Drug rehab 'skirted compliance with the labor laws' for financial gain, judge rules

In a class-action ruling that could affect work-based rehabs across the country, a federal judge has ordered an Arkansas senator’s company and a drug rehab program to pay former participants more than $1.1 million in back wages and damages for work they performed without pay.

Participants enrolled at the DARP Foundation in Decatur, Arkansas, for help recovering from their addictions. But instead of receiving treatment, they were required to work full time without pay at Hendren Plastics, a factory owned by Jim Hendren, the Arkansas Senate president pro tempore. They worked on an assembly line, melting down plastic to make boat slips and dock floats sold at The Home Depot and Walmart.

In his ruling issued Monday, District Judge Timothy Brooks ordered both Hendren Plastics and Drug and Alcohol Recovery Program, known as DARP, to pay back wages and damages to 172 rehab workers. According to a court order, Brooks said that Hendren and DARP used the program for financial gain and that both companies are required to follow the Arkansas Minimum Wage Act and pay participants at least minimum wage for their work.

“They were businesses that manipulated the labor market and skirted compliance with the labor laws for their own private ends,” Brooks wrote of DARP and Hendren Plastics, adding that people struggling with drug addiction are still entitled to wages. “Businesses that profit from the labor of non-incarcerated drug addicts must still comply with the (Arkansas Minimum Wage Act’s) strict requirements.”

Read more: https://www.revealnews.org/article/drug-rehab-skirted-compliance-with-the-labor-laws-for-financial-gain-judge-rules/