Guatemalan workers sue Iowa egg company, alleging human trafficking
Six Guatemalan nationals who worked for Iowa industrial egg supplier Centrum Valley Farms are suing the company alleging human trafficking and claiming they and other immigrant workers were denied overtime pay and threatened with deportation in retaliation for their complaints.
The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa by attorneys for Guatemalan citizens Kenny Augusto Tetzaguic Lux, Gerver Noel Marroquin Argueta, Isaias Tevalan Lopez, Consuelo Esperanza Lux Tepaz, Cecilia Angelica Bernal Cobo and Juan Carlos Tetzaguic Lux, all of whom lived in Belmond, Eagle Grove, Clarion or Webster City while working for Centrum Valley Farms in recent years.
Named as defendants are Centrum Valley Farms of Clarion and company manager Jose Cornejo.
The lawsuit 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 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 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 into Immigration and Customs Enforcement if they tried to voluntarily leave their positions at the company.
'Centrum Valley Farms wanted obedient workers to perform difficult and undesirable job duties that many U.S. citizens are unwilling to perform,' the lawsuit alleges. The company eventually terminated the Guatemalans' employment 'in retaliation for their complaints,' the lawsuit adds.
According to the plaintiffs, Centrum Valley Farms hired Kenny Augusto Tetzaguic Lux under a pseudonym in 2016 because he did not have legal status to be in the United States. After working at Centrum Valley Farms for more than six years, the company's management allegedly help him obtain documents to legally work in the United States, according to the lawsuit.
Later, company officials allegedly insisted that Lux keep working for Centrum Valley Farms, threatening to blacklist him to discourage him from seeking employment elsewhere, the lawsuit claims. As a poultry barn maintenance worker, Lux was allegedly instructed to keep working each day until all of his tasks were completed, resulting in him working more than 40 hours per week, but without overtime pay, according to the lawsuit.
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. On Oct. 7, 2023, Lux filed his first complaint with the Iowa Civil Rights Commission alleging discrimination based on his national origin, and on May 14, 2024, after being disciplined for insubordination, Lux was fired.
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.
The defendants in the case have yet to file a response to the allegations. Officials with Centrum Valley Farms did not return calls Tuesday from the Iowa Capital Dispatch.
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