Slaughterhouse lawyer testifies in trial of manager accused of child labor violations in Iowa

Slaughterhouse lawyer testifies about child labor

WATERLOO, Iowa — A Des Moines attorney who once represented a kosher slaughterhouse testified Wednesday that state labor inspectors didn’t give the company a list of suspected underage workers before a 2008 immigration raid in which 389 illegal immigrants, including children, were detained.

Attorney Mary Funk testified for former plant manager Sholom Rubashkin, who is charged with 83 counts of child labor violations. He also is awaiting sentencing on federal fraud charges.

Funk said Agriprocessors had been working with the state to set up an inspection in the spring of 2008, but that inspection was postponed because of the immigration raid.

Before the raid, state labor officials indicated they had the names of suspected minors working at the plant in Postville, but they wouldn’t turn their list over to the company, she said.

The refusal meant minors continued to work at the plant until the day of the raid, she said.

Under cross-examination, Funk acknowledged labor officials had requested the personnel files of some 100 workers, but she said the list included workers who were obviously over age 18.

Funk also said a human resources employee told her Agriprocessors didn’t hire anyone under age 18 and the plant asked for some form of identification when a person applied.

She said the human resources worker told her about firing workers who were discovered to be underage during an earlier incident.

The defense began presenting its case Wednesday. Its first witness, former operations manager Gary Norris, disputed earlier testimony that other workers had told him there were minors working at the plant.

Norris, who now works for Agri Star, said the only time he heard about underage employees was when a human resources employee identified one worker as a minor and fired her.

Norris also said it was difficult to judge the ages of workers because many were from Guatemala and were short in stature.

Information from: Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, www.wcfcourier.com