Judge rules against Hendren Plastics in suit over unpaid laborers

Federal Judge Timothy Brooks Friday evening granted a summary judgment in favor of plaintiffs in a lawsuit alleging state minimum wage law violations in Hendren Plastics’ use of unpaid labor at its plastics factory in Gravette.

Brooks’ harshly criticized Hendren Plastics, headed by Sen. President Pro Tempore Jim Hendren (R) and the drug rehab agency, DARP, for acting in bad faith by avoiding law compliance in their own self-interest. He said they had manipulated the labor market.

The award could potentially be as high as $1.2 million — $636,317 for unpaid wages and liquidated damages in that amount. John Holleman, one of the winning attorneys, said the judge has asked for more legal briefs on whether Hendren and DARP are entitled to a 30-cent-an-hour credit against wages, or about $22,000, for in-kind benefits — room, board and transportation. They also will be asked to offer evidence that stipends were paid to participants in the program for successful completion of work stints. DARP has claimed on tax returns that it paid almost $179,000 in stipends from 2014 to 2018. But it won’t total that amount in this case, Holleman said, because that DARP figure covers payments for other workers in Oklahoma who didn’t work at Hendren. Holleman commented that the couple that operated DARP paid themselves $517,000 during that time period.

The prevailing attorneys will be seeking fees once the case is concluded.

Read more: https://arktimes.com/arkansas-blog/2019/09/30/judge-rules-against-hendren-plastics-in-suit-over-unpaid-laborers

Lo and behold, another crooked Republican.