EEOC accuses Texas farming corporation of heinous abuses at Iowa facility

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Agency (EEOC) has filed a lawsuit in federal court against Texas-based Hill Country Farms. The suit accuses employees and supervisors at Hill Country subsidiary Henry’s Turkey Service, a turkey-processing center in Muscatine County, Iowa, of abusing mentally impaired workers.

Employees with mental disabilities were allegedly paid $65 a month to eviscerate turkeys full-time. They were also housed in deplorable conditions and denied access to medical care, the EEOC reports.

Perhaps equally shocking — and equally against the Americans with Disabilities Act — is the abuse that the EEOC claims was heaped on the workers on top of the alleged flagrant violations of wage, housing and benefit standards. The EEOC press release elaborates:

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.

Such employee abuse as alleged to have happened at Henry’s Turkey Service could gain a degree of protection with the passage of bills like Iowa’s HF 589, introduced by state representative and rancher Annette Sweeney (R-Alden) last month. The bill passed in the House on March 17 and is currently undergoing review in the Senate. As reported by The Iowa Independent’s Lynda Waddington, HF 589 defines taking photographs or video of a farm without the express approval of its owner as “animal facility interference,” punishable by up to five years in prison and $7,500 in fines.

Reuters reports, “The Iowa measure was introduced after a number of group released videos showing cows being shocked, pigs beaten and chicks ground up alive.” Sweeney has defended his bill as “empowering” to whistleblowers, saying that it encourages the reporting of offenses through official channels rather than grassroots action.

The Florida Independent’s Brett Ader has previously reported on similar legislation in Florida.