Agricultural Personnel Management Program
University of California

4/2/03  News Report -- The Minneapolis Star Tribune

A former CHS Cooperatives executive and a plant manager who were fired after complaining that the company was employing illegal workers in its Mexican Foods plant in New Brighton have filed a complaint in Hennepin County District Court under the Minnesota whistle-blower law.

Craig Cram, a former vice president of manufacturing and operations for the Mexican Foods division and Marc Kelley, a former plant manager, were fired last year after complaining to other company executives that the plant was being staffed with illegal Hispanic workers who previously had been terminated following an investigation by the U.S. Social Security Administration.

Both men contend that they were fired in retaliation for complaining about the company's alleged violation of federal immigration laws.

The Inver Grove Heights-based company provided a brief statement Tuesday denying the allegations.

"We are confident of our ability to prevail on these allegations in court, and look forward to that opportunity. It is the company's policy not to comment on pending litigation," the statement said.

According to the complaint, in April 2002, the Social Security Administration notified CHS that about 89 of 120 employees at the New Brighton plant, as well as others in other plants across the country, did not have valid Social Security numbers. The illegal workers were fired June 21, 2002.

Workers at the New Brighton facility make tortillas and other Mexican foods under the Cruz, La Canasta, Paradiso and El Grand Deli labels. In New Brighton, firing all of them at the same time would have required the company to shut down the plant in order to find and train new workers.

Dolores Smith, CHS vice president of human resources, hired Staff Up America, a local temporary staffing agency, to produce replacements. The complaint alleges that the staffing company's president, Ed Luna, hired a former undocumented worker to recruit former and illegal plant employees to return as temps. Luna recruited illegal employees at a farewell dinner held in the plant's parking lot in late June, the complaint says.

On June 24, 2002, the New Brighton plant reopened with about 90 to 100 temporary employees placed by Luna's agency, the complaint says. When contacted for comment, Luna contended that he only placed 40 workers at the plant and that the company also used other staffing agencies. He also denied that he recruited illegal workers, saying the allegation was "completely absurd."

But within a day or two after the plant reopened with new workers, Kelley recognized many who were fired for not producing Social Security numbers and he informed Cram, his boss.

Cram informed Smith, in human resources, that employing the workers was a violation of federal law.

Cram was fired in July 2002. "I don't want to be associated with or participate in any illegal activity," said Cram during an interview Tuesday. "My thought is, you can either jump on the bandwagon or step out and say, 'Look, I'm not going to participate in this.' "

Kelley was fired on Oct. 30, 2002. In letters sent out to both men, the company said the reasons for their termination included "lack of teamwork."