Families of Tyson workers who died of COVID-19 can sue supervisors, not company, Iowa Supreme Court rules

DES MOINES — The Iowa Supreme Court ruled Friday to allow families of four Tyson Foods meatpacking workers who died of COVID-19 in 2020 to go forward with their negligence claims against executives and supervisors of the company, but not the company itself.

The lawsuits were filed by the families of four workers who died from complications of COVID-19 in 2020. They assert that the workers died because Tyson Foods Inc., and Tyson Fresh Meats Inc., and its executive and supervisors — 14 defendants — failed to prevent the spread of the virus, forced ill employees to continue working, and lied about the outbreak.

A Black Hawk County judge in 2023 dismissed the lawsuits filed by the families of Jose Ayala, Isidro Fernandez, Sedika Buljic and Reberiano Leno Garcia, ruling they lacked the legal grounds to sue and the workplace injury claims asserted should be resolved through the workers’ compensation system.

According to Iowa law, employees or their families must file nearly all injury claims with the state's Workers' Compensation Division. If a lawsuit is filed, the plaintiffs would have prove other employees committed gross negligence. The employees must have known they were putting other workers in danger and that the danger likely would result in harm or injury.

The families appealed the ruling to the Iowa Supreme Court, which affirmed part of the District Court’s ruling regarding the corporate defendants — Tyson Foods and Tyson Fresh Meats — based on Iowa law, which states those workplace injuries are covered under worker’s compensation. Therefore, the plaintiffs do not have a right to pursue direct tort claims for those injuries against their employers.

However, the court did find the lawsuits provided sufficient facts to an exception of the law and the families could pursue their claims against the executive and supervisor defendants for “recklessly disregarding a substantial and unnecessary risk that the (employees) would be exposed to COVID-19.”

Waterloo plant outbreak

The ruling provides extensive background from the lawsuits about how the Waterloo plant refused to shut down and protect its employees, which resulted in the “largest workplace outbreak of COVID-19” in the country. More than 1,000 employees tested positive for the virus, and at least five people died.

The director of the Black Hawk County Health Department attributed about 90 percent of the county’s total COVID cases to the Waterloo facility, the ruling states.

After a national emergency proclamation, which was followed by Gov. Kim Reynolds’ statewide emergency proclamation, Tyson’s corporate employees began working from home. But the Waterloo plant, which employed nearly 3,000 workers and processed about 20,000 hogs every day, remained operating at full capacity, according to the ruling.

Plant workers were told they couldn’t go home until they tested positive, and employees who were sick were told to continue working, the ruling states. One supervisor directed his employees to show up for work even if they had symptoms. This supervisor called COVID the “glorified flu” and told his workers not to worry because “everyone is going to get it.”

By April, the virus was surging and supervisors and managers avoided the plant floor, delegating their duties to non-managers.

The absenteeism was apparent to workers, so supervisors had a closed-door meeting with interpreters to instruct the interpreters to tell the workers there was no outbreak, there were no confirmed cases, and the county health department had “cleared” the plant. Most of the workers, including the four whose families filed suits, did not speak English.

The plant’s operations started drawing attention from local officials, and the health department attempted to enter the plant, but Tyson officials refused to cooperate, according to the ruling. Eventually, health department officials and the sheriff were allowed inside. They were “shocked” to find the plant operating at full speed with a crowded plant floor and no personal protective equipment. Tyson refused to close down, the ruling stated.

Two days later, nearly two dozen workers were admitted to the emergency room with COVID-19 symptoms. Among those was Isidro Fernandez, who died 15 days later. Jose Ayala also was admitted to the hospital. He died a month later.

Tyson again refused to close its Waterloo plant, and after 500 employees called in sick on April 16, the company publicly denied the plant had an outbreak.

The next day, Sedika Buljic died from COVID-19 complications, and around that same time, Reberiano Garcia was admitted to the hospital. He died about a month later.

Iowa lawmakers filed a complaint with OSHA against Tyson, and Gov. Reynolds had a conference call with several Tyson executives. The executives downplayed the seriousness of the outbreak, the ruling states.

After the call, Tyson announced internally it would start winding down operations because of the lack of workers. The next day, the company announced the shutdown to the public but kept the plant open three more days to process the remaining hogs.

Around the time Tyson announced the Waterloo plant’s closure, the plant manager, named in the suits, organized a betting pool on how many employees would test positive over the coming months, according to the ruling.

The Waterloo plant closed on April 23, 2020.

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