Family of Marshalltown meatpacking worker who died of COVID-19 sues JBS
Des Moines Register
The family of a JBS pork processing plant employee who died of COVID-19 says in a lawsuit that the company was negligent in its initial response to the disease, including holding lunches for employees who continued to have good work attendance where they sat side by side, without masks or other apparent safety precautions.
The lawsuit says the lunches were held on March 25, 2020, eight days after Gov. Kim Reynolds had ordered many businesses to close amid the start of the coronavirus outbreak and limited public gatherings. JBS posted on its Marshalltown plant Facebook page that managers wanted to honor workers for "feeding the world!!"
"You are a super hero!" the post continued. "... We will serve a free super meal for you."
Brent Welder, an attorney for the family of Jose Andrade-Garcia, a 21-year JBS employee who contracted COVID and died in May 2020, said photos from the lunches, posted on the plant's Facebook page, show employees sharing tables without any barriers or masks.
"Hundreds of defendants’ workers were crammed inside the Marshalltown plant cafeteria — despite the Iowa governor’s order that public gathering be limited to no more than 10 people," says the suit, filed against JBS in Marshall County District Court. "Defendant failed to implement even basic safety precautions during this lunch, such as social distancing and limiting quantities of people, and provided no protective equipment such as masks or barriers. Shoulder to shoulder and entirely unprotected from the deadly pandemic, Defendant’s workers ate a free meal as 'thanks' for their service during the pandemic."
Garcia-Andrade's family accuses JBS in the suit of gross negligence, fraudulent misrepresentation and seeks compensation for his loss and punitive damages. Attorneys for JBS USA, the American division of the Brazil-based meatpacking giant, have not responded to the lawsuit. Company spokespeople declined to comment.
Meatpacking plants, where thousands of animal carcasses rapidly move down a processing line as workers labor elbow to elbow, were the sites of some of the biggest COVID-19 outbreaks in the country in 2020.
In addition to the case against JBS, families of at least nine other Iowa meatpacking employees who died of COVID-19 have sued Tyson Foods over its handling of the outbreaks. Those cases are entangled in legal fights about which courts should hear the complaints, with the U.S. Court of Appeals siding with the families and ruling that the lawsuits should be heard before state judges and juries.
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