Participants in an Oklahoma-based substance recovery program allege they were required to work at a poultry processing plant without compensation under the threat of incarceration.
Three participants filed a federal class-action lawsuit against the northeastern Oklahoma recovery program, Christian Alcoholics & Addicts in Recovery, and Arkansas-based Simmons Foods.
The lawsuit alleges participants were led to believe CAAIR was a recovery program offered through Oklahoma drug courts. It alleges CAAIR and Simmons “conspired to profit from a vulnerable workforce” and failed to compensate participants for their work. It says the only payment received were “daily bologna sandwiches and a bunk-bed in a cramped dorm room.”
CAAIR CEO Janet Wilkerson had no immediate comment on the lawsuit. A spokesman for Simmons, Donny Epp, says the company will defend itself in court.
Was this article valuable?
Here are more articles you may enjoy.
Kansas Man Sentenced for Insurance Fraud, Forgery 
Judge Awards Applied Systems Preliminary Injunction Against Comulate 
Gun Accessory Company to Pay $1.75 Million to Buffalo Supermarket Shooting Victims 
The $10 Trillion Fight: Modeling a US-China War Over Taiwan 
