A shocking wrongful death lawsuit filed in Waterloo, Iowa tied to COVID infections at a Tyson Foods meat processing plant alleges that supervisors organized a betting pool to wager on how many employees would contract coronavirus, and then encouraged workers to come to work while sick.
More than 1,000 workers contracted the virus and five died, the Iowa Capital Dispatch reports.
One allegations in the lawsuit: “In mid-April, around the time Black Hawk County Sherriff Tony Thompson visited the plant and reported the working conditions there ‘shook [him] to the core,’ plant manager Tom Hart organized a cash-buy-in, winner-take-all, betting pool for supervisors and managers to wager how many plant employees would test positive for COVID-19.”
Here is the evil man himself, Tom Hart. May the ghosts of those who died under his care haunt him until his last breath. pic.twitter.com/WLXD5x3kOk
— Bart Blue Suburbia 🏳️🌈 (@UncleBartLux) November 19, 2020
Another detail: “John Casey, an upper-level manager at the plant, is alleged to have explicitly directed supervisors to ignore symptoms of COVID-19, telling them to show up to work even if they were exhibiting symptoms of the virus. Casey reportedly referred to COVID-19 as the ‘glorified flu’ and told workers not to worry about it because ‘it’s not a big deal’ and ‘everyone is going to get it.’ On one occasion, Casey intercepted a sick supervisor who was on his way to be tested and ordered him to get back to work, saying, ‘We all have symptoms — you have a job to do.’ After one employee vomited on the production line, managers reportedly allowed the man to continue working and then return to work the next day.”
Additionally, upper level managers afraid of being on the floor delegated jobs to employees who weren’t trained for them, supervisors lied to workers about existing cases in the plant, supervisors incentivized sick workers to continue working with cash bonuses, and executives lobbied the Iowa governor to shield them from lawsuits.
Read the full story here.
