Iowa egg supplier denies allegations of human trafficking
An Iowa industrial egg supplier is denying allegations that it engaged in human trafficking or threatened immigrant workers with deportation in retaliation for their complaints.
In March, attorneys for six Guatemalan citizens sued Iowa's Centrum Valley Farms and company manager Jose Cornejo in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa.
The plaintiffs, all of whom lived in Belmond, Eagle Grove, Clarion or Webster City while working for Centrum Valley Farms, seeks unspecified damages for harassment, discrimination and retaliation; wrongful discharge; human trafficking related to forced labor; violations of wage-and-hour laws related to overtime pay, and violations of the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act.
The plaintiffs — Kenny Augusto Tetzaguic Lux, Gerver Noel Marroquin Argueta, Isaias Tevalan Lopez, Consuelo Esperanza Lux Tepaz, Cecilia Angelica Bernal Cobo and Juan Carlos Tetzaguic Lux – claim Centrum Valley Farms recruited them to work at the company's Clarion egg farm and packaging facility and helped them obtain work-authorization documents from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, with Cornejo acting as their supervisor.
On a daily basis, Cornejo, who is Mexican, made 'repeated unwelcome comments disparaging the plaintiffs for their Guatemalan national origin,' the lawsuit claims. Cornejo is accused of telling the plaintiffs all Guatemalans were lazy and that he wanted to replace them with Mexicans or Americans.
When the Guatemalans complained about Cornejo to other managers, the lawsuit claims, the harassment allegedly grew worse with Cornejo threatening to have them deported. 'Cornejo even brought a firearm to work, showed it to the plaintiffs, and displayed it in his office to intimidate the plaintiffs and silence their complaints,' the lawsuit claims.
Cornejo also is accused of threatening to turn the Guatemalans in to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement if they tried to voluntarily leave their positions at the company. The company eventually terminated the Guatemalans' employment 'in retaliation for their complaints,' the lawsuit adds.
On Jan. 25, 2023, Cornejo allegedly brought a firearm to his office and displayed it on his desk to intimidate Lux and the other Guatemalans, according to the lawsuit. One of the other plaintiffs alleges Cornejo referred to him as his 'faithful dog,' his 'slave' and as his 'Guatemalan wetback,' while making him apply pesticides in chicken houses without the necessary protective equipment.
In response to the lawsuit, Centrum Valley Farms has denied any wrongdoing and claimed more than a dozen affirmative defenses.
For example, the company alleges the plaintiffs failed to take advantage of corrective or preventative opportunities to avoid any harm, and that the Guatemalans' claims of harassment are barred because the workers cannot show that any such conduct was so severe or pervasive that it affected their employment.
To the extent that any discriminatory or retaliatory conduct was committed by an employee of Centrum Valley Farms, the company states, the conduct fell outside the scope of the employee's authority and was contrary to Centrum Valley Farm's 'good-faith efforts to comply with state and federal law.'
A trial date has yet to be scheduled.
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