State outlines alleged labor violations in Atalissa case

DES MOINES – A couple who helped supervise and care for workers with mental retardation who lived in a bunkhouse in Atalissa said they were told to cut spending on groceries for the men, some of whom were later found to be malnourished.

Dru and Randy Neubauer testified Monday at the hearing over alleged labor violations by Texas-based Henry's Turkey Service, which allegedly provided workers to West Liberty Foods, a food processing plant.

In exchange, the workers saw just $65 per month of their paychecks for full-time work, with deductions taken out for room and board and care, testimony showed Monday.

A total of 21 men with mental retardation were found by state officials in February 2009 to be living in what has been described as a deplorable situation with boarded up windows at the Atalissa bunkhouse. State officials on Monday described hazardous conditions they found inside the bunkhouse with fire safety issues and sanitary concerns.

Some of the men who left the home in Atalissa were found to be malnourished, state officials have said.

The state alleges Kenneth Henry and Jane Johnson, doing business as Henry's Turkey Service, and Hill Country Farms failed to pay workers the minimum wage, failed to provide pay stubs to workers and took illegal deductions from their paychecks.

They are facing a possible $100 penalty for each of 9,000 alleged wage violations, or up to $900,000 in total. Henry and Johnson have appealed those violations, which are at the center of a hearing before an administrative law judge this week.

Dru Neubauer testified she worked for Henry's Turkey Service until last year, preparing meals, paying bills, taking the men to doctor's and dentist appointments, and generally supervising their daily activities.

Neubauer said she would spend about $4,000 every two weeks to feed the men, but was told by her employer to cut back spending to $2,000 every two weeks for groceries, cleaning and laundry supplies, toilet paper and other household items.

“We cut way back,” Neubauer said.

Towards the end of 2008, spending went down to about $1,000 every two weeks, she said.

That wasn't the only way the Neubauers were told to cut back.

Randy Neubauer, who worked for Henry's Turkey Service, provided maintenance for the company and supervised workers at the plant. He said he tried to replace deteriorated plywood over windows but was told he could not.

“I was told I could not spend any money,” Neubauer said.

Mitchell Mahan, an attorney for Iowa Workforce Development, said the hearing was about a group of more than 30 men who “worked hard and worked well, but were not lawfully rewarded for their work.”

Mahan said state officials came to the conclusion something very wrong had gone on at the bunkhouse and it needed to be stopped.

Company employeees would transport the workers from the bunkhouse to West Liberty Foods, where they would process turkeys on a production line, doing jobs such as “pulling guts” from the carcasses.

Large deductions were taken from the men's paychecks for housing, despite Henry's Turkey Service paying $600 per month to rent the bunkhouse from the city of Atalissa and letting the property deteriorate, Mahan said. The company also took the Social Security benefits of the bunkhouse workers, Mahan said.

The company was frequently being paid more than $10,000 per week by West Liberty Foods to provide the workers, according to Mahan.

Dave Scieszinski, attorney for Henry and Johnson, said Henry and Johnson have never done business in Iowa as Henry's Turkey Service.

And he argued the men actually worked for West Liberty Foods, and not Texas-based Hill Country Farms.

Henry and Johnson are expected to present their side of the case Tuesday.