In April, Walmart began taking store workers’ temperatures and requiring that they wear masks or other face coverings. Walmart also has installed sneeze guards at registers, placed social-distancing decals on floors and limited the number of customers in stores. It announced that customers must wear masks in stores in mid-July.
“We continue to mourn the loss of Wando Evans and our thoughts remain with his family. We’re also thankful Ms. Cross has recovered from her illness,” Mr. Hargrove said. “We take these situations seriously and are continuing to defend the company in both cases.”
The families of three employees who worked at Tyson’s pork processing plant in Waterloo, Iowa, and died after contracting Covid-19 sued the meat company and nearly 20 of its executives, managers and supervisors in June.
Their complaint, filed in Iowa District Court for Blackhawk County, contends that management was aware that the virus was spreading through the plant by early April, and was urged by local law enforcement and health officials to shut it down. Yet Tyson kept the plant open for days and allowed employees to work crowded elbow-to-elbow while most weren’t wearing face coverings, according to the lawsuit.
More than 1,000 Tyson employees were infected with Covid-19 at the Waterloo facility and five have died, according to the lawsuit.
Among them were Sedika Buljic, a 58-year-old Bosnian refugee who worked at Tyson for 18 years before she died April 18 from complications of Covid-19. Reberiano Garcia, a 60-year-old father of 10 whose wife died of cancer last fall, suc bed to the virus on April 23. Jose Luis Ayala, Jr., a 44-year-old maintenance worker known for tinkering with computers, died May 25 from complications of the virus.
The complaint filed by their families says that the company acted with gross negligence because it encouraged sick employees to come to work and failed to implement or convey a range of safety measures to workers, many of whom don’t speak English. The families are seeking unspecified economic, noneconomic and punitive damages.
Tyson said on April 22 it was closing the plant because of Covid-19 cases, worker absenteeism and community concerns. It reopened May 7 after testing all returning workers for the virus, opening an on-site health clinic at the plant and taking other safety measures.
In a court filing earlier this week, Tyson denied the plaintiffs’ allegations and moved the case to a federal court.
Tyson spokesman Gary Mickelson declined to comment on the lawsuit. He said the meat company started educating workers about the virus in multiple languages in January and told employees to stay home if they didn’t feel well. Mr. Mickelson said that the county health department for weeks declined to share information about Tyson workers with Covid-19, and that once it provided the company with a list of names and case information, the company decided to idle production at the plant.
“We’re saddened by the loss of any Tyson team member and sympathize with their families. Our top priority is the health and safety of our workers,” Mr. Mickelson said. He said Tyson is aware of a small number of active Covid-19 cases involving workers at its Waterloo plant.
Maurice Dotson, a nursing assistant who helped clothe and change the diapers of residents at the West Oaks Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Austin, Texas, went to a local hospital in early April with symptoms of the new coronavirus. He told his mother that “I got the virus at my job but I’m going to be all right,” said Quentin Brogdon, an attorney for his mother.
Mr. Dotson tested positive for the virus and, after being put on a ventilator, died April 17. He was 51 years old. In May his mother filed a lawsuit in Travis County District Court against the nursing home seeking damages of $1 million or more. Her pe ion contends that the nursing home acted with negligence because it failed to appreciate the danger of Covid-19 and didn’t properly train workers to mitigate its spread.
Regency Integrated Health Services, which manages the nursing home, denied the allegations in a June court filing.
Brooke C. Ladner, a senior vice president at the company, declined to comment on the lawsuit. She said staff members at the facility are following enhanced infection control and prevention processes that were implemented when the pandemic began in early March, and that Mr. Dotson “was a dedicated health-care worker who touched countless lives.”