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How Hershey’s Violated My Rights: A Formal Statement by Donnie Rakestraw
Summary of Legal Violations and Request for Resolution
This document outlines a series of serious legal violations committed by Hershey’s (Dots Pretzels division), its managerial staff, and human resources personnel against me, Donnie Rakestraw. The conduct described constitutes federal and state labor law violations, disability discrimination, willful safety neglect, wage theft, and intentional infliction of harm. These are not isolated incidents, but a systematic pattern of misconduct with substantial legal and financial consequences.
Each violation below is supported by documented evidence and witness testimony. The severity of these actions—and inactions—demands immediate attention, corrective action, and appropriate compensation.
Key Violations
1. Violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
Citation: 42 U.S.C. § 12101
Summary: Despite submitting a doctor’s note verifying my neuropathy, Hershey’s failed to provide the required safety mats that would have accommodated my condition.
Evidence:
Doctor’s note submitted to HR
Available safety mats withheld
Comparable accommodations provided by other managers
Potential Liability: Up to $300,000 per violation, plus punitive and compensatory damages.
2. Targeted Discrimination by Management
Summary: Manager Lee Timmons consistently placed me at the only unsafe workstation lacking safety mats, in full knowledge of my disability.
Evidence:
Witness testimony
Documented pattern of discriminatory workstation assignments
Potential Liability: Grounds for punitive damages under intentional discrimination provisions.
3. OSHA Safety Violations
Citation: 29 U.S.C. § 651
Summary: Refusal to provide safety mats violated OSHA safety protocols and internal company policies.
Evidence:
Safety training videos outlining employer responsibilities
Unused mats available onsite
Resulting workplace injury
Penalties: Civil fines exceeding $15,000 per violation; possible criminal implications for willful neglect.
4. Corporate Fraud and Misrepresentation
Summary: During a recorded meeting, the safety manager falsely denied that the company had an obligation to provide safety mats, contradicting company policies and training materials.
Evidence:
Recorded meeting
Company training materials
Liability: Misrepresentation and fraud, triggering punitive and regulatory consequences.
5. Workers' Compensation Reporting Violation
Citation: Kansas Workers’ Compensation Law
Summary: My workplace injury, which worsened into a serious medical condition, was never reported by management as required by law.
Evidence:
Medical records
Lack of injury report
Penalties: Criminal penalties, civil fines, and personal liability for responsible personnel.
6. Systematic Wage Theft
Citation: Fair Labor Standards Act (29 U.S.C. § 201)
Summary: Employees, including myself, were required to dress into work uniforms and be present before clocking in, constituting unpaid labor.
Evidence:
Witness statements
Consistent implementation by manager Lee Timmons
Liability: Back pay and liquidated damages for all affected employees, potentially amounting to millions.
7. Prolonged Denial of Safety Accommodation
Summary: Despite ongoing documented medical issues, I was forced to work on unsafe flooring for over two months.
Evidence:
Medical timeline and photographic documentation
Multiple internal accommodation requests
Liability: Emotional distress, punitive damages, and prolonged suffering compensation.
8. Implicit Admission of Guilt Through Late Accommodation
Summary: I was belatedly reassigned to forklift duty—an acknowledgment by management of my medically-documented condition.
Evidence:
Forklift duty order
Timing of reassignment
Implication: Demonstrates knowledge of harm and responsibility, further supporting claims of liability.
9. Retaliatory Termination
Citation: Federal labor and discrimination statutes
Summary: Termination followed immediately after protected complaints and accommodation requests.
Evidence:
Timeline of events
Medical documentation
Remedy: Reinstatement, back pay, front pay, and compensatory/punitive damages.
10. Coordinated Corporate Misconduct (Potential RICO Violation)
Summary: HR personnel, safety management, and supervisors participated in a concerted effort to deny accommodations and suppress injury reporting.
Evidence:
Consistent coordinated actions
Multiple actors involved
Implication: Potential violation under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.
11. Medical Discrimination and Endangerment
Summary: My known medical condition was not only ignored, but aggravated through deliberate unsafe placement.
Evidence:
Doctor’s note
Repeated denial of accommodation
Liability: Enhanced damages for targeting medically vulnerable individuals.
12. Intentional Denial of Medical Treatment
Summary: Despite clear signs of a work-related injury, I was never offered medical care, in direct violation of OSHA, workers' comp, and ethical standards.
