Texas Firm: Iowa Labor Laws Don’t Apply

A Texas company that hired out dozens of mentally disabled workers to work in a turkey processing plant in eastern Iowa says it’s not subject to Iowa’s labors laws.

Iowa Workforce Development has imposed $900,000 in fines against Henry’s Turkey Service’s parent, Hill Country Farms of Goldthwaite, Texas. The agency alleges, among other issues, that the company paid the men less that the minimum wage to work in the West Liberty Foods plant.

An attorney for Hill Country Farms says the company is organized, operated and controlled by Texas laws and is not subject to the Iowa laws it’s accused of violating.

The company says the workers, who lived for decades in a rundown bunkhouse in Atalissa, were technically residents of Texas and their employer was West Liberty Foods.

Information from: The Des Moines Register,
www.desmoinesregister.com