A lawsuit filed in Iowa alleges that managers at a Tyson Foods plant were taking bets on how many of its workers would contract COVID-19 while dismissing concerns about the coronavirus.
The family of Isidro Fernandez, a worker at a Tyson plant in Waterloo who died in April, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the company and several members of its leadership. Fernandez was 1 of at least 6 people in the plant to have died during the outbreak, according to the Associated Press, and an amended complaint for the lawsuit was filed on Nov. 11 with new allegations.
Among them is that one of the plant managers organized a “cash buy-in, winner-take-all” betting pool for managers and supervisors on how many plant employees would test positive for the virus. If those bets did take place, those who wagered on the high end won big. One thousand of the plant’s 2,800 workers contracted the virus.
Overall, the lawsuit accuses management at the plant of ignoring concerns about the coronavirus and failing to take proper protective measures for its employees.
“Defendant John Casey explicitly directed supervisors to ignore symptoms of COVID-19. Mr. Casey told supervisors had to show up to work, even if they were exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19, and he directed supervisors to make their direct reports come to work, even if those direct reports were showing symptoms of COVID-19,” the lawsuit reads. “On one occasion, Mr. Casey intercepted a sick supervisor en-route to get tested and ordered the supervisor to get back to work, adding, ‘We all have symptoms. You have a job to do.'”
In several instances, the lawsuit claims that plant employees were told they needed to continue working so that “Americans don’t go hungry.”
Fernandez’s family is seeking unspecified damages for fraudulent misrepresentation and gross negligence. The case was initially filed in state court but, at the company’s request, was moved to federal court. The family is attempting to have the case moved back to state court.
The company has not yet responded to the new allegations, according to the Iowa Capital Dispatch. The Washington Examiner reached out to Tyson Foods for information about how the company plans to respond in court but did not immediately receive a response.
“We’re saddened by the loss of any Tyson team member and sympathize with their families,” a Tyson spokesperson said in a statement to several news outlets, adding that the health and safety of their workers was the company’s “top priority.” Though the company declined to address the lawsuit specifically, it did counter that the plant has instituted a number of safety measures such as temperature checks, workstation dividers, and face masks.
Tyson Foods also brought up the fact that the plant closed in April for two weeks over concerns about the virus. Court records indicate that Black Hawk County Sheriff Tony Thompson observed the plant, advised it to shut down after what he saw “shook him to the core,” and that they did not initially do so.