Evidence:
No treatment provided despite worsening condition
Repeated requests for care ignored
Medical documentation of untreated injury progression
Penalties:
Criminal charges for willful endangerment
Substantial punitive damages
Potential regulatory action by OSHA and the Department of Labor.
Corporate Exposure Risk Summary
Legal Liability: Each violation carries individual penalties, with the cumulative exposure exceeding standard insurance coverage.
Regulatory Oversight: EEOC, OSHA, DOL, and workers' compensation boards will be formally notified.
Media Attention: A national campaign has been prepared, including outreach to 60 Minutes, 20/20, CNN, Vice, and others.
Public Documentation:
A dedicated website with documented evidence and injury timeline
Social media and SEO-optimized exposure of systemic abuses
Open-source media packages for legal and press use
Resolution Request
This matter can be resolved privately and professionally. Should Hershey’s agree to a fair settlement addressing:
Disability discrimination
Workplace safety violations
Wage theft
Retaliatory termination
Medical negligence
I am open to negotiating a mutual non-disclosure agreement and full resolution. However, failure to respond by the deadline below will result in immediate regulatory filings, press releases, and public exposure campaigns.
Final Deadline:
September 5th, 7:00 PM (Following the Chiefs vs. Chargers Game)
Respectfully,
Donnie Rakestraw
All statements made herein are truthful to the best of my knowledge and supported by documented evidence available upon request.
SECTION II: COMPREHENSIVE FEDERAL AND STATE VIOLATIONS - CRIMINAL AND CIVIL LIABILITY
Your company's deliberate choices constitute violations of numerous federal and state laws, creating both criminal and civil liability across multiple jurisdictions:
AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT (42 U.S.C. § 12101):
- Failure to provide reasonable accommodation for documented disability
- Systematic discrimination based on disability status
- Retaliation against disabled worker for requesting accommodation
- Creating hostile work environment for disabled employee
- Constructive discharge based on disability discrimination
Liable Parties: Lee Timmons, HR Department, Safety Manager, Corporate Executive Leadership
Potential Damages: Compensatory damages, punitive damages, attorney fees, injunctive relief
FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT (29 U.S.C. § 201):
- Systematic wage theft affecting 120+ employees across four shifts daily
- Failure to pay for mandatory pre-shift work (sanitizing/dress out)
- Organized scheme to defraud workers of wages
- Willful violations of overtime and wage requirements
Liable Parties: Lee Timmons, Facility Management, Corporate Payroll, Executive Leadership
Potential Damages: Back wages, liquidated damages, attorney fees, criminal referral
OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ACT (29 U.S.C. § 651):
- Willful safety violations resulting in serious bodily injury
- Failure to provide required safety equipment
- Retaliation against employee for reporting safety violations
- Creating and maintaining hazardous work conditions
Liable Parties: Safety Manager, Lee Timmons, Corporate Safety Department, Executive Leadership
Potential Penalties: Criminal charges, massive fines, facility shutdowns
SECTION 1983 CIVIL RIGHTS VIOLATIONS (42 U.S.C. § 1983):
- Systematic deprivation of constitutional rights under color of corporate authority
- Denial of equal protection based on disability status
- Substantive due process violations through systematic abuse
Liable Parties: All management levels enabling discriminatory conduct
Potential Damages: Compensatory damages, punitive damages, attorney fees
WORKERS' COMPENSATION FRAUD (STATE CRIMINAL STATUTES):
- Systematic obstruction of legitimate injury claims
- False statements to insurance carriers
- Conspiracy to defraud workers' compensation system
- Intimidation of injured workers
Liable Parties: Lee Timmons, HR Department, Safety Manager, Corporate Risk Management
Potential Penalties: Felony criminal charges, prison sentences, massive fines
INTENTIONAL INFLICTION OF EMOTIONAL DISTRESS:
- Systematic harassment and psychological torture of disabled employee
- Extreme and outrageous conduct designed to cause suffering
- Deliberate medical abandonment causing severe emotional trauma
Liable Parties: Lee Timmons, HR Department, Executive Leadership
Potential Damages: Massive punitive damages for intentional conduct
WRONGFUL TERMINATION IN VIOLATION OF PUBLIC POLICY:
- Firing employee for filing workers' compensation claim
- Retaliation for asserting disability rights
- Termination based on disability-related performance issues
Liable Parties: Lee Timmons, HR Department, Executive Leadership
