Katherine Webster  |  July 24, 2020

Category: Covid-19

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Man in hard hat and white coat in protective clothing processes meat at a meatpacking plant

A California meatpacking plant employee has filed a class action lawsuit alleging the plant knew its employees had been infected by or exposed to COVID-19.

Plaintiff Maria Pilar Ornelas claims she and others at Central Valley Meat were exposed after the meatpacking plant allegedly forced sick employees to continue working and concealing outbreaks of the disease from others.

Ornelas says the company was not taking enough precautions even from the outset of the coronavirus pandemic, and showed a “callous disregard of the physical and emotional” effects of coronavirus exposure on its employees.

The class action lawsuit says the meatpacking plant began hiding the first cases of the outbreak in April.

Within weeks, Ornelas says, she and nearly 200 other workers at the Hanford, Calif., facility contracted COVID-19, and that number continues to rise.

The complaint alleges Central Valley Meat knew about the rising infection levels among its workers but disregarded that fact and implemented policies and practices that violated health and safety regulations. 

The number of cases of COVID-19 cases “exploded” in Kings County, where the meatpacking plant is, according to the complaint. 

“Lest there be any doubt that Central Valley Meat was responsible for the rapid increase of COVID-19 infections in Kings County through its willful misconduct, as of early May 2020, Central Valley Meat’s single facility internally reported at least 161 cases of the county’s reported 158 cases,” the complaint states. “In other words, as of that date, Defendant’s facility accounted for more than 100% of the total reported cases in the entire county of 150,000 people.”

In addition to willfully ignoring the increasing coronavirus exposure cases at the plant, Central Valley Meat failed to keep the plaintiff’s and other employees’ health information confidential, the class action lawsuit alleges. 

The complaint says Central Valley Meat did take some precautions after the media reported on the outbreak at the plant, such as taking employee temperatures before their shifts started; however, it was “too little and too late.”

Person in protective clothing processes meat at a meatpacking plant

“The company continues to discourage employees from taking sick leave both expressly and through its Incentive Pay Policy and No-Fault Attendance Policy,” the complaint alleges. 

The class action lawsuit also alleges the plant has not provided “sufficient” face coverings, conducted adequate contact tracing, adopted social distancing or cleaning protocols or provided enough time for appropriate “handwashing and other sanitization procedures by employees.”

The defendant also allegedly discriminated against disabled workers and their rights for protected leave and reasonable accommodations, according to the complaint.

Ornelas claims that when she needed to stay home from work to recover from being ill, the plant took away bonuses and instituted incentive pay to get employees to come to work, according to local news outlet KCRA.

“Central Valley Meat deliberately chose, and continues to choose, profits over the health and safety of its employees and community,” the complaint says.

Central Valley Meat is not the first meatpacking plant to face class action claims related to worker health and safety during the pandemic.

The family of a worker at Quality Sausage Company filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the company, accusing it of failing to take action.

In that case, Hugo Domiguez had been a forklift operator at the plant when he passed away from COVID-19. His family claims his death was the result of negligence on the part of Quality Sausage, which they allege refused to appropriately protect its workers from coronavirus exposure.

A similar complaint was filed in Pennsylvania by the estate of a beef processing plant employee who died of respiratory failure caused by the coronavirus.

The estate claims that Enock Benjamin’s death was preventable and was caused by the company neglecting worker safety.

And Tyson has been hit with two lawsuits over workers’ COVID-19 deaths, one in Waterloo, Iowa, and the other in Amarillo, Texas. 

Tyson stands accused of forcing its plant employees to continue working, lying about the risks of coronavirus exposure at the plant and allowing employees who were sick or who had been exposed to COVID-19 to continue working.

Ornelas seeks injunctive relief stopping Central Valley Meat from continuing its alleged unlawful acts; a declaration that the meatpacking plant has “committed a public nuisance” and engaged in unfair business practices; compensatory damages in an amount to be determined at a jury trial; restitution and disgorgement of profits earned via Central Valley Meat’s alleged unfair business practices; attorneys’ fees and court costs; exemplary and punitive damages; interest; and any other relief the Court deems proper.

Do you believe you may have been exposed to COVID-19 while on the job? Tell us your experience in the comments.

The plaintiffs and proposed Class are represented by Alreen Haeggquist, Aaron M. Olsen and  Ian Pike of Haeggquist & Eck LLP.

The California Meat Packing Plant COVID-19 Class Action Lawsuit is Maria Pilar Ornelas, et al. v. Central Valley Meat Co. Inc., Case No. 1:20-cv-01017-AWI-SKO in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.

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One thought on Meatpacking Plant Employees File Coronavirus Exposure Lawsuit

  1. Pamela Todd says:

    Add me please

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