Disabled men lived in unheated house, worked for next to nothing at chicken plant
This is a story that broke here in Iowa over the weekend. It isn't getting a lot of attention, not as much as the Postville raid last spring, but I think it's important for several reasons: (1) it focuses on issues of the mentally disabled (2) it focuses on issues of labor (3) it is a sobering look at where food really comes from.
Company admits to paying disabled men about $65 a month
By CLARK KAUFFMAN • ckauffman@dmreg.com • © 2009, Des Moines Register and Tribune Company • February 11, 2009
Henry's Turkey Service retained most of its mentally retarded workers' government disability checks and the company paid the men about $65 per month, a company official acknowledged for the first time on Tuesday.
The 21 workers, who for decades lived in a 106-year-old bunkhouse in rural Atalissa, were moved Tuesday by social workers to a fully licensed care facility in Waterloo. It's expected that the men will remain there unless they or their relatives express some other preference.
Since the 1970s, Henry's Turkey Service has sent mentally retarded men from Texas to work in West Liberty's meat-processing plant. For 34 years, the men were housed in the former schoolhouse - known locally as "the bunkhouse" - that Henry's leases from the city of Atalissa.
The bunkhouse was shut down Saturday as more than a dozen local, state and federal agencies launched a wide-ranging investigation into the Texas company. On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Labor announced that it was launching its own investigation into some of Henry's labor practices.
The man who runs the company, Kenneth J. Henry of Texas, has declined to comment on the matter.
On Tuesday, however, Robert Berry, corporate secretary for Henry's parent company, Hill Country Farms, explained the manner in which the mentally retarded workers have been paid.
Each month, West Liberty Foods paid Henry's Turkey Service a "big, lump sum" of money as compensation for the men's work at the plant, he said. Henry's then paid each of those workers about $65.
"I actually do the payroll checks, and (the workers) just get a check for $60 or $70 and there's no deductions figured against it," Berry said.
According to state officials, all of the men have been receiving government disability checks in the form of Supplemental Security Income. Henry's deducts from those checks about $1,100 per month for the men's room, board and care, Berry said.
The effect of that practice is made clear in payroll records obtained by The Des Moines Register:
• In January, one of the men worked 149 hours at West Liberty Foods as a "gut puller." He was paid $65, which works out to 44 cents an hour.
• Henry's then deducted from that same worker's disability check $487 for room and board in the bunkhouse, a building that state officials have described as "deplorable" and a "tinderbox" that posed an immediate threat to the men's health and safety. An additional $572 was deducted from the worker's disability check for what Henry's calls "kind care."
Berry said most of the money that was paid by West Liberty Foods to Henry's Turkey Service was spent on food, clothing, haircuts and other expenses related to the residents' needs and should be considered part of their overall compensation for work at West Liberty Foods.
"So, really, that little paycheck they got, that was just purely - they would cash them and so they would have a little spending money," he said.
The Department of Labor investigated Henry's labor practices several years ago and found no major problems, Berry said.
However, the department said Tuesday that the investigation concluded in 2001 that 44 of the Atalissa workers were owed a total of $24,000 in back wages. Department officials could not say Tuesday whether the case was settled for a lesser amount.
Department spokesman Jeremy Eggers said the Register would have to file a formal Freedom of Information Act request to see the agency's final report on the matter.
Berry said the company's use of workers' disability checks to pay for their room, board and care in the bunkhouse was overseen by federal officials.
"If we were doing anything wrong, do you think the Social Security Administration wouldn't come in and crack the whip on us?" he asked. "I mean, we've been doing this for 35 years."
He said all of the men benefited from their jobs in the meat-processing plant.
"I can honestly tell you every single one of those guys has been enriched by having something to do they could call 'work,' as opposed to being stuck in a room day and night with a TV and a remote controller," he said.