Potential Damages: Lost wages, benefits, punitive damages, attorney fees
RACKETEERING (RICO) VIOLATIONS - ORGANIZED CRIMINAL ACTIVITY:
- Pattern of racketeering activity through systematic wage theft
- Enterprise engaged in criminal conduct affecting interstate commerce
- Conspiracy to operate criminal enterprise
Liable Parties: Corporate Leadership, Facility Management, Payroll Administration
Potential Penalties: Treble damages, criminal prosecution, asset forfeiture
CONSPIRACY TO VIOLATE CIVIL RIGHTS:
- Agreement between multiple parties to deprive civil rights
- Corporate conspiracy to systematically abuse disabled worker
Liable Parties: Lee Timmons, HR Department, Safety Manager, Executive Leadership
Potential Penalties: Federal criminal prosecution, massive civil damages
STATE DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION LAWS:
- Violations of state civil rights statutes
- Failure to accommodate documented disability
- Hostile work environment based on disability
Liable Parties: All management personnel involved in discriminatory conduct
Potential Damages: State-specific penalties, attorney fees, punitive damages
CRIMINAL REFERRAL POTENTIAL - FEDERAL AND STATE PROSECUTION:
- Organized Wage Theft (Felony level - 120+ victims daily)
- Conspiracy to Defraud Workers of Wages
- Civil Rights Violations (Federal Criminal Charges)
- Workers' Compensation Fraud
- Willful OSHA Violations Resulting in Serious Bodily Harm
- Racketeering and Organized Criminal Activity
- Obstruction of Administrative Proceedings
- Witness Intimidation and Coercion
Under federal fee-shifting statutes, your company will be required to pay ALL legal fees, expert witness costs, investigation expenses, and court costs associated with proving these violations, in addition to any damages awarded. Your insurance carriers will provide NO COVERAGE for intentional criminal conduct.
SECTION III: COMPREHENSIVE MEDIA AND SOCIAL MEDIA EXPOSURE CAPABILITIES
I want your legal team and executive leadership to understand the full scope of platforms immediately available to me for public exposure of your systematic crimes:
Public exposure that will help to to aquire my own legal team due to the outrage caused by these charges.
NATIONAL TELEVISION INVESTIGATIONS - IMMEDIATE AVAILABILITY:
- 60 Minutes (CBS) - 37+ million viewers, specializes in corporate abuse exposés
- 20/20 (ABC) - 6+ million viewers, focuses on disability discrimination stories
- Dateline NBC - 5+ million viewers, systematic corporate misconduct investigations
- Anderson Cooper 360 (CNN) - Corporate accountability and whistleblower protection
- Tucker Carlson Tonight - Worker rights violations and corporate abuse
- 48 Hours (CBS) - In-depth corporate crime investigations
- The Five (FOX) - Corporate misconduct and executive accountability
- Special Report (FOX) - Business and legal misconduct coverage
CABLE NEWS INVESTIGATIVE UNITS - DAILY COVERAGE POTENTIAL:
- CNN Investigates - Corporate systematic abuse and criminal conduct
- FOX Business Investigates - Labor law violations and wage theft
- MSNBC Investigations - Disability rights violations and civil rights abuse
- NewsNation Prime - Corporate whistleblower and victim advocacy stories
- One America News - Corporate accountability and worker protection
BUSINESS AND FINANCIAL MEDIA - STOCK PRICE IMPACT:
- Wall Street Journal - Corporate misconduct and executive accountability investigations
- Bloomberg Businessweek - Corporate criminal conduct and regulatory violations
- Fortune Magazine - Workplace abuse exposés and corporate culture failures
- MarketWatch - Corporate scandal coverage and investor impact analysis
- Financial Times - International corporate abuse coverage and brand destruction
- Barron's - Corporate governance failures and executive misconduct
- Forbes - Corporate crime and executive accountability investigations
DIGITAL AND STREAMING MEDIA - VIRAL POTENTIAL:
- Netflix Documentary Unit - Corporate crime documentaries and whistleblower stories
- HBO Documentaries - Investigative series on corporate abuse and worker rights
- Amazon Prime Originals - Social justice documentaries and corporate accountability
- Hulu Originals - True crime and corporate misconduct series
- Vice News - Corporate exploitation investigations and viral content creation
- ProPublica - Nonprofit investigative journalism with national reach
- The Intercept - Corporate accountability reporting and document publication
- BuzzFeed News Investigations - Social media amplification and viral storytelling
SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS - VIRAL AMPLIFICATION:
- TikTok - Short-form videos showing wage theft calculations, injury documentation, and corporate abuse evidence (100+ million active users)
- Facebook - Disability rights groups, worker advocacy pages, and consumer boycott organization
