Federal Agency Sues Henry's Turkey Farm owner for Exploiting Mentally Disabled Workers for Years

Dec. 11, 2017 - Four years ago, an Iowa jury handed a group of intellectually disabled workers who had been exploited for years the nation’s largest-ever award in an employment discrimination case: a staggering $240 million.
 

The 'Bunkhouse' has been demolished.

article by Clark Kauffman for the Des Moines Register 
It was intended to compensate 32 men for the decades they'd spent in indentured servitude while employed by Henry’s Turkey Service, a labor broker accused of paying the men as little as 41 cents an hour while providing them with housing in a dilapidated bunkhouse on the outskirts of Atalissa.

The jury's award was immediately slashed to just $1.6 million — less than 1 percent of the amount specified by jurors — because of federal caps on damages.

Even so, the verdict represented an uplifting final chapter in a long story of exploitation and abuse.

But now that story has an unexpected postscript.

Robert Canino, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission lawyer who pursued the case against Henry's, is back in federal court.

This time, he's fighting Joseph Paul Byrd, a former Henry’s Turkey Service supervisor who took over the company’s Newberry, South Carolina, labor camp in the 1980s and kept it running for another 30 years.

In September 2016, the EEOC sued Byrd's company, Work Services Inc., alleging it had forced its intellectually disabled workers to live in a crowded, substandard bunkhouse, paid them “unconscionable wages” that were less than what nondisabled workers were paid, and subjected the men to a hostile work environment in which they were called “stupid,” “retarded” and “dumb.”

The company has denied the allegations, and a trial is scheduled for August.

"Sadly, the discovery of this situation, answers, in part, the question that has arisen since the disturbing Henry's Turkey Service operation came to light in Iowa a few years ago," Canino said. "After seeing how workers with intellectual disabilities had fallen between the societal cracks, being virtually invisible for decades, many have asked, 'Could there be any other situations like this out there or right in our own backyards?'

"The answer, sadly, turned out to be, 'Yes' — and what we found here serves to remind us all to remain vigilant against such abuse of our neighbors and co-workers."

Workers exploited at every turn

In a deposition taken last December as part of a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Department of Labor, Byrd acknowledged that the six disabled workers who lived in the two trailers that made up the Newberry bunkhouse were each charged $800 in monthly rent, while the three or four nondisabled men who lived there paid monthly rent of $150 to $200 each.

During his deposition, Byrd was unable to explain the disparity, except to say that he was maintaining practices established by his former employer, Henry’s Turkey Service,  decades ago.

“That’s just the way it was always done,” he told a lawyer for the Department of Labor. “That’s simply the way it was when I started.”

In his deposition, Byrd also acknowledged that he and his manager, David Perez, forged signatures on the disabled men’s paychecks and cashed them, then paid the men weekly allowances of $50 to $80 each.

Byrd also testified that he took the men’s disability checks as compensation for room and board and deposited the men’s tax refunds into a company account used to pay his personal and business expenses. 

According to Byrd, he began working for Henry’s Turkey Service in 1968, when the company was populating labor camps across the United States with intellectually disabled men recently discharged from state-run institutions in Texas.

Byrd said that because his job was to supervise the individuals running the various labor camps, he traveled from one site to the next, in Iowa, Texas, Missouri, Illinois, South Carolina and Kansas.

At one time, Iowa was home to three labor camps runs by Henry’s — in Ellsworth, Storm Lake and Atalissa.

In 1985, Byrd went into business on his own, purchasing the Henry’s labor camp operation in Newberry, South Carolina. At the time, he said, the bunkhouse consisted of 15 disabled men living in a set of trailers across the street from a turkey processing plant.

Over the next 30 years, the men who worked at the plant would arrive there in the morning, help unload live turkeys from trucks, hang them on hooks and kill them. It was, as Byrd later acknowledged, difficult and repetitive work.  

By 2009, some of the men had become too old or sick to continue working. A few of them retired but continued to live in the bunkhouse. The same was true at Henry’s last remaining bunkhouse, in Atalissa.

