son in such a situation as well.

I'm not sure there are easy answers there. Last time I talked to the woman with the daughter, she was telling me how difficult it is having a severely autistic daughter who's reaching puberty. I'm not sure what the details are on that, we only have boys here at the house, but needless to say I rocked back on my heels a bit and was like "Oh shit. Riiiight."

No easy answers. But we do the best we can and prepare for what we think might happen.

That's about the best any of us can do in any situation.

PB

[Butterbean]

23. One of my girlfriends has a severely autistic daughter reaching puberty.

It has brought with it a whole other host of problems that have compounded the complexity of their situation so badly that they're having to consider residential treatment. I've known this woman since her daughter was 3, so needless to say it's been an eye opener watching the progression. I dread when my son hits puberty. I think I'll go find a nice deserted island to hide on then. LOL.

It's already starting to creep up on him and we have been dealing with the fallout from that, which has just been a blast. Increased strength, height, and body mass + testosterone surge and increased aggression and moderate autism = oh holy shit. When he's bigger than me, I dunno what I'm going to do. Buy football padding and a helmet (for myself) I guess.

[Throckmorton]

35. Sadly I had to make that choice last summer

My then 17 year old, autistic son had become a genuine threat to others and himself. He is almost 6 inches taller than me, and could easily kill me if he tried. All the time he spends tensed up has given him incredible strength.

On the other hand, my 16 year old autistic daughter got asked to the Junior Prom yesterday, and said yes. I'm speechless.

There was a time when they were in grammar school that I feared more for my daughter than my son, but puberty hit my son so hard it defies description. My daughter on the other hand has made amazing progress, and is totally mainstreamed.

[RubyDuby in GA]

12. Exactly!

I have a 6 year old autistic son and already I worry about what will happen to him when we (his father and I) are gone because he is an only child and we are older parents. It literally keeps me up at night some nights with worry and only someone else in the same situation can truly understand.

[Common Sense Party]

26. I'm right there with you.

We're planning on our son living with my wife and me, he's 20 now. That's fine now, but who knows what will happen to him in 35 or 40 years?

[freshwest]

4. Not surprising at all, just that the social workers were finally heard, now that's surprising.

Score another one for bleeding heart liberals of which I am proud to be one.

[antigop]

5. but we don't need regulations on businesses, do we? They'll self-regulate, won't they? nt

[Sivafae]

24. No, they don't. That is why they put regulations into law in the first place n/t

[antigop]

25. I thought the sarcasm thingy was understood. nt

[Sivafae]

38. Oh it was understood. I was supporting what you were saying. I guess that didn't come across.

Sorry.

[antigop]

39. No problem! nt

[benld74]

7. Some human beings are the most vile creatures on earth.

[gopiscrap]

8. What do you expect

all business is like this!

[mountain grammy]

22. Sadly, most are. They will do whatever they can get away with.

[Common Sense Party]

27. ALL business?

Right.

EVERY company is like this.

Where do you work?

[gopiscrap]

36. IMHO ALL!!! business

is like this...although most are too small to get away with the more egregious violations of law. The sole purpose of a private business is to screw the customer out of as much of their money as possible for as small as a cost as possible!!!

[gopiscrap]

37. BTW

I worked for the govt for 30 years til I was able to get a full pension when I am 67 and now I work for a church agency...never have worked for a private company and never will...always worked for either church or state.

[Myrina]

10. Texas! We don't need no stinkin' regulations! Workers don't need no rights!

Whatchoo talkin' bout, silly people!!

[Bluzmann57]

14. Henry's turkey was located in Texas

But the workers were in Iowa, West Liberty to be exact. The court proceedings were held in the Federal Courthouse here in Davenport, Iowa and from the way it sounds, those poor guys were used and abused worse than most Chinese workers ever will be. They lived in a crappy "house" in Atalissa with excrement all over the walls, a guy actually testified to punching some of the men in the nuts, and so on. Personally, I'd like to find that foreman, rip his nuts off and shove them down his throat.
The shame of this debacle is that there is not likely to be any criminal prosecution against anyone involved in any of the abuse of these men, who were very nearly worked to death.

[Jamastiene]

28. It is not just in Texas.

I don't know why Texas gets singled out more than all of the states that have that no-regulations for business attitude. The actual abuse in this case was in another state entirely.

[SoapBox]

13. Iowa? Texas?

Way to go, "America's Holy and Pious HEARTLAND"!

...you make me sick.

[Bluzmann57]

15. I live in Iowa

I live fairly close to the city in which these men slaved, literally. Most of us are good hard working people who are truly appalled at the abuse these men had to endure.
People who generalize about Iowans, Texans, or anyone else make me sick. People who do these inhuman things just to make a buck make me very angry.

