Six Allege DARP Rehab Residents Forced into ‘Demanding, Dangerous’ Labor for No Pay

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A proposed class action has been filed against DARP, Inc. and Hendren Plastics, Inc. over alleged violations of the Arkansas Constitution’s prohibition on slavery, as well as suspected wage and hour abuses of the state’s Minimum Wage Act and the Arkansas Human Trafficking Act of 2013.

Six plaintiffs claim they attended DARP for court-ordered drug and alcohol rehabilitation. Instead of receiving counseling and treatment, the lawsuit alleges, the plaintiffs were “forced to work for various for-profit businesses in Arkansas performing demanding, dangerous manual labor for no pay.” While at the supposedly faith-based DARP, the plaintiffs continue, their access to phone calls was severely limited, leaving it “virtually impossible” to contact anyone, even their attorneys. Further still, the plaintiffs claim that anyone injured on the job while at DARP is “threatened with jail” to keep them from speaking up—while those who are unable to work are sent back to jail. Defendant Hendren Plastics is allegedly one of the for-profit business where DARP attendees are used for labor.

At all times, the businesses permit DARP’s charges to work in their facilities, directing their work and profiting from their labors. Those individuals are not paid anything for their labor. DARP’s scheme is no secret, and all the entities involved generate enormous profits, including reduced labor costs, fraudulent tax savings and reduced recruiting expenses.”

Though DARP and Hendren Plastics are the only named defendants in the complaint, the case cites yet-to-be-identified John Does 1-29 as entities who are believed to have also utilized the labor of proposed class members.

The complaint unpacks DARP as an unregulated “recovery program” where a fear of returning to jail hangs over every resident. This fear, the complaint says, causes DARP residents to work through injuries and sickness. On average, DARP residents put in 40 to 48 full-time hours per week for no wages, according to the suit. Alleged labor abuses notwithstanding, the lawsuit decries DARP’s disregard for any semblance that it provides treatment and rehabilitation for addicts. Instead, the lawsuit alleges, DARP allows residents to live in decrepit, bedbug-infested conditions with inadequate meal options while being supervised by counselors with minimal to no formal training, who the plaintiffs allege sometimes dabble in controlled substances themselves.