Some of the former residents at Henry's Turkey Farm.

The Iowa operation already was winding down in February 2009 when a Des Moines Register investigation triggered a raid by state and federal authorities. All of the Atalissa workers were relocated to fully licensed care facilities, and the bunkhouse was shut down.

But Byrd’s South Carolina operation continued to do business until late 2014, when New York Times reporter Dan Barry, working on a book about the Atalissa operation, discovered the Newberry bunkhouse and reported that six of the original Henry’s workers were still living there.

Because of health problems, two of the men — Claude Wren and Johnny Hickman — had retired from work at the Louis Rich processing plant across the street from the Newberry bunkhouse, Byrd told the Department of Labor.

But the four others — Leon Jones, Carlos Morris, and Jay and John Koch — were still working at the plant and collecting $50 to $100 per week in compensation from Work Services.

Seeking compensation for the workers

According to corporate tax records, Work Services Inc. had annual gross receipts of almost $1 million at that time. An affiliate, Work Service Co., reported more than $600,000 in gross receipts.

In 2015, the U.S. Department of Labor filed suit against Work Services, Byrd and Perez, alleging they had failed to pay the disabled workers the legally required minimum wage; failed to pay overtime; and failed to keep adequate payroll records.

But the lawsuit was limited in scope: Under federal law, the department could seek payment of only two years’ worth of back wages.

In February, Senior U.S. District Judge Henry Herlong sided with the Department of Labor, granting the agency summary judgment before a trial could take place.

The judge called Byrd’s claim that the workers wanted the company to keep their wages for them “ludicrous,” and he ordered the defendants to pay $165,404 in back wages and damages.

Seven months later, the EEOC filed its own lawsuit against Work Services, alleging violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The EEOC’s lawsuit, if successful, could result in far greater damages than the Department of Labor case, because it seeks compensation in three categories: money for the men’s financial losses; for emotional pain, loss of enjoyment of life and humiliation; and punitive damages for the “malicious or reckless conduct” of the company.

In his December 2016 deposition, Byrd acknowledged his bookkeeping at the bunkhouse wasn’t adequate — he kept thousands of dollars owed to the men stuffed inside envelopes hidden at his home, he said — but that he considered the workers family.

“I did a really poor job of keeping records,” he said. “I was trying real hard to take care of them and make their life a little easier and, hopefully, create a place where they could live the rest of their lives. … I had a lot of affection for each and every one of them. Well, when you’ve spent a third of your life or more with them, they become part of your family, nearly.”

Two of the disabled Henry's workers are related: Carl Wayne Jones and Leon Jones are brothers, just a year apart in age. They began working for Henry's in the late 1960s, but the company eventually split them up, sending Carl to Atalissa and Leon to Newberry.   

For decades, the two men didn't see each other.

But in 2014, Canino, the EEOC attorney, set up a Skype connection that enabled the two men, then in their mid-60s, to see and speak to each other for the first time in years.

According to the New York Times, Carl Wayne shared the news that their mother had died long ago; he also talked about his girlfriend and the group home in Waterloo where he lived with some of his friends from the Atalissa bunkhouse.

This year, Carl and his girlfriend got married. Leon rented a tuxedo and, along with some of his friends from the Newberry bunkhouse, traveled to Iowa for the wedding.

"I missed being there," Canino says, "but I am so happy the South Carolina and Iowa guys got to reconnect a bit — especially Carl and Leon."

Henry's Turkey Service still owes millions

No criminal charges were ever filed against Henry’s Turkey Service for the alleged financial exploitation of its Iowa workers, labor law violations, fire-code citations or the lack of a care-facility license at the Atalissa bunkhouse.

At the time, Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller said the better course of action was to have other agencies pursue civil remedies against company owner Kenneth Henry of Proctor, Texas, who was worth about $3 million.

Several state and federal agencies imposed administrative penalties, or won court judgments, against the company.

