Investigators are currently looking in to claims that a Minnesota trucking company which suddenly closed its doors just before Thanksgiving may have reincarnated under a new name in an attempt to avoid paying money it owed to its drivers.
In a statement published at the beginning of December, Lt. Governor Tina Smith, announced that the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry would be opening an investigation into Lakeville Motor Express. LME had suddenly and unexpectedly laid off all of its workers and drivers.
“Right before Thanksgiving, over 90 Minnesotans working for Lakeville Motor Express found out the company was closing its doors, and they wouldn’t be getting their final paycheck,” said the statement from Lt. Gov. Smith. “This is called wage theft, and it’s the same thing as stealing. These families earned their wages fair and square, it’s wrong not to pay them, and we won’t tolerate it.”
Recently though, investigators have started to look in to claims that not only did LME illegally withhold employee back wages and benefits, but that they may have reopened under a new name with the same equipment, managers, and even some of the same clients.
According to Work Day Minnesota, the president of Teamsters Local 120 chapter says that LME was shut down and absorbed into the previously-existing Finish Line Express.
It wasn’t done overnight or for a suddenly-occurring problem either. Teamster officials allege that it was done deliberately with plenty of preparation and forethought to avoid paying as much money to their drivers as possible.
There is a law in Minnesota requiring any company with more than 100 employees to notify the state and their workers 60 days before closing down. Since LME had more than 100 employees, they slowly moved over office staff to Finish Line in order to bring their number down below 100, then suddenly shut the door. The closure was timed so that drivers weren’t paid for the previous two weeks of work. Drivers missed out on thousands of dollars that they were owed for work already performed.
Multiple lawsuits have already been filed against LME, but former LME executives claim that there is no money left with which to pay their former drivers.
Protests have erupted in front of Finish Line Express offices, where protestors say they see their old bosses going to work every day. Management at Finish Line Express denies any connection to LME.
Source: overdrive, kstp, kstp, workdayminnesota, thetrucker
This is Really Sad, without us the drivers none of these companies would even be turning hige profits,with out us veterans of the road things would change. Drivers alone and i mean us together as we are from all walks of life with one common goal, we can stop this overnight. We start with one company and end up doing them all. These companies have to be driver regulated this is the only way to stop yhe Tiranny.
I see Finish Line trucks pulling LME trailers several times a week in the Chicago-Toledo corridor. I would bet it’s the same people
I’m surprised what these driver thinking working for so call finish express line .They not afraid this company do same Tricks to them in few months or year .
Those Bitches need to pay up what they owe it’s really sad that in this country the working man gets disrespected and the little rights that we supposed to have mean nothing to the employers
Owners and management should have their pay deducted for next few months! Scumbag carrier screwing their employees before Christmas is unforgivable! Sounds a lot like how jevic transportation screwed their drivers before Christmas a few years ago.
A good friend of mine worked there — he said some customers have even come forward to say that when they called for freight quotes they were told to call finish line express.
I can’t say I’d be okay just marching around out front of the new joint. I’d have to introduce the owners to my Louisville Slugger. F’n thieving scum. They need about 100,000 drivers calling and emailing them continously, until they decide it would be better to pay their people.
Drop a few MT Containers in front of their front / back door, and yard entrance. Move their cars into the Locked containers, and play the shell game.
We signed on as a third party driver to move frac sand for a company Accel, who are based in Alvarado, TX. They paired up with prestigious frac company, Liberty for the project, which was based in Pecos,TX. The project was in September 2016 and we signed off after because there was no future plans with them to remain busy. We still have not received payment!!! A gross loss of approx $7000!! This company should be investigated as well!!!
This is a sad story. People lost there jobs and had there pay stolen from them. And why… the ceo of the company has trouble with keeping his pee-pee in his pants. So he stole money off the drivers to give to his wife. so she wouldn’t find out or care about his girlfriend. That’s normally the real reason in cases like the one this article is about.
hey I just saw a bunch of lme trailers at the john deere plant in vally city,nd
There are a lot of companies that are going out of their way to screw drivers , just like Minn- Tex in Franklin MN make two runs for them as an owner operator and realized it was not a company that I wish to be associated with and informed the manager that I was going to cancel our association in which their response was to threaten me and then not pay me what is due. Now they are not communicating at all and canceling the fuel card so that I can not even get paid or have fuel to return their trailer when it comes out of the shop from having an ABS problem.
Talk you your attorney about placing a labor lien on the trailer. Get the trailer out of the shop. Take it to an undisclosed location. They get their trailer when you get your money. All legit and completely legal.
I worked. For 2. companies that did that . closed there door and not pay me . the were in Illinois one was miles trucking that moved from hickory hills to Bolingbrook ..then before that there was vidma trucking. . he sold did company to miles trucking and was told that the money vidma…. Trucking owed me that miles trucking was gonna pay.me . but then it went back and forth . so I parked the truck and move to another mom and pop Russian company . while I was in north Carolina for an inspection . that the d.o.t numbers were register to 10 different company . so when I called the company they fired me over the phone and was told not to drive the truck . left me stranded in north Carolina they cancelled the check they paid the week before and didn’t pay me my last trip . company name is m.v.o Inc. In lemony Illinois
The old “shell game” is still around? If this is true, that really stinks!
It still occurs too frequently between brokers and carriers contracted, which it’s much easier to switch-aroo paper and PO Box than trucks and trailers.
Thanks for the heads up.
What no one is telling you is that Lakeville Motor Express closed, but a new company, Logistics Made Easy is their new name. That way the LME branding still works. Source Star and Tribune just after Thanksgiving.
The only terminal they closed was Roseville MN, that was union. Several other terminals are open, ran by agents in St Cloud, New Ulm area, Des Moines, etc.
LME is still operating in Kansas City.
wow I didn’t know that.last week I saw a lot of lme trailers at the john deere plant in vally city,nd.and today I saw a lme tractor trailer doing work in rocrford,il
I gotta say if you are in possession of a company vehicle when a company goes bankrupt and you are owed money you need to find an attorney that will file a lien on that vehicle immediately.
I can’t believe drivers are in possession of $50k vehicles and turn them over to a company that owes them $3-5k!
Mechanics can put a lien on a vehicle for unpaid bills. Find a mechanic willing to do that for you.
Maybe when the dust settles you’ll be an o/o.
Correct sir. It is known as a labor lien. If they don’t pay up you can then legally take ownership of the equipment.
I’m a Minnesotan and an OTR trucker. It takes a trucker to know how hard we work. To think that these slimy people would cheat us this way is beyond terrible! May their stinking souls rot in Hell!!!
Atlas Carriers in Searcy Ark did the same thing few yrs ago. Owners bought million $$$ homes in Florida. 6 months and a day later filed bankruptcy. Insurance premiums, taxes, wages. They kept it all. Told the drivers, we missed payroll but will make it up in 2 weeks…