The men were evacuated from the Atalissa bunkhouse Saturday night after the state fire marshal found that the boiler didn't work and the building was being warmed by space heaters. The home's windows were boarded up to keep out the cold, and some of the doors were padlocked shut. Water heaters were allegedly vented inside the house, creating an additional risk of fire and carbon monoxide poisoning.
Berry said he has never seen the bunkhouse.
"That building may be awful, I don't know, I don't have a clue," he said. "They inspected that building every year. Now, whether it was a good inspection or not, that's up to anybody's call. But we had an annual inspection for 30 years on that building."
He said he's not sure who conducted the inspections, but is looking into that.
Henry's founder, Thurman "T.H." Johnson, died last year. Since then, Johnson's widow, Jane Ann Johnson, and his former partner, Kenneth Henry, have run the company. They are cooperating with the authorities as part of the current investigation, Berry said.
"The FBI has been involved in this," Berry said. "They interviewed a bunch of people Friday ... They also interviewed Jane Ann. They had her fly up to Iowa Saturday, this past weekend, and they interviewed her for six hours."
Berry said that the executives of Henry's Turkey Service and Hill Country Farms aren't rich, but he declined to specify their salaries.
"I can just, from where I sit, look at the salaries that the top people paid themselves," he said. "And I guarantee you that nearly every state worker that is looking into this, and that FBI guy that did all of the inquiry, they make more money than the president of this corporation ever made annually. And that's the truth."
State officials have said they plan to file criminal charges against the company or its representatives for running an unlicensed care center. That's a misdemeanor offense in Iowa, punishable by up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $1,875.
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20090211/NEWS10/902110354
I'm not real crazy about the Register's terminology, either. I don't think "mentally retarded" is the lexicon today. Is it? I don't know, since there was a vote to remove it from the state constitution last fall. Okay, it wasn't, it was to remove "idiot". The messed up thing? You can't say "retarded" if you comment to the story!! WTF double standard, Register.
More information can be found here: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=NEWS&template=keywords&keyword=atalissa
For more info on the Postville raid, see here: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=NEWS&theme=POSTVILLE_ICE_RAID&template=theme
And here's an article about their relocation: http://www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2009/02/11/news/local/11011612.txt
Company admits to paying disabled men about $65 a month
By CLARK KAUFFMAN • ckauffman@dmreg.com • © 2009, Des Moines Register and Tribune Company • February 11, 2009
Henry's Turkey Service retained most of its mentally retarded workers' government disability checks and the company paid the men about $65 per month, a company official acknowledged for the first time on Tuesday.
The 21 workers, who for decades lived in a 106-year-old bunkhouse in rural Atalissa, were moved Tuesday by social workers to a fully licensed care facility in Waterloo. It's expected that the men will remain there unless they or their relatives express some other preference.
Since the 1970s, Henry's Turkey Service has sent mentally retarded men from Texas to work in West Liberty's meat-processing plant. For 34 years, the men were housed in the former schoolhouse - known locally as "the bunkhouse" - that Henry's leases from the city of Atalissa.
The bunkhouse was shut down Saturday as more than a dozen local, state and federal agencies launched a wide-ranging investigation into the Texas company. On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Labor announced that it was launching its own investigation into some of Henry's labor practices.
The man who runs the company, Kenneth J. Henry of Texas, has declined to comment on the matter.
On Tuesday, however, Robert Berry, corporate secretary for Henry's parent company, Hill Country Farms, explained the manner in which the mentally retarded workers have been paid.
Each month, West Liberty Foods paid Henry's Turkey Service a "big, lump sum" of money as compensation for the men's work at the plant, he said. Henry's then paid each of those workers about $65.
"I actually do the payroll checks, and (the workers) just get a check for $60 or $70 and there's no deductions figured against it," Berry said.
According to state officials, all of the men have been receiving government disability checks in the form of Supplemental Security Income. Henry's deducts from those checks about $1,100 per month for the men's room, board and care, Berry said.
