Two construction subcontractors have been ordered to pay $1.28 million in back wages and damages to 26 workers, settling what the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry (DLI) says is its largest wage theft case on record.
The workers were denied overtime, training payments and other wages, according to a DLI investigation launched in 2023 against Property Maintenance & Construction LLC and Property Maintenance and Construction Inc. (PMC), of Brooklyn Park, Minn. and Advantage Construction Inc. of East Bethel, Minnesota.
“DLI’s investigation into PMC and Advantage uncovered widespread wage and hour violations on 19 separate construction projects in the Twin Cities metro area,” the department stated in a news release.
Advantage Construction, owned by Chris Amiot, will pay workers $1.24 million in back wages over the next 18 months, and Property Maintenance & Construction, owned by Leo Pimentel, will pay $1,500 in damages to each of the 26 workers. The $26,000 civil penalties for each company will be removed after three years if no further violations are found.
The violations occurred between March 4, 2019, and June 5, 2022, including at Viking Lakes, a mixed-use development in Eagan, Minn., southeast of the Minneapolis-St. peace It was developed by MV Ventures, the real estate arm of the Minnesota Vikings on a roughly 200-acre former Northwest Airlines campus at I-94 and Dodd Road. It includes the Vikings’ headquarters and training facilities along with multi-family housing, retail, offices, entertainment and other spaces.
“These cases are complex, but we are committed to recovering every penny owed to these affected workers,” DLI Commissioner Nicole Blissenbach said in a news release. He added that the workers are each owed tens of thousands of dollars.