They eventually totaled $5.9 million, but Kenneth Henry refused to surrender any of his assets or enter into a payment-plan agreement with the federal government before he died in April 2016.

In recent years, however, the U.S. Department of Justice, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the U.S. Department of Labor have aggressively pursued collection efforts.

To date, they have distributed roughly $800,000 to the disabled former employees of Henry's. They expect to soon collect an additional $900,000 from the estate of Kenneth Henry, which should bring the total recovery for the Atalissa workers to $1.7 million.

Here's a look at the various judgments and penalties imposed against Henry's:

• May 2009: Iowa Workforce Development imposed a $900,000 penalty against Henry's for violating state labor laws. The penalty was later increased to more than $1.1 million.
• November 2009: The U.S. Department of Labor sued the company for federal labor law violations, resulting in a court judgment against the company for $1.8 million.
• September 2012: After the company offered no resistance or defense to allegations that it violated the fair-wage provisions of the Americans With Disabilities Act, a federal judge ordered Henry’s to pay $1.3 million to 32 of its disabled workers.
• May 2013: An Iowa jury returned a verdict of $240 million against Henry’s Turkey Service for discriminatory employment conditions, but the jury verdict was later reduced to $1.6 million because of federal caps on damages in such cases.

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2017/12/11/atalissa-echoes-federal-agency-sues-bunkhouse-owner-exploiting-mentally-disabled-workers/924471001/

RELATED POSTS on HENRY'S TURKEY FARM.

Deplorable Treatment of People with Intellectual Disabilities at Henry's Turkey Farm in Iowa : Disability History

For decades dozen of men with developmental disabilities lived in a old school house and worked at a turkey plant. No one knew the conditions and abuse they endured.

Hopefully the actual story of the these men's life will raise awareness and help prevent similar situations from occurring ever in the future.

The ‘Boys’ in the Bunkhouse

          Toil, abuse and endurance in the heartland.

CLICK HERE for Very Detailed N.Y.  Times Article

For Previous Posts on  Henry's Turkey Farm CLICK HERE

# originally posted March 2014, in honor of the anniversary of ADA, as history of the disability community.

Henry’s Turkey Service, Heirs Must Turn over $600,000 Owed to 32 Disabled Workers for wages, exploitation, and abusive

PRESS RELEASE | Sept. 17, 2015
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

EEOC and U.S. Attorney Successfully Intervene in Deal That Would Have Diverted Monies Away From Victims of Discrimination

DALLAS - U.S. District Chief Judge Jorge A. Solis issued an order on September 11, 2015, to override a confidential settlement that would have re-directed over half a million dollars away from a class of 32 intellectually disabled former employees of Hill Country Farms, Inc. (HCF), dba Henry's Turkey Service.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) had asked the U.S. attorney's office for the Northern District of Texas to monitor a suspicious land deal -- a financial arrangement that would have resulted in a total of approximately $600,000 changing hands in settlement of an action for declaratory judgment filed in Mills County, Texas, where Henry's Turkey Service was based.  As a result, the U.S. attorney's office found evidence of what it found to be a fraudulent transaction and filed an emergency motion for a court intervention.

When issuing the order, Judge Solis wrote: "The Court does not believe it is by accident that the settlement proceeds make their way to the children of HCF's owners, all while avoiding the reach of the United States.  This was an intentional scheme concocted solely to shield a substantial sum of money from the United States' collection efforts.  Accordingly, the Court finds ... any benefit due to the Estate under the Settlement Agreement is the property of HCF and, as such, is subject to this Court's authority to aid the United States in obtaining satisfaction of its judgment against Henry and HCF."

The U.S. attorney and EEOC had filed briefs seeking the court's intervention to prevent the injustice that the government alleged would result if a secret side agreement were allowed to control a settlement of the Mills County action.  

EEOC and the U.S. attorney were able to intercept and secure the monies as part of an effort to collect over $3 million in unpaid judgments obtained by two federal agencies against Henry's Turkey for wages, financial exploitation, discrimination and abusive conduct against the disabled adults who worked in Texas and Iowa for decades while never being paid more than $65 per month.  

