Thu, Mar 21st, 2024 - 10:07am
January 08, 2024 - 11:39am | By Ty Schonert
(St. Paul, MN) -- The Minnesota Attorney General's Office says they are suing a dairy farm that allegedly stole millions of dollars in employee wages from illegal or unauthorized workers.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellision made the announcement of the lawsuit against the dairy farm Monday morning. The suit is against Evergreen Acres Dairy, Evergreen Estates, Morgan Feedlots, and owners Keith Schaefer and Megan Hill.
"For years, Schaefer, Hill, and Evergreen have run their business on the backs of employees they systematically and illegally exploit. Many are unauthorized workers largely from the Oaxaca region of Mexico[...]," alleges the lawsuit against Evergreen, "[The company] has used vulnerabilities of its unauthorized workforce to withhold large sums of earned wages from its employees, who work demanding and dangerous 12-hour shifts at least six days per week."
The lawsuit alleges Evergreen owes their employees "at least" $3 million in total unpaid back wages and overtime premiums. In addition, the company is accused by the Attorney General's Office of not paying the overtime wage rate of 1.5x for employees, unlawfully deducting money from paychecks, not maintaining records for employee rate of pay or time cards, falsifying records, failure to provide employee notice, providing unhealthy or unsuitable housing for tenants, violating privacy laws for those tenants, evicting those tenants in an illegal manner, and other similar allegations.
“Every worker deserves to take home every dollar they earn and live with dignity, safety, and respect. That Evergreen systemically and deliberately deprived its employees’ of all the wages they have earned is a shock to the conscience, and the conditions under which its employees live are abhorrent and illegal,” said Attorney General Ellison. “
The state is seeking $3 million in back-payments for former and current employees.
“I want to thank the courageous workers who came forward, despite Evergreen’s threats, to help our Office hold Evergreen accountable for its numerous violations of the law. Without them, this action would not have been possible,” Attorney General Ellison added.
You can read the lawsuit by clicking here.
