Some meatpacking plant workers found themselves at the intersection of two of the riskiest settings during the pandemic: correctional facilities and meatpacking plants.
All through 2020, Big Meat and the Trump White House abused immigrants and low-income people working at the nation's slaughterhouses, all but physically forcing them to work in a cauldron pot of coronavirus. The White House named meat packers essential workers while Big Meat failed to do enough to p
Many workers compensation claims have been denied throughout the pandemic. But the court ruled the JBS employee was infected with COVID-19 at the plant and should be compensated for lost wages after he fell ill.
The complaint states Seaboard Foods in Guymon, Oklahoma, did not report coronavirus cases to federal authorities and also failed to implement worker protections, such as social distancing measures.
OSHA received its first complaints about meatpacking plants almost a full year ago, on March 17, 2020. At two plants in North Carolina, people were elbow-to-elbow, with no change in operations, according to OSHA data.
OSHA and USDA waited until April of last year — more than three months into the pandemic and after a plant shut down because workers fell ill — to plan a response to the rising number of COVID-19 cases at meatpacking plants, according to emails obtained by Public Citizen.