The Motion for Turnover Order filed by the U.S. attorney in Case No. 3:12-CV-4737-P in the Dallas federal court sought to collect on both the $3.74 million judgment (2013) in favor of EEOC under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), against Hill Country Farms, dba Henry's Turkey Service, and an earlier $1.7 million judgment (2011) by the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) against the same defendant and corporate officer, Kenneth Henry, for minimum wage and overtime violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). 

"Since the time when most of the men were rescued from their deplorable working conditions in 2009, they have been waiting for compensation," said Robert Canino, regional attorney for EEOC's Dallas District Office, who worked closely with the U.S. attorney's office in the collection.  "The jury verdict in 2013 struck a blow toward justice and brought to light important discrimination issues; however, the monetary aspect of the legal remedies has been slow in coming.  While the case has been very important in furthering societal dialogue on employment practices that can be misused to exploit the disabled, EEOC has not relented in its pursuit of the dollar compensation that these men earned by their sweat and their suffering."

On May 1, 2013, a jury in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa in Davenport rendered a verdict of $240 million in favor of the 32 workers. The jury found that for years during their employment, the intellectually disabled men went unpaid and were subjected to substandard living conditions, restrictions on personal freedoms, denial of medical care and harsh discipline as well as verbal and physical harassment. The jury found further that the treatment suffered was because of the contracted turkey processing workers' vulnerability as persons with intellectual disabilities. 

This largest jury verdict ever obtained by EEOC was later reduced to $1.6 million, representing $50,000 in compensatory and punitive damages per man based on applicable statutory caps under the Civil Rights Act of 1991. An earlier award for unpaid market wages for a two-year period, together with the damages for the treatment, brought EEOC's total judgment to $3.74 million. Notwithstanding the elusiveness of the company's assets in the years surrounding the litigation, collection of the judg­ment through garnishments and liens had recently reached an accumulated amount of about $272,000 prior to this latest court order. The confidential agreement to change the beneficiaries of the Texas land deal to re-direct proceeds away from possible payment for the discrimination was dated July 2013, only one month after the June 2013 final entry of judgment in favor of EEOC in the discrimin­ation case.

If the company and private parties involved comply with the court's order, the government will begin a process for distribution of over $850,000 collected to date to the class members. EEOC will coordinate with the U.S. Department of Labor to begin the distribution plan and process. 

Protecting vulnerable workers is one of the six strategic enforcement priorities identified by the Commission.  EEOC is responsible for enforcing federal laws against employment discrimination. Further information about the agency is available at www.eeoc.gov.

http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/9-17-15b.cfm

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RELATED POSTS ON HENRY'S TURKEY SERVICE: 
http://abilitychicagoinfo.blogspot.com/search?q=Henry%E2%80%99s+Turkey+Service&max-results=20&by-date=true

Citing the "depraved" exploitation of dozens of mentally retarded men, $1 million fine against the owners of Henry's Turkey Service

Written by CLARK KAUFFMAN; Des Moines Register

Citing the "depraved" exploitation of dozens of mentally retarded men, a state official on Tuesday reinstated a $1.1 million fine against the owners of Henry's Turkey Service.

The company is a Texas labor broker that for 40 years paid more than 70 mentally retarded men about 41 cents an hour, plus room and board, to work in a Muscatine County meat-processing plant.

In February 2009, The Des Moines Register started asking about the old schoolhouse where the men lived, its lack of a care-facility license and the workers' wages. Days later, a dozen government agencies declared the bunkhouse unsafe, and relocated 21 residents.

Iowa Workforce Development imposed a $1,164,400 administrative penalty against Henry's for allegedly making improper deductions from workers' pay, failing to pay minimum wage and failing to give pay stubs to workers.

The company appealed, which led to a hearing last summer before Administrative Law Judge Jeffrey Farrell, who cut the fine by 85 percent, to $174,660.

