Company profited from labor of disabled Texans (pocketing as much as $40,000 in wages a month)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6261467.html

Employer is accused of pocketing as much as $40,000 in wages a month

By TERRI LANGFORD and MIKE TOLSON
Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle
Feb. 12, 2009, 10:42PM

A Texas labor broker earned as much as $40,000 a month off the labor of mentally disabled men sent to work in an Iowa meat processing plant, employees told the Houston Chronicle.

Henry’s Turkey Service, based in Goldthwaite, began sending mentally disabled men from Texas to Iowa more than 30 years ago to work in turkey processing plants.

Now, a week after officials removed 21 of the men living in a converted schoolhouse in eastern Iowa, details of how they toiled long hours for a mere $65 a month while their employer is accused of pocketing the rest is becoming more clear.

The men’s caretakers at the bunkhouse, Randy and Dru Neubauer, said they were also responsible for sending the men’s timesheets and the money paid to Henry’s by the plant, West Liberty Foods, to Texas.

Neubauer said from $7,000 to $10,000 in wages were earned each week by the 21 men.

Henry’s also had the men’s federal disability checks signed directly over to them for their care. The mentally disabled can qualify for up to $674 a month from the Social Security Administration.
Prosecution urged

FULL story at link.