Tyson Foods, Inc. is a giant. It is one of the largest meat processors in the world, and the largest chicken and beef producer in the U.S., with 113,000 employees and over 400 locations. Tyson supplies chicken, beef, and pork to supermarkets and restaurants worldwide. But meat processing plants are dangerous places, and injuries can be costly. Even for a giant.
A new report released by ProPublica has shed light on the great lengths that Tyson Foods has taken to reduce its workers’ compensation obligations at the expense of its injured workers. The report is part of a broader investigation by ProPublica and National Public Radio that has revealed that many states have quietly been reshaping, and in many respects weakening, their workers’ compensation systems at the behest of corporate giants like Tyson Foods, putting the interests of big business over employees.
Workers’ compensation is essentially a government-mandated insurance program established about a century ago under the basic principle that companies owed a duty to their employees. And part of that duty included paying the medical bills and lost wages of its injured workers. But workers’ compensation is not just a safety net for employees who are injured on the job; it protects companies, too. In many states, workers’ compensation programs prevent injured workers from suing their employers for personal injuries in court, which can be risky and extremely costly for companies, in favor of a system that is supposed to be streamlined and less expensive for both sides.
Recent reports describe a deteriorating workers’ compensation system that is failing to adequately protect workers. Recent changes to workers’ compensation programs in numerous states have resulted in the reduction of employee benefit payments, greater control by employers and insurers over medical decision-making and care, and increased hurdles for workers with certain injuries to qualify for coverage. These changes are taking place even though employers are paying less into the workers’ compensation system than ever before.
The new report suggests that Tyson Foods, using its mammoth economic influence and novel legal interpretations, has taken a leading role in disrupting and undermining the workers’ compensation system in multiple states as part of its effort to protect corporate profits.
According to ProPublica, Tyson Foods is one of the country’s highest workers’ compensation payers, spending about $105 million in workers’ compensation claims each year. In order to get these costs down, Tyson Foods has implemented controversial strategies and programs, ultimately giving them a greater say about what they have to pay.
Unlike most companies, Tyson Foods asserts an extraordinarily high level of oversight and management over its workplace-injury programs. One of the best ways to do this is to have a self-insured workers’ compensation program, which Tyson Foods does, meaning that it pays nearly all of its claims out of its own pocket. In the few states where there is an ability to opt out of participating in a workers’ compensation program altogether, Tyson Foods has done that, too. In Texas, Tyson Foods created its own benefit plan, which is exempt from state oversight, to handle all of its employee injuries. Injured workers see a Tyson Foods nurse at the plant. Tyson Foods adjusters process the claims. And in certain states, Tyson Foods has established an in-house managed-care program, where the company chooses the doctors that examine injured workers and consults with those doctors about how and when the employee can return to work.
Tyson Foods argues that these strategies allow it to provide better medical care for its employees with doctors that know its business, which helps employees get better faster and get back to work. It also claims that it helps the company become more knowledgeable about unsafe conditions at its plants.
But others believe that these methods are just an easy way for the fox to guard its own henhouse. With limited oversight, these programs make it easier to deny necessary care to injured employees and require them to return to work before they are medically ready.
Tyson Foods doesn’t stop there; it also uses its influence in the political arena. While it is not unusual for companies of all sizes and across various industries to lobby local and national governments for change to workers’ compensation laws, ProPublica believes that Tyson Foods is in a class by itself.
In many instances, instead of taking a straightforward lobbying approach, such as asking for cutbacks in medical benefits, Tyson Foods encourages more “subtle” revisions, such as giving employers more influence over its employees’ medical care or increasing the employee’s burden of proof for a claim, which ultimately makes it harder for employees to obtain an unbiased diagnosis and easier to deny necessary treatments.
In addition to political contributions and lobbying, ProPublica also accuses Tyson Foods of aggressive, behind-the-scenes political arm-twisting. Tyson Foods has wielded its powerful economic influence over government officials, ProPublica reports, to make more corporate-friendly changes, such as pushing out workers’ compensation judges that Tyson Foods believes are sympathetic to employees and appointing judges who support big business.
ProPublica details one example in Iowa, in which Tyson Foods took extreme efforts to have the state’s workers’ compensation commissioner fired. First, Tyson Foods hosted events for Iowa Republican gubernatorial nominee Terry Branstad in hopes of influencing control over the state’s workers’ compensation commission. Then, after Branstad’s gubernatorial win, Tyson Foods wrote talking points for the Governor to support its contention that the targeted Commissioner, Chris Godfrey, was biased toward injured workers. When it turned out that Iowa law prohibited the Governor from firing Godfrey, the Governor did the only thing he could and reduced Commissioner Godfrey’s salary by $30,000.
With deteriorating oversight by government, these are just some of the tactics that big businesses, like Tyson, are using to put profits ahead of their employees.
The Poirier Law Firm knows how to stand up to these corporate giants and win. The Poirier Law Firm recently had a case against Tyson, where the client had worked for Tyson for over four decades. During this 40 year period, the injured worker received numerous accolades for his stellar performance. Despite this fact, Tyson shamefully denied his claim, after he suffered from a severe back injury resulting in the need for surgery. Tyson used local doctors and surgeons to support said denial, by claiming it was pre-existing. The Poirier Law Firm fought hard and won approval of surgery, weekly checks and ultimately a six figure plus settlement for the injured worker.
The Poirier Law Firm has over 15 years of experience representing injured Georgia employees against corporate Giants, like Tyson, in workers’ compensation cases. We fight hard for each and every client. If you or a family member has been hurt at work, call Poirier Law today for a free consultation.