The effect of that practice is made clear in payroll records obtained by The Des Moines Register:
• In January, one of the men worked 149 hours at West Liberty Foods as a "gut puller." He was paid $65, which works out to 44 cents an hour.
• Henry's then deducted from that same worker's disability check $487 for room and board in the bunkhouse, a building that state officials have described as "deplorable" and a "tinderbox" that posed an immediate threat to the men's health and safety. An additional $572 was deducted from the worker's disability check for what Henry's calls "kind care."
Berry said most of the money that was paid by West Liberty Foods to Henry's Turkey Service was spent on food, clothing, haircuts and other expenses related to the residents' needs and should be considered part of their overall compensation for work at West Liberty Foods.
"So, really, that little paycheck they got, that was just purely - they would cash them and so they would have a little spending money," he said.
The Department of Labor investigated Henry's labor practices several years ago and found no major problems, Berry said.
However, the department said Tuesday that the investigation concluded in 2001 that 44 of the Atalissa workers were owed a total of $24,000 in back wages. Department officials could not say Tuesday whether the case was settled for a lesser amount.
Department spokesman Jeremy Eggers said the Register would have to file a formal Freedom of Information Act request to see the agency's final report on the matter.
Berry said the company's use of workers' disability checks to pay for their room, board and care in the bunkhouse was overseen by federal officials.
"If we were doing anything wrong, do you think the Social Security Administration wouldn't come in and crack the whip on us?" he asked. "I mean, we've been doing this for 35 years."
He said all of the men benefited from their jobs in the meat-processing plant.
"I can honestly tell you every single one of those guys has been enriched by having something to do they could call 'work,' as opposed to being stuck in a room day and night with a TV and a remote controller," he said.
The men were evacuated from the Atalissa bunkhouse Saturday night after the state fire marshal found that the boiler didn't work and the building was being warmed by space heaters. The home's windows were boarded up to keep out the cold, and some of the doors were padlocked shut. Water heaters were allegedly vented inside the house, creating an additional risk of fire and carbon monoxide poisoning.
Berry said he has never seen the bunkhouse.
"That building may be awful, I don't know, I don't have a clue," he said. "They inspected that building every year. Now, whether it was a good inspection or not, that's up to anybody's call. But we had an annual inspection for 30 years on that building."
He said he's not sure who conducted the inspections, but is looking into that.
Henry's founder, Thurman "T.H." Johnson, died last year. Since then, Johnson's widow, Jane Ann Johnson, and his former partner, Kenneth Henry, have run the company. They are cooperating with the authorities as part of the current investigation, Berry said.
"The FBI has been involved in this," Berry said. "They interviewed a bunch of people Friday ... They also interviewed Jane Ann. They had her fly up to Iowa Saturday, this past weekend, and they interviewed her for six hours."
Berry said that the executives of Henry's Turkey Service and Hill Country Farms aren't rich, but he declined to specify their salaries.
"I can just, from where I sit, look at the salaries that the top people paid themselves," he said. "And I guarantee you that nearly every state worker that is looking into this, and that FBI guy that did all of the inquiry, they make more money than the president of this corporation ever made annually. And that's the truth."
State officials have said they plan to file criminal charges against the company or its representatives for running an unlicensed care center. That's a misdemeanor offense in Iowa, punishable by up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $1,875.
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20090211/NEWS10/902110354
I'm not real crazy about the Register's terminology, either. I don't think "mentally retarded" is the lexicon today. Is it? I don't know, since there was a vote to remove it from the state constitution last fall. Okay, it wasn't, it was to remove "idiot". The messed up thing? You can't say "retarded" if you comment to the story!! WTF double standard, Register.
More information can be found here: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=NEWS&template=keywords&keyword=atalissa
For more info on the Postville raid, see here: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=NEWS&theme=POSTVILLE_ICE_RAID&template=theme
And here's an article about their relocation: http://www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2009/02/11/news/local/11011612.txt