Managers at a Tyson Foods plant in Waterloo, Iowa are being sued by the family of a deceased employee who alleged that they placed bets on how many staffers at the plant would contract COVID-19.
The son of Isidro Fernandez, a former employee at the plant who died in late April from complications of COVID-19, is suing Tyson Foods over a “willful and wanton disregard for workplace safety.”
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The suit alleged that one manager “organized a cash buy-in” with other top level staff to wager how many workers would contract COVID-19 at the start of the pandemic when Tyson Foods told their staffers to report to work.
“Around this time, Defendant Tom Hart, the Plant Manager of the Waterloo facility, organized a cash buy-in, winner-take-all betting pool for supervisors and managers to wager how many employees would test positive for COVID-19,” the lawsuit says.
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The plant was closed briefly in April after local officials slammed the company for disregarding health precautions. By then, the coronavirus was already rampant in the plant.
More than 1000, workers at the plant had already contracted the coronavirus and at least six died.