Iowa Workforce Development appealed Farrell's decision to Christopher Godfrey, state commissioner of workers' compensation. On Tuesday, Godfrey reinstated the entire, original fine.

In his decision, Godfrey wrote: "Locked behind the doors of the 'bunkhouse,' as the old schoolhouse had been labeled, were 37-plus years of secrets, neglect and deplorable actions. ...

"The actions of (Henry's) in exploiting persons with disabilities, as has been proven beyond a doubt, are depraved. What may have once had a seemingly benevolent purpose devolved into exploitation and clear violations of Iowa law."

Henry's attorney, David Scieszinski, could not be reached for comment Tuesday. Godfrey's decision is subject to appeal.

While Farrell had reduced the fine in part by finding that Henry's had acted in good faith and obeyed the law for many years, Godfrey ruled that the evidence showed otherwise. He said the testimony of Henry's co-founder Kenneth Henry wasn't credible, and the testimony of company accountant Robert Berry was "troublesome, as much of it is simply unbelievable."

Henry's has argued that it was not the men's employer, although company officials signed the men's checks and made all of the payroll deductions. The company claimed West Liberty Foods was the men's true employer, so any labor law violations should be attributable to the processing plant.

No one associated with Henry's has been criminally charged in the case.

In 2009, the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals asserted that the bunkhouse had operated as an unlicensed care facility, but Muscatine County prosecutors declined to file charges. Last year, the county sheriff said he believed the workers were treated well.

Ten months ago, the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled Henry's had abused and humiliated its workers, violated their civil rights and shortchanged them by at least $1 million in wages. However, the agency has taken no public action against Henry's.

The U.S. Department of Labor is pursuing a civil case against Henry's for violations of federal labor laws.

For All Posts on  Henry's Turkey Farm CLICK HERE

# originally posted April 2011, in honor of the 25th anniversary of ADA, as history of the disability community.

Intellectually Disabled Workers Awarded $1.3M by EEOC for Pay Discrimination by Henry's Turkey Service

PRESS RELEASE : 9-19-12
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)

Further Proceedings on Disability-Based Abuse and Harassment Allegations Lie Ahead

DALLAS -- Hill Country Farms Inc., doing business as Henry's Turkey Service, violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by paying 32 workers with intellectual disabilities severely substandard wages, a judge has ruled in a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The court ordered the company, based in Goldthwaite, Texas, to pay its former employees lawful wages totaling $1.3 million for jobs they performed under contract at a turkey processing plant in West Liberty, Iowa between 2007 and 2009.

The EEOC alleged in its lawsuit (No. 3:11-cv-00041, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, Davenport Division,) that Henry's Turkey exploited a class of disabled workers because their intellectual impairments made them vulnerable and unaware of the extent to which their legal rights were being violated.

In this latest ruling, Senior U.S. District Court Judge Charles R. Wolle found that, rather than the total of $65 dollars per month Henry's Turkey paid to the disabled workers while contracted to work on an evisceration line at the plant, the employees should have been compensated at the average wage of $11-12 per hour, reflecting pay typically earned by non-disabled workers who performed the same or similar work. The EEOC's wage claims for each worker ranged from $28,000 to $45,000 in lost income over the course of their last two years before the Henry's Turkey Service operation was shut down in February 2009.

"This case reflects the Commission's longstanding commitment to enforce the anti-discrimination laws nationwide on behalf of all workers, including workers with intellectual disabilities and other vulnerable communities," said EEOC General Counsel P. David Lopez. "It is a serious mistake for any employer not to adopt safeguards against unlawful discrimination based on the assumption that workers will not exercise their rights due to fear or the lack of understanding."

Robert A. Canino, regional attorney for the Dallas District Office of the EEOC, which is litigating the case, said, "I believe that this positive result furthers the ongoing discussion about how far our country has come in promoting and supporting 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."

