Mexican farm workers sue AR employer
May 18, 2009
Four Mexican workers are suing an Arkansas sweet-potato farmer, claiming labor trafficking and abuse from 2006 through 2008 when they worked on his farm near Austin in Lonoke County.
The workers, who entered the United States through the federal government's H-2A guest-worker program, allege that Jack Odom, doing business as Odom Farms, confiscated their passports, failed to pay them as promised and forced them to live in 'an infested, filthy and dangerous metal storage shed.' 'These workers followed the law in coming to this country,' said Sarah Donaldson, an attorney with Southern Migrant Legal Services, a project of Texas RioGrande Legal Aid Inc., which represents the workers. 'In return, they were intimidated, abused and taken advantage of.' Jack Odom says the allegations of 'four malcontents' have no validity.
'We're reputable business people, and I've never been sued before in my life,' said Odom, 57.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock)
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