The very fact that Ellison is bringing the case is significant: No one has been convicted of felony wage theft since the Legislature made it a felony in 2019, despite it likely being one of the most common forms of theft. File photo by Madison McVan/Minnesosota Refomer.
The original sin of the Obama administration was the inability to hold anyone accountable for the 2008 financial crisis brought on by the recklessness of Wall Street firms and mortgage lenders, other than some fines that had virtually no impact on the companies or the people running them.
The message: If you’re rich, you can get away with it.
Meanwhile, millions of Americans lost their homes and livelihoods.
These events fed into the right wing populism of Donald Trump because his whole argument was that the game was rigged against the average person.
The supreme irony is that Trump is a perfect example of money and power negating consequences for his behavior. Thanks to the power he’s amassed, which is closely related to his oligarchal status, he’ll never be held accountable for stealing classified documents (allegedly!); trying to steal Georgia’s electoral votes in 2020 (allegedly!); inciting Jan. 6 (allegedly!); or paying hush money to a porn star (convicted, no consequences).
And now, in a second term, he’s attempting to shutter agencies without authorization from Congress and unconstitutionally declare who is and is not a citizen.
So: One kind of unchecked power brandished for decades on Wall Street has led to another that’s even more pernicious because it has the power of the state behind it.
It’s demoralizing, admittedly, but here’s some hope:
Last year I wrote a column decrying America’s two justice system — one for rich, one for poor — while specifically referring to a civil case brought against the owners of Evergreen Dairy, which has 18 facilities across central Minnesota.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison accused Evergreen Acres Dairy and owners Keith Schaefer and Megan Hill of stealing pay from their workers, most of whom are apparently unauthorized immigrants. They were also charging the workers rent to live in squalor and threatening to sic immigration authorities on anyone who complained.
I wondered why investigators weren’t showing up with search warrants and combing the property as part of a criminal investigation. When Ellison settled the case for pennies on the dollar — $250,000 — I figured this only confirmed my fears.
Ellison proved me wrong this week, bringing four counts of felony wage theft and one count of felony racketeering against Schaefer.
As the Reformer’s Max Nesterak reported, the charges are appalling: A 15-year-old boy worked upwards of 84 hours per week and was paid $12 an hour, but never overtime pay. He was charged $75 every two weeks for a small bed he shared with his father in a small house with about 10 other workers and an infestation of bedbugs and cockroaches.
Schaefer is innocent until proven guilty and deserves due process.
The very fact that Ellison is bringing the case is significant: No one has been convicted of felony wage theft since the Legislature made it a felony in 2019, despite it likely being one of the most common forms of theft.
And we’re among the few states that even tries to penalize wage theft.
Think about the difference in consequences for someone who steals money from their employer, compared to someone who steals pay from their workers.
On Thursday, for instance, the Star Tribune reported that “a Hugo man received a prison term topping four years for embezzling $1.3 million from the truck repair company he worked for.”
Although wage theft criminal cases remain mostly elusive, Ellison has frequently used his office to balance the scales between workers and employers, as well as consumers and companies that try to rip them off.
A core tenet of administering a liberal democracy is the balance of power: Between the private and public spheres; between the branches of government; between bosses and workers.
The powerful’s exploitation of the powerless thwarts human flourishing — for all of us.
By merely enforcing the law, Ellison’s action this week indicates that he understands this simple idea.