In its motion for partial summary judgment, the EEOC argued that Henry's Turkey Service was not justified in paying disabled workers wages that were lower than the minimum wage for Iowa where they lived and worked, and that the disabled workers, some of whom had performed the work for over 25 years, were due the same wage rate as non-disabled workers. In support of its motion, EEOC included the statement of a West Liberty Foods supervisor, who stated that the contracted Henry's workers were as productive as other workers in the plant, and that they actually demonstrated their knowledge and skills to persons who were being hired to replace them as the Henry's Turkey contract operations were winding down.
The EEOC also submitted evidence from West Liberty Foods records showing that while the plant paid Henry's Turkey Service as much as $11,000 per week for the work performed by the crew of 25-30 disabled men, Henry's paid the men only an average of $15 per week each.

Henry's maintained that it should be credited with wages for providing a 100-year-old former schoolhouse as living quarters. The EEOC submitted evidence, however, from various witnesses, including admissions by Henry's supervisors, that the "bunkhouse"-- from which the men were later evacuated -- was closed down by the state fire marshal as unsafe, its heating was inadequate, the bug-infested building had rodent problems, and the roof was in such disrepair that buckets were put out to catch water pouring in. The EEOC's position, supported by testimony of the U.S. Department of Labor, was that it was unlawful for the company to deny the disabled workers their full wages and benefits by claiming a "credit" for these substandard living conditions.

Dr. Sue Gant, an expert witness, supported the EEOC's claims that the company's scheme involved purposeful financial exploitation of the trusting workers. She concluded that Henry's conduct "including acts of deliberate misrepresentation" about wages and expenditures, was profit-driven and deprived the workers of "economic independence and self-sufficiency." She further declared that the company "took advantage of the workers. . .knowing that they would not likely be discovered because the workers were disabled."

"Company officers were never able to explain why they were deducting about $1,000 per month from each employee's wages to cover the company's alleged room and board and expenses, while simultaneously pulling out hundreds of dollars per month from each of the men's personal Social Security SSI and disability benefit accounts to reimburse itself for the very same described 'expenses'," added Regional Attorney Canino. Anyone could plainly see that the math just didn't add up, while the personal costs to the men continued to multiply."

In addition to the discriminatory pay practices which are the subject of the court's order, the EEOC's suit also alleges that the company subjected the disabled workers to abusive verbal and physical harassment, unnecessarily restricted their freedom, and imposed harsh punishments and other adverse terms and conditions of employment such as requiring them to live collectively in substandard living conditions and failing to provide proper health care. The EEOC's trial on these remaining issues regarding mistreatment of the workers is currently scheduled for March 2013.

The EEOC enforces the nation's laws prohibiting employment discrimination. Further information about the EEOC is available at www.eeoc.gov.

http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/9-19-12a.cfm
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Jury Awards $240 Million for Long-Term Abuse of Workers with Intellectual Disabilities by Henry's Turkey Service

PRESS RELEASE 5-1-13
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)

Historic Verdict Against Henry's Turkey Service for Men Subjected to Verbal and Physical Harassment, Housed in Substandard Facilities, Denied Medical Care

WASHINGTON - A Davenport, Iowa jury today awarded the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) damages totaling $240 million - the largest verdict in the federal agency's history - for disability discrimination and severe abuse.

The jury agreed with the EEOC that Hill County Farms, doing business as Henry's Turkey Service subjected a group of 32 men with intellectual disabilities to severe abuse and discrimination for a period between 2007 and 2009, after 20 years of similar mistreatment.

"The verdict sends an important message that the conduct that occurred here is intolerable in this nation, and hopefully will help to restore dignity and acknowledge the humanity of the workers who were mistreated for so many years," said EEOC Chair Jacqueline A. Berrien.

The company is based in Goldthwaite, Texas, but the work and abuse occurred in West Liberty and Atalissa, Iowa. The jury awarded each of the men $2 million in punitive damages and $5.5 million in compensatory damages. This verdict follows a September 2012 order from the district court judge that Henry's Turkey pay the men $1.3 million for unlawful disability-based wage discrimination, thus making the total judgment $241.3 million.

