The Iowa attorney general has decided not to file criminal charges against Henry’s Turkey Service or its owners for allegedly exploiting the disabled workers the company housed in a converted bunkhouse while they worked at a West Liberty Foods meat processing plant, the Des Moines Register reported.

Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller will not pursue charges against Texas-based Henry’s, which supplied labor to the plant, because the state determined that $2.8 million in penalties brought by other agencies is sufficient and that it would be difficult to prove criminal culpability, the article said. 

The attorney general’s office said it had uncovered a number of reports of verbal or physical harassment or abuse, but the workers, with an IQ of 77 or below, could not provide much detail. And while conditions at the bunkhouse where the men lived were substandard, there is no evidence that Henry’s owners were aware of it, according to the newspaper.

The state fire marshal closed down the 100-year-old building, which had no central heating, in February 2009, and the workers were moved to a care facility.

Henry’s is appealing a $1.1 million fine imposed by Iowa’s workforce development office and a $1.7 million judgment for back wages in a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Department of Labor. Labor officials contend Henry’s kept the bulk of the men’s earnings and a portion of their Social Security and disability payments, leaving them with an average hourly wage of 41 cents.

Henry’s accountant told the Register that the company and its owners, Jane Ann Johnson and Kenneth Henry, who are both in their 70s, are unable to pay all of the penalties.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission earlier this year also sued Henry’s after alleging the company subjected its workers to abuse. The parties must be ready for trial by October 2012.

State closes bunkhouse that housed mentally retarded workers

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20090208/NEWS/902080344