Workers with Intellectual Disabilities Abused by Texas-Based Company for Years - Disability.gov

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed a lawsuit against Hill Country Farms alleging the company subjected a group of 31 men with intellectual disabilities to severe abuse and discrimination for more than 20 years.

The complaint alleges that that the owners and staffers of Henry’s Turkey denied the workers lawful wages, paying them only $65 a month for full-time work; subjected them to abusive verbal and physical harassment; restricted their freedom of movement; and imposed other harsh terms and conditions of employment such as requiring them to live in deplorable and sub-standard living conditions, and failing to provide adequate medical care when needed.

Verbal abuses included frequently referring to the workers as “retarded,” “dumb ass” and “stupid.” Class members reported acts of physical abuse including hitting, kicking, at least one case of handcuffing, and forcing the workers with disabilities to carry heavy weights as punishment.

This conduct violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), as amended by the Americans with Disabilities Amendments Act (ADAAA).

The lawsuit follows an EEOC Commission meeting held March 15, 2011 that explored the issue of discrimination on the basis of mental disabilities.

Posted by Diana Z. on Apr 7, 2011 10:09:00 AM in Civil Rights, Employment

JFActivist: Changing Stereotypes to Combat Disability Hate Crimes

By Jack Levin

Hate crimes against people with disabilities are widespread and often involve extraordinary levels of sadism. The first step in combating these shameful incidents is an acknowledgment that they exist.

In February 2010, Jennifer Daugherty, a 30-year-old, mentally challenged woman from Greensburg, Pa., was brutally murdered by six people pretending to be her good friends...The sadistic attack on Daugherty was anything but unique. Still, few Americans are aware of the special vulnerability of people with emotional, intellectual and physical disabilities to extraordinary violence. Thinking of crimes inspired by hate or bias, most people conjure an image of a burning cross on the lawn of a black family, or swastikas scrawled on the walls of a synagogue...

But the same Americans may have legal and emotional “tunnel vision,” not seeing a hate crime in the brutal murder of Jennifer Daugherty, even though she was apparently singled out only because of her intellectual deficit.

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