Paynesville Dairy Farm Settles Wage Theft Case, Agrees to $250K Payment and Improved Living Conditions for Workers

(KNSI) – Minnesota has settled with a Paynesville area dairy farm for wage theft and providing unsanitary living conditions for its workers.

According to the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office, Evergreen Acres Dairy, Evergreen Estates, Morgan Feedlots, and the dairy operations’ owners, Keith Schaefer and Megan Hill, will pay $250,000 in back wages to workers and continue bringing employee housing up to standard. The farm will be monitored for three years. If Evergreen violates any of the settlement’s terms, it will be subject to a civil penalty of an additional $250,000.

The AG’s office filed the lawsuit in January after getting dozens of complaints from workers regarding wage theft and abysmal worker housing. The state alleges that Evergreen systematically deprived workers of wages by shaving both regular and overtime hours from paychecks, failing to pay wages owed at the beginning and end of workers’ employment, and unlawfully deducting rent. Evergreen has agreed to keep all employee records and will not deduct money from any worker’s paycheck without written permission from the employee.

Onsite housing that failed to meet minimal standards under Minnesota law. Some workers lived in garages, haphazardly converted barns, and other buildings unsuitable for human habitation. Some housing had no toilets.

The suit also accuses Evergreen of employing hundreds of people over the last three years, many of whom are unauthorized workers from Mexico who speak little English. Attorney General Keith Ellison alleges the Paynesville-based farm owes its employees at least $3 million in earned and unpaid wages.

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