Ex-Tyson Foods Attorney Accuses Company of Lying to Deny Claims

Monday, October 14, 2019 | 0

A former workers’ compensation attorney for Tyson Foods accused the company of providing false information in workers’ compensation cases to deny claims, according to a report by the Associated Press.

Todd Beresford says in a wrongful termination complaint that he was fired partly because he complained to corporate officials about the practice of providing false information in comp cases. Beresford says he worked primarily on Tyson’s work comp cases in Iowa.

Beresford also claims that Tyson discriminated against employees on the basis of sex and age, and that his sex or age were contributing factors to his termination, according to the Associated Press.

The AP reports Beresford was hired by Tyson in 2000 to replace Chris Godfrey, who was leaving the company to go into private practice and later became the Workers’ Compensation Commissioner in Iowa.

Beresford was a witness in the discrimination case Godfrey filed against former Republican Gov. Terry Branstad. Godfrey alleged that the former governor pressured him to resign after finding out he was gay. Godfrey won a $1.5 million verdict in the case.

Beresford alleges officials at Tyson felt Godfrey was too liberal and was biased against employers. He also claims in the complaint that officials at Tyson used anti-gay slurs when talking about Godfrey.

Tyson told the Associated Press it had no comment on the complaint.