Supervisor called worker ‘slave’, ‘dog’, ‘wetback’ – brandished gun, suit claims
Edward Lynn, The Eagle Grove Eagle
A group of six Guatemalan migrants have filed a federal lawsuit against Clarion’s Centrum Valley Farms which alleges the company engaged in human trafficking, workplace discrimination, and retaliation. Centrum Valley Farms is a subsidiary of Versova Holdings, LLP, the nation’s fifth-largest egg producer (as rated by Watt Poultry).
The civil suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa, claims the company and one of its managers engaged in a pattern of abuse that included harassment, wage theft, threats of violence, and threats of deportation. The six plaintiffs—Kenny Augusto Tetzaguic Lux, Gerver Noel Marroquin Argueta, Isaias Tevalan Lopez, Consuelo Esperanza Lux Tepaz, Cecilia Angelica Bernal Cobo, and Juan Carlos Tetzaguic Lux—lived in Wright County or nearby Webster City while working at the Centrum Valley Farms’ facility in Clarion. One, Marroquin Argueta, resided in Eagle Grove.
The lawsuit names both the company and a manager, Jose Cornejo (who the suit states is believed to be “of Mexican origin”), as defendants.
The plaintiffs say they were recruited to work at Centrum Valley Farms, where they performed physically demanding labor at the company’s egg production and packaging facility. Cornejo, who acted as their direct supervisor, allegedly subjected them to repeated verbal abuse and discriminatory remarks targeting their Guatemalan heritage. According to the lawsuit Cornejo made “repeated unwelcome comments disparaging the plaintiffs for their Guatemalan national origin” daily, and told the workers that Guatemalans were lazy and suggested he wanted to replace them with Mexicans or Americans. Following these threats, the plaintiffs were demoted or sent to work at “less desirable positions”, which the suit alleges was done “solely based on their national origin and ethnicity.”
The situation allegedly escalated after workers raised complaints about Cornejo to another Centrum manager, Shannadoa Capps. Cornejo allegedly retaliated by threatening deportation, and on at least one occasion, on January 23rd of 2023, “Cornejo even brought a firearm to work, showed it to the plaintiffs, and displayed it in his office to intimidate the plaintiffs and silence their complaints,” according to the lawsuit’s claims. Which the suit claims left workers “terrified”.
According to the court documents, the plaintiffs spoke with Amy Christensen in Centrum HR, HR manager Kris Zahn, and Centrum General Manager Mark Van Oort, revealing Conejo’s alleged behavior, on September 13, 2023.
Plaintiff Lux allegedly first began working at Centrum Valley Farms in 2016 under a pseudonym due to his undocumented status. The lawsuit states that the company later helped him obtain work documents and hired him under his own name but the company later sought to trap Lux into continuously working for them, the suit alleges, with Conejo threatening to “ensure that no other company in the area” would hire him if he looked for other work.
Lux, who worked in maintenance of the poultry barns, was allegedly told not to stop working until every task he was assigned was complete, which the suit says resulted in overtime work, without overtime pay. In one instance he claimed he was forced to work late under threat of retaliation after a barn was flooded. While the suit notes that Centrum did not establish set working hours for maintenance employees, it also asserts that the defendants were not paid for work that exceeded 40 hours.
Cornejo also mocked the disability of one plaintiff, Isaias, the suit alleges, and referred to him using derogatory slurs, calling him his “faithful dog,” “Guatemalan wetback” and “slave.” Isaias walks with a limp due to a workplace injury suffered before his employment at Centrum.
Multiple plaintiffs specified that they were made to apply toxic pesticides in the poultry barns without protective gear, according to the suit.
The suit details that Cornejo told Lux “all Guatemalans are whiners that should be replaced with hardworking Mexicans” on April 17, 2024, after which he was issued a written reprimand by Christensen, to whom Lux reported the comment. However, the suit claims, Cornejo continued his racist disparagement of his subordinates, and a week later on April 24, 2024, Capps issued a written reprimand to Lux for “insubordination.”
Lux ultimately filed a discrimination complaint with the Iowa Civil Rights Commission in October of last year and was fired in May 2024. The written notice Lux was issued of his termination stated the reason for his firing as “Violating Guiding Principles and/or Core Values” of Centrum Valley Farms and also stated that “senior management” had lost “confidence” in Lux.
The company eventually terminated the other plaintiffs’ employment “in retaliation for their complaints,” while other plaintiffs were “forced to quit out of fear and intimidation” the lawsuit asserts.
“Centrum Valley Farms wanted obedient workers to perform difficult and undesirable job duties that many U.S. citizens are unwilling to perform,” the lawsuit alleges.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages under multiple federal laws, including the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, forced labor, harassment, failure to pay for overtime, and wrongful discharge.
Centrum was established in 2011 as a partnership between the Dean family, the Henning family, and the Boomsma family. Centrum took over operations of the former DeCoster family operations in Wright County that same year, following a nationwide salmonella outbreak originating at DeCoster farms, which included farms in Maine and Ohio. The outbreak sickened an estimated 1,900 people and led to the recall of 550 million eggs.
At the time, then Iowa Governor Terry Brandstad welcomed the exit of the DeCosters, who had a history of labor and environmental violations, saying that “the DeCosters have been consistent and habitual violators who have given Iowa egg producers a bad name.” DeCoster’s farms were repeatedly cited and charged with labor, immigration, safety, and environmental violations throughout the company’s history. It was branded a “habitual violator” of environmental laws by the state of Iowa, and even singled out for terrible working conditions by the Clinton-era White House. The company was raided leading to the arrest of dozens of workers, and in 2003 DeCoster was convicted of knowingly hiring illegal immigrants, and fined millions of dollars over workplace discrimination, and animal cruelty.
And now, as bird flu causes nationwide spikes in egg prices, shining a spotlight on the poultry and egg industry (a major local employer) the allegations against Centrum suggest that the illegal hiring practices and working conditions that DeCoster was infamous for, may well continue today at the same facilities, here in Wright County.
Centrum released a written statement to The Eagle Grove Eagle after their publication of this story:
“Caring for our team and providing a safe work environment are always our priorities, and we treat every individual on our team with respect at all times. While we are aware of a legal matter involving former employees of Centrum Valley Farms, we firmly believe these claims are without merit and do not reflect our values or firm commitment to our team members.
“Our leadership teams take every measure possible to ensure our standards for a safe, secure workplace are always followed. When issues in the workplace are raised, we address them swiftly and responsibly. Every concern is taken seriously. Related complaints were fully investigated at the time. Some claims were never verified, and others were dismissed as unfounded.
We have the highest confidence in our leaders at Centrum Valley Farms and trust that this situation was managed both fairly and appropriately. We deny the allegations made, and we expect to vigorously defend this case.”