[rurallib]

16. Seriously, Bub, don't paint with a broad brush

I do live in the town where these men worked. And of course I had no idea. We all bought the line that it was a good deal for all involved. You would have also.

So tell me what are you going to do about problems in your area to to put some meat on those words of hate you so angrily throw at me and my fellow Iowans?

Iowans are among the nicest folks in the country, but we can't watch each and every thing. Every one I know is glad to hear that Henry's is finally at least going to face some justice.

I do believe you owe us an apology. Seriously.

[Hubert Flottz]

17. Being from West Virginia, I feel your pain.

No wonder ground turkey makes people sick.

[cyberswede]

29. There are shitheels all over the US

...even Los Angeles.

[Sunlei]

18. Sad that's slavery. Wonder if some workers died in those bad conditions.

Can't they charge the supervisors with abuse?

[otohara]

19. That's Some Message

Well done Iowa jury!

[Spitfire of ATJ]

20. Cases like this deserve more than a "fine"....

"Tales From The Crypt" would have the victims process the owners like they were turkeys.

[KansDem]

21. This is terrible...

According to social workers who treated them after the home was shuttered, the men said they had been subjected to harsh discipline and abuse at home and work by their Henry's supervisors. They said they had been forced to work through illness and injuries, denied bathroom breaks, locked in their rooms, kicked in the groin and, in one case, handcuffed to a bed. Supervisors also subjected the men to random acts of cruelty, such making them eat hot peppers, "just for laughs," Canino said.

By 2008, Henry's was being paid more than $500,000 per year by West Liberty Foods, but was paying the men the same $65 per month that it always had, regardless of how many hours they worked. The company docked the men's wages and Social Security disability benefits, telling them it was to pay for the cost of their care and lodging.

"The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has suggested it will go after the defunct company's assets, including up to $4 million that was transferred to founder T.H. Johnson's widow after he died in 2008."

Be sure to check the Caymans and other Richie Rich tax havens...

[Buzzardbait]

30. Boy! Did this hit home!

In the fall of 1971 I got my first real job out of college. It was with the Texas Department of Public Welfare (as it was then known) as a Public Welfare Worker I in Goldthwaite, Texas. It was all rocking along pretty well until the summer of 1972 when my supervisor called me one afternoon and told me there was a man about four miles out of town who had a turkey processing plant that utilized disabled men to handle operations and that I was going to have to put all the employees on disability welfare. I immediately smelled something rotten and over the next several days and weeks tried to put together all my concerns into memos. To make a long story short, before I went ahead will the mountain of applications, I did get the Program Director and possibly the Regional Administrator (I don't remember for sure) to come out and tour the operation. Naturally 1) everything was spruced up to look as if the workers were living in a near lap of luxury and 2) it was all a politically done deal even before I got the call from my supervisor. With some help from some other Public Welfare Workers we got all the applications processed and all the men were approved for disability, including even the most high functioning. I learned during the process that the disabled men were shuttled around the country to other turkey plants. About six months later I left the job and entered the University of Arkansas Graduate School of Social Work and really kind of forgot about the whole matter.

But when I saw this I couldn't believe it for 1) it fit exactly into the time-line of when I first had contact with this plant and 2) the name of the man who ran the turkey plant was (wait for it, wait for it) Thurman Johnson.

I knew something was amiss with this whole situation from the very beginning but it has taken more than 40 years to prove my gut feeling was correct.

[arcane1]

31. Welcome to DU! And what an interesting story, and a reminder of how ongoing the struggle has been.

[hrmjustin]

32. Welcome to DU my friend!

[sigmasix]

33. happens all over

The abuse of the developmentally disabled population happens all over the country. I worked for a regional not for profit care organization and personally witnessed multiple counts of financial abuse, sexual abuse and medical malpractice. I was fired when I reported it. The clientelle routinely had thier medications and groceries stolen by program assistants, social workers, janitors- all the way to upper management. These cases are routinely covered up and the paper work disapears. If you have a developmentally disabled adult child in a group home environement I would strongly suggest visiting often without prior warning and reviewing your child's financial and medication logs. Watch for unexplained expenses and blank medication dosage sheets. Unexplained bruises and new behavior difficulties are a good sign of abuse. Be vigilant or your child will most likely be taken advantage of- even by the most progressive seeming developemental disability service provider.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

34. i heard about a group home in Texas. State-sanctioned rape.

A friend of mine investigated putting her autistic daughter in a group home. When they drove up a bunch of men followed the car and surrounded the car. The administrators said "We'll put your daughter on birth control pills so she won't get pregnant" and basically said that they were not gender segregating the people and they allowed the men to rape the women at any time, without any consideration of the mental and physical trauma inflicted on the women.

She got up and walked out and knew she could never subject her daughter to that sort of trauma.