EEOC presented evidence to the jury that Henry's Turkey exploited these workers, whose jobs involved eviscerating turkeys, because their intellectual disabilities made them particularly vulnerable and unaware of the extent to which their legal rights were being denied. The affected men lived in Muscatine County, Iowa, where they worked for 20 years as part of a contract between Henry's Turkey and West Liberty Foods, an Iowa turkey processing plant.

"This historic verdict marks one of the EEOC's finest moments in its ongoing efforts to combat employment discrimination, especially discrimination against vulnerable and historically underserved populations," said EEOC General Counsel David Lopez. "The fact that the jury rendered the largest verdict ever obtained by the EEOC says volumes about the severity of the violation and it illustrates this agency's resolve to vindicate the rights of all discrimination victims."

Specifically, the EEOC presented evidence that for years and years the owners and staffers of Henry's Turkey subjected the workers to abusive verbal and physical harassment; restricted their freedom of movement; and imposed other harsh terms and conditions of employment such as requiring them to live in deplorable and sub-standard living conditions, and failing to provide adequate medical care when needed.

Verbal abuses included frequently referring to the workers as "retarded," "dumb ass" and "stupid." Class members reported acts of physical abuse including hitting, kicking, at least one case of handcuffing, and forcing the disabled workers to carry heavy weights as punishment. The Henry's Turkey supervisors, also the workers' purported caretakers, were often dismissive of complaints of injuries or pain.

"These men suffered isolation and exploitation for many years, while their employer cruelly consumed the fruits of their labor," said Robert A. Canino, regional attorney of the EEOC's Dallas District Office, which tried the case. "Our society has come a long way in learning how persons with intellectual disabilities should be fully integrated into the mainstream workplace, without having to compromise their human dignity."

Such abuse violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability, including intellectual disabilities, in terms and conditions of employment and wages and bars disability-based harassment. The EEOC filed its lawsuit (No. 3:11-cv-00041-CRW -TJS, in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa) after first attempting to settle the case through its conciliation process.

"The ADA provided us with a law enforcement tool to ensure fair treatment for persons with physical and mental disabilities," said Canino. He told the jury that Henry's Turkey treated the men "like property." He added, "The jury heard the human stories of these men, understood what they suffered, and valued their experiences in reaching their verdict." Canino said the men "feel humiliation and suffer distress from their experiences even to this day." Canino urged the jury to think of the "broken lives of 32 hard-working but vulnerable intellectually disabled men" who were employees of Henry's Turkey.

In support of its case and to detail the human story for each of the victims at trial, the EEOC relied upon a nationally recognized expert in the field of care and treatment of persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities, Dr. Sue Gant. Social workers from the Iowa Department of Human Services, former DHS manager Denise Gonzalez, and the staff of a disability support services provider, Exceptional Persons Inc. of Waterloo, Iowa, also provided in-depth personal perspectives with regard to the victims and the nature of the abuses suffered.

In addition to the EEOC's disability-based harassment and discrimination verdict, the EEOC earlier won a $1.3 million wage discrimination judgment when Senior U.S. District Court Judge Charles R. Wolle found that, rather than the total of $65 dollars per month Henry's Turkey paid to the disabled workers while contracted to work on an evisceration line at the plant, the employees should have been compensated at the average wage of $11-12 per hour, reflecting pay typically earned by workers without intellectual disabilities who performed the same or similar work. The EEOC's wage claims for each worker ranged from $28,000 to $45,000 in lost income over the course of their last two years before the Henry's Turkey Service operation was shut down in February 2009.

Protecting vulnerable workers from disparate pay, harassment, and other discriminatory policies is one of the priorities identified in the EEOC's Strategic Enforcement Plan (SEP).

The EEOC enforces the nation's laws prohibiting employment discrimination. Further information about the EEOC is available at www.eeoc.gov.

http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/5-1-13b.cfm

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# originally posted May 2013, in honor of the 25th anniversary of ADA, as history of the disability community.