CNN: Jackson’s Company Accused of Luring Nurses to the U.S. “Only to Pay Them Substandard Wages and Trap Them in Rigid Contracts”
Today, as Rick Jackson lays out his plan to combat human trafficking, a reminder that a shocking CNN investigative report recently revealed that a company within Jackson’s billion-dollar healthcare empire faced a multimillion dollar class action lawsuit over “allegations of trafficking foreign nurses.”
CNN’s Steve Contorno reports that Avant Healthcare Professionals, owned by Jackson, was accused of luring nurses to the United States, “only to pay them substandard wages and trap them in rigid contracts.” Nurses employed by Jackson’s company alleged that they were threatened with retaliation and hefty fees when they tried to quit, and compared their employment at the company to “essentially indentured servitude.”
“Allegations of Jackson’s shady and unethical business practices show Georgians he can’t be trusted to lead our state,” said Democratic Party of Georgia spokesperson Jake Strickland. “If his own employees accuse him of something as disturbing as modern-day indentured servitude, how can Georgians expect he’ll keep our best interests in mind? Slick Rick’s terrified to answer about his record, and now he’s determined to keep us all in the dark.”
This shocking report is just the latest bombshell revelation on Jackson’s shady business practices. Within the past few weeks, 11Alive’s Doug Richards reported on Jackson extended a state contract into the next governor’s term despite promising Georgians he would unwind his business if elected, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Greg Bluestein reported on Jackson’s long history of profiting off our broken healthcare system.
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