— The top Republican in the Arkansas Senate said Tuesday that his company terminated its agreement with a drug rehabilitation program after accusations workers provided by the non-profit were unpaid. Republican Sen. Jim Hendren said his company, Hendren Plastics, terminated the agreement with the Drug and Alcohol Recovery Program following a lawsuit filed in Benton County that accused the program of conspiring with Hendren Plastics, Simmons Foods and others to use the clients as free labour. However, he said he wasn’t privy to details of the agreement between the non-profit and the participants. It was filed by a program participant who worked at a Simmons poultry plant and later Hendren Plastics and another participant who worked at a Simmons pet food plant. A Simmons Foods spokesman told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that the lawsuit’s claims are inconsistent with company values and that several program participants have gone on to get permanent jobs at Simmons.

Source: National Post October 31, 2017 18:55 UTC