Back on January 8, Bluestem Prairie had republished Max Nesterak's article from the Minnesota Reformer, Minnesota dairy farm faces $3 million wage theft lawsuit involving hundreds of workers.
Now Nesterak is back with another question about the case.
As I observed in the head note on the article posted here earlier this month:
In the Book of James, Chapter 5, Verse 4 of my copy of the Oxford Annotated Bible, New Revised Standard Version, I've read:
Listen! The wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.
Apparently warnings from Jesus's brother aren't enough to prompt equal justice in some parts of the state of Minnesota. Nesterak's story is accompanied by a scathing commentary by Reformer editor J. Patrick Coolican, Wage theft case is a test of whether we have two justice systems in America.
The news article:
A dairy farm is accused of stealing $3 million in wages. But was there a crime?
By Max NesterakOver the past three years, dairy farmers Keith Schaefer and his daughter Megan Hill stole at least $3 million from hundreds of their workers across central Minnesota, according to a lawsuit filed by Attorney General Keith Ellison earlier this month.
Schaefer and Hill, who own Evergreen Acres Dairy and Morgan Feedlots, allegedly shaved 12-32 hours off workers’ paychecks every two weeks, refused to pay workers for their first and last weeks of work and unlawfully deducted rent from their wages for beds in barns, garages and other structures not suitable for human habitation.
Workers also were not paid overtime premiums on top of their $12-$17 hourly rate, despite putting in 12-hour days, six to seven days a week, according to Elllison’s lawsuit.
Stealing anything valued at more than $1,000 is a felony in Minnesota, but Schaefer and Hill were not arrested when they were served notice of the lawsuit at their home in Stearns County. They haven’t been charged with any crimes (though the lawsuit also includes descriptions of Schaefer physically assaulting and threatening to kill workers).
The case illustrates both the promise and challenges of Minnesota’s relatively new wage theft law, which seeks to deter a practice that worker advocates say is all too common.
Asked if there would be criminal charges, Ellison said it’s a “possibility” but noted county prosecutors have jurisdiction over criminal cases and the Attorney General’s Office can only prosecute charges at their request.
Ellison declined to say if he had referred the case to local law enforcement or prosecutors: “I’d like to avoid talking about who I’m coordinating with and how … I don’t want to give them any more tip offs than they are going to get with the announcement of this lawsuit,” he said.
Evergreen Acres operates 18 facilities across Stearns and Redwood counties. Stearns County Attorney Janelle Kendall said her office was unaware of the case until the civil charges were filed. Stearns County Sheriff’s Office Captain Jon Lentz said he was also unaware of the case, and they are not investigating because no one has filed a complaint with their office.
The Redwood County Sheriff’s Office would not confirm or deny the existence of an investigation and the county attorney did not respond to emails and a voicemail seeking comment.
Evergreen Acres could not be reached for comment. Phone numbers listed for Evergreen Acres were disconnected and emails sent to addresses associated with Schaefer were not returned.
Since 2019, Minnesota has had one of the strongest anti-wage theft criminal laws in the country. Stealing more than $35,000 in wages can result in up to 20 years in prison and a $100,000 fine. Yet the law is virtually never enforced.
In the past four years, wage theft charges have been brought by prosecutors just five times. Only one person has been convicted of wage theft — as a gross misdemeanor — but that case appears to be a filing error since the man was prosecuted for stealing televisions and other electronics from Walmart.
The dearth of charges is not for lack of violations.
Labor advocates say wage theft is rampant in industries such as agriculture, construction and hospitality, which are reliant on undocumented immigrant workers who may be unaware of their rights, or more likely, fearful of advocating for themselves.
That was true at Evergreen Acres: Many of the workers are undocumented immigrants from Mexico, who speak Zapotec as their first language, and one worker was fired after asking for overtime pay, according to Ellison’s lawsuit.
Convicting someone for wage theft is harder than sending someone to jail for stealing a car or cash. It’s not enough to show that an employer didn’t pay employees all they deserved. Prosecutors must prove that the employer had the “intent to defraud.”
And there’s a lack of investigatory power and know-how by local law enforcement, who are largely responsible for wage theft cases despite having little experience in financial crimes.
“We’re still in the early stages of law enforcement fully realizing the importance of criminal investigations of wage theft,” said Burt Johnson, an attorney for the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters, which has advocated for increasing penalties and oversight of wage theft.
That led to a change in 2022, when the Legislature gave the Commerce Department the power to investigate all white collar crimes, including wage theft. The agency also received more than $800,000 a year to hire five more investigators.
The Commerce Department did not say if there’s an ongoing criminal investigation.
Ellison has made enforcing wage theft laws a central focus of his administration. He created a wage theft unit in 2019 and was able to double its size with additional legislative funding in 2023. His unit has also brought cases against the Target-owned delivery service Shipt, construction subcontractors, and a major property management company.
This Minnesota Reformer article is republished online under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
Photo: Some worker housing had widespread microbial growth and mildew. Photo from civil complaint.s
Related posts
- Minnesota dairy farm faces $3 million wage theft lawsuit involving hundreds of workers
- Draz never heard term "wage theft" before 2019; Office of Revisor of Statutes? No later than 2015
- Session Daily: Updates to food processing, ag worker labor laws clear key committee
- DOL investigates JBS & Turkey Valley Farms contractor for hiring minors for cleaning jobs
If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post.
Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email [email protected] as recipient.
I'm on Venmo for those who prefer to use this service: @Sally-Sorensen-6
Comments