Tyson fires executives following complaints about the Covid-19 betting group

In November, a lawsuit for wrongful death filed this summer was amended to include new allegations about the behavior of leaders at the Waterloo facility. The amended lawsuit alleges that Tyson’s facility supervisors and managers were betting on how many workers would get sick, even when they took steps to protect themselves and denied knowledge of the spread of the disease at work.

The lawsuit also alleged that plant officials encouraged workers to continue working even if they were ill or had symptoms.

The company suspended people allegedly involved without pay and took advantage of former Attorney General Eric Holder along with its law firm Covington & Burling LLP to conduct an independent investigation into the case.

“The behaviors these people display do not represent Tyson’s core values, which is why we took immediate and appropriate action to get to the truth,” Tyson Foods CEO and President Dean Banks said in a statement on Wednesday. . Banks, along with the company and other individuals, were named defendants in the lawsuit.

The complaint also alleged wider problems in Tyson’s handling of Covid-19, alleging that the company did not take sufficient steps to protect workers and encouraged them to enter while they were ill.

More than a third of plant workers tested positive for Covid-19 in early May.

Tyson said Wednesday in response to the lawsuit that it is “saddened by the loss of any member of Tyson’s team,” adding that it has put protective measures in place at its facilities to help protect workers.

Covington’s firm, as well as the defendants’ and plaintiff’s attorneys, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The lawsuit for unlawful death was filed by Oscar Fernandez, whose father, Isidro Fernandez, worked at the Waterloo facility and died in April due to complications from Covid-19.

Meat packaging facilities, where workers usually work in nearby areas, emerged as virus hotspots at the start of the pandemic. Tyson temporarily slowed down at the Waterloo facility in late April after a growing number of its 2,800 workers called sick. At the time, the Black Hawk County Health Department linked the Tyson plant to 182 Covid-19 cases in the county, which now numbered 374.

Tyson said he decided to stop production in Waterloo after receiving data from the health department. He reopened the plant in May, saying it had sanitized the entire facility and installed “improved safety precautions and social protection measures.” At the time, more than 1,000 Waterloo workers had tested positive for Covid-19, according to the county health department.

Tyson (TSN) said on Wednesday that the banks went to Waterloo last month after the complaints and met on Wednesday with employees and community leaders.

.Source