A group of rideshare drivers from the MN Uber Lyft Drivers Association (MULDA) marched around the Capitol building on Thursday, May 16, demanding fair compensation from Uber and Lyft. (Photo by A.J. Olmscheid/Senate Media Services)
This year’s reporting took me to some unexpected places: a church basement filled with dairy farm workers outside St. Cloud; a parking lot next to the airport (multiple times); and a virtual classroom for Minnesota students, taught by an instructor halfway across the world. My more typical locations included picket lines, job sites, and the state Capitol.
As 2024 draws to a close, I’m grateful for the opportunity to have pursued stories across the state focusing on work, money, and politics. Here are some of my favorite stories from the year.
Minnesota became the second state to enact minimum pay rates for Uber and Lyft drivers via state statute in May. This followed a turbulent 18-month campaign by drivers that involved a gubernatorial veto, feuding driver advocacy groups, threats from the companies to leave the Twin Cities, the largest study of its kind on driver pay, and a standoff between Minneapolis City Council members and state lawmakers.
Superficially, the fight over pay rates appeared straightforward: low-wage drivers lacking employee protections against billion-dollar tech giants. However, the complexities of improving working conditions created divisions among drivers and lawmakers, a subject I explored in detail [link to article].
The conflict also led the Minneapolis City Council into a showdown with Uber and Lyft, who threatened to withdraw service if the city’s minimum rate ordinance passed. Several new companies with creative spellings—Moov, Wridz, and MyWeels—announced their intention to fill the gap if Uber and Lyft left. However, the Legislature ultimately voided the Minneapolis ordinance by prohibiting cities from setting their own rates. None of those new companies have gained traction in the Twin Cities.
The statewide minimum pay agreement, effective December 1st, is projected to increase driver pay by approximately 14% compared to 2022. The law also enhances driver protections against unfair deactivation, expands insurance coverage starting January 1st, and mandates that the companies contract with a non-profit to provide driver services (though Uber and Lyft haven’t yet disclosed their partners). For a deeper dive into the legal details, please see [link to article].
In January, Attorney General Keith Ellison announced a $3 million wage theft case against a central Minnesota dairy farm, intending to set a precedent for an industry plagued by labor abuses. However, the outcome highlighted how wage theft, despite being a felony, is rarely treated as such, reinforcing the perception of systemic bias favoring the wealthy and white.
The lawsuit against Evergreen Acres and its affiliates was one of the Attorney General’s Office’s largest wage theft cases, alleging that hundreds of undocumented workers were defrauded of millions in wages. The lawsuit detailed shocking instances of abuse and deplorable housing conditions reminiscent of Upton Sinclair’s *The Jungle*: employees working 12-hour shifts shared beds, rent was automatically deducted from wages, and workers lived in garages, barns, and other uninhabitable structures. Farm owner Keith Schaefer allegedly threatened and assaulted workers.
Ellison’s office settled the lawsuit for $250,000—less than a tenth of the estimated amount owed to the workers. Schaefer and his daughter, Megan Hill (also named in the suit), admitted no wrongdoing but agreed to maintain habitable worker housing and submit payroll records to the Attorney General’s Office for three years.
“What are the other farmers going to say? It’s minimal. They’re going to keep doing the same thing,” one worker stated through a translator during a November meeting I attended near St. Cloud.
Initially, I inquired about potential criminal charges. If an employee stole $3 million, it’s difficult to imagine the attorney general announcing a lawsuit without the thief facing consequences. Ellison’s office clarified that it lacks original criminal jurisdiction and must refer such cases to local prosecutors. There have been no updates regarding criminal charges.
One of the year’s most surprising discoveries was that U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar and her husband owned a stake in a California winery with a longtime Democratic operative.
Omar reported spousal income from the winery, eStCru, on her financial disclosures; however, I learned about it through a lawsuit filed by investor Naeem Mohd accusing Omar’s husband, Tim Mynett, and his business partner Will Hailer of fraud.
The lawsuit alleged that Mynett and Hailer failed to deliver on a promise to triple Mohd’s $300,000 investment within 18 months, returning only the original investment a month late. The winery’s winemaker, Erica Stancliff, also reported working for months without pay before resigning.
Mohd settled with Mynett and Hailer in September; the terms remain undisclosed. Mynett and Hailer stated they were working to sell the brand’s intellectual property and trademarks.
The failed winery wasn’t the only business venture with problems for Hailer and Mynett, as detailed in my report [link to article]. Two South Dakota cannabis companies also sued Hailer for fraud related to a company he co-founded with Mynett. Mynett, though mentioned, wasn’t named as a defendant and stated he withdrew from eSt Ventures in early 2022. Hailer settled the lawsuit for $1.2 million in August.
My final investigation examined the alleged misuse of a state tax credit designed to assist low-income families with tutoring, music lessons, and educational supplies.
Three women contacted me earlier this year, revealing that dozens of mothers had lost thousands of dollars from their tax refunds to two tutoring companies—Achievers Tutoring and Success Tutoring—which promised pandemic learning loss remediation but only provided online instruction from foreign teachers.
Unraveling this alleged government program scam proved complex. The story involves Filipino online tutors, an alleged scammer lobbying legislators while wearing a Louis Vuitton scarf, violent threats against mothers, a state lawmaker’s former employer, and significant bureaucratic hurdles.
These allegations surrounding the K-12 Education Credit occur amidst a broader crisis of government fraud, with hundreds of millions of dollars reportedly misappropriated from programs funding child nutrition, autism services, transportation, and interpretation assistance.
I will continue following this story as mothers seek restitution, and lawmakers pledge to address fraud, waste, and abuse in social service programs.
By Max Nesterak, Minnesota Reformer, December 30, 2024
(Note: The final sections with copyright and author information have been retained but formatted for better readability. The bracketed “[link to article]” should be replaced with actual links to the articles mentioned.)