- Twitter/X - Real-time corporate abuse documentation with trending hashtags (#HersheysWageTheft #DisabilityDiscrimination #CorporateAbuse)
- Instagram - Visual storytelling with injury progression photos and corporate misconduct documentation
- YouTube - Long-form documentary videos exposing systematic violations and corporate crimes
- LinkedIn - Professional network exposure reaching corporate executives and business leaders
- Reddit - Community-driven investigation and viral content amplification
- Snapchat - Younger demographic engagement and story sharing
SPECIALIZED ADVOCACY PLATFORMS - TARGETED AMPLIFICATION:
- Disability Rights Organizations - National disability advocacy networks with millions of members
- Labor Union Networks - Worker rights advocacy with massive organizing capabilities
- Whistleblower Protection Organizations - Legal support networks and media amplification
- Consumer Advocacy Groups - Boycott organization and corporate accountability campaigns
- Civil Rights Organizations - Federal civil rights violation documentation and legal support
DOMAIN AND WEBSITE CAPABILITIES:
I have secured comprehensive domain names including HersheyHallOfShame.com and related variations. These platforms will feature:
- Photographic documentation of untreated injuries caused by your medical abandonment
- Timeline of systematic abuse and federal law violations
- Wage theft calculations showing daily robbery of 120+ workers
- Video testimonials and documentary evidence
- Comprehensive compilation of all negative Hershey's coverage throughout history
- Interactive tools for other victims to report similar abuse
- Real-time tracking of corporate stock price and boycott impact
CONCLUSION - THE CHOICE BETWEEN PRIVATE RESOLUTION AND PUBLIC DESTRUCTION
Your corporation faces the simplest business decision in corporate history: resolve this matter quietly and expensively, or finance the most comprehensive legal and media campaign your company has ever faced.
The scope of documented federal crimes, combined with photographic evidence of medical abandonment and systematic abuse of a disabled worker, creates a perfect storm for viral media coverage. Add the systematic wage theft affecting 120+ workers daily, and you have created the exact type of corporate scandal that destroys brands permanently.
When this story breaks - and it will break if not resolved privately - you will face:
- Immediate stock price collapse (20-30% minimum)
- Consumer boycotts during peak holiday sales periods
- Regulatory investigations from multiple federal agencies
- Criminal referrals for systematic wage theft and civil rights violations
- Class action lawsuits from 120+ affected workers
- Shareholder litigation for concealing material corporate risks
- Permanent brand association with disability discrimination and worker abuse
- Executive terminations and career destruction
- Facility shutdowns and operational disruptions
The total cost of fighting this matter publicly will exceed $500 million when accounting for legal fees, settlements, regulatory fines, lost sales, stock price damage, and permanent reputation destruction.
I am offering you the opportunity to resolve this matter for a fraction of that cost while maintaining corporate dignity and avoiding criminal exposure.
You have until the end of the Kansas City Chiefs football game on January 5th to contact me regarding resolution of this matter. If I do not hear from your representatives by that deadline, I will immediately begin the comprehensive media and regulatory campaign detailed above.
I invite you to call me before this deadline to discuss terms for resolution. After the deadline passes, the opportunity for private settlement will be permanently closed.
FINAL WORDS - THE HUMAN COST OF YOUR CORPORATE CHOICES:
You hurt me. You hurt me bad.
You took a disabled worker who simply needed basic safety accommodation and chose to torture him instead. You turned free safety equipment into months of agony. You transformed required medical treatment into systematic abandonment. You converted workplace injury into financial ruin and unemployability.
This letter represents substantially the same documentation and evidence I will be sending to 60 Minutes, 20/20, and other first-choice media outlets. By the time the clock in the Chiefs and Chargers game hits 0:00, I will be sending emails to my compiled list of media contacts, and your opportunity for private resolution will be forever closed.
Every choice your company has made to this point has been wrong. This is your final opportunity to make the right choice.
Donnie
Hersheyshurtme@Hersheyshurtme.com
EXHIBITS TO FOLLOW:
- Medical documentation of disability provided to HR
- Photographic evidence of untreated workplace injuries
- Timeline of systematic abuse and rights violations
- Wage theft calculations for 120+ affected