Excerpt from: The Oakland Press (click for full article)
An Iowa jury on Wednesday awarded a total of $240 million to 32 mentally
disabled Iowa turkey processing plant workers for what government
lawyers described as years of around-the-clock abuse and discrimination
by the Texas company that oversaw their care, work and lodging.
The
federal jury in Davenport determined that Henry’s Turkey Service, of
Goldthwaite, Tex., violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by
creating a hostile living and working environment and imposing
discriminatory conditions of employment. The jury also found that the
company acted with “malice or reckless indifference” to the men’s civil
rights.
Jurors awarded each of the men $7.5 million apiece after a
weeklong trial that featured emotional testimony from social workers
who described the physical and verbal abuse they suffered. That includes
$5.5 million apiece in compensatory damages for their pain and
suffering and $2 million apiece to punish the company for knowingly
violating the law.
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