Latest news with #AbsoluteDrywall
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Remote work and layoffs loom large in state employee union negotiations — and other labor news
State workers protest Gov. Tim Walz's return-to-office order outside the governor's residence in St. Paul on March 29, 2025. (Photo by Steve Aggergaard/Minnesota Association of Professional Employees) Take a seat in the Break Room, our weekly roundup of labor news in Minnesota and beyond. This week: State employees begin union contract negotiations; Minnesota posts strong job numbers despite economic uncertainty; union carpenters protest subcontractor Absolute Drywall; and whistleblower alleges serious data breach at National Labor Relations Board. Negotiations kicked off this week between the state of Minnesota and tens of thousands of its unionized workers in what may shape up to be the most contentious round of contract talks in recent memory. Members of the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees, which represents about 18,000 workers, continue to hold protests against Gov. Tim Walz's order for most workers to return to the office 50% of the time beginning on June 1. The union has called for a full repeal of the rule and raised the prospect of a strike, though the soonest one could happen wouldn't be until late in the summer. The union says the flexibility and autonomy that comes with remote work has been a boon for recruitment and retention, while forcing workers back into the office will increase their costs and steal time away from their families. In their opening offer, MAPE leaders proposed that their members have the right to work remotely unless the state can 'clearly and convincingly demonstrate that essential job functions of the position cannot be completed when telecommuting.' The proposal would also have the state reimburse workers for parking expenses if they are mandated to be onsite on an incidental basis. Walz said this week he has no plans to rescind or delay the return-to-office order, and brushed aside concerns that there wouldn't be enough office space to accommodate workers after agencies began downsizing during the pandemic. 'I understand that there are disruptions for folks. But the ability to come back to work, work in there together 50% of the time is right in line with the majority, the vast majority of every other state government and most of our private employers,' Walz said at a news conference highlighting potential federal cuts to Medicaid. Rules on layoffs will also be a key sticking point for the two sides, as the state stares down the likelihood of large federal funding cuts on top of a gloomy budget forecast for the near future. Minnesota Management and Budget, which is negotiating with the union, proposed creating 'emergency layoffs' to be used in the event of 'fiscal exigencies,' as well as epidemics, natural disasters and national security emergencies. The new kind of layoff would allow the state to idle workers without having to follow the usual contractual procedures governing layoffs, like placing laid off workers in vacant positions at the same seniority level. 'We are deeply concerned about this proposal, especially given the timing. Workers are already being laid off across multiple agencies. Removing their only remaining protections in a moment of instability is unnecessary and harmful,' MAPE President Megan Dayton told the Reformer. On Monday, the Minnesota Department of Health announced it was delaying layoffs for approximately 170 employees because a federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from freezing $11 billion in federal health grants, including about $220 million for Minnesota. In an internal memo obtained by the Star Tribune, assistant Commissioner Mel Gresczyk also acknowledged the agency made errors in determining layoffs, discovering some employees who received notices were funded by other grants and revenue sources. The Department of Health plans to issue new layoff notices, which will take effect May 14. In its opening bid, the union also proposed tying cost-of-living raises to inflation and adding protections from job losses from artificial intelligence. Minnesota added 10,700 jobs in March, the biggest monthly gain in a year, despite massive upheavals in the global economy driven by the Trump administration's trade war. 'The recent on again, off again round of tariffs continues to cause significant uncertainty among Minnesota companies … but even so, I have to say Minnesota's job market has so far shown impressive resilience,' said Matt Varilek, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, at a news briefing on Thursday. Minnesota gained 37,581 jobs over the year, faster than the national rate of growth. Unemployment ticked up slightly, but it was driven by more people entering the workforce, with the labor force participation rate increasing to 68.2%, among the tops in the nation. Trouble may be on the horizon, however, as businesses that rely on products from other countries stare down steep tariffs and a souring consumer sentiment that's likely to lead to a pullback in spending and layoffs. Tourist-dependent industries may also take a hit this season as international workers and customers stay away, either in protest of the Trump administration or fear of being caught up in immigration enforcement. Trump's efforts to slash the size of the federal workforce through layoffs and buyouts have also not yet appeared in the jobs data, since the mass firings of probationary workers has been tied up in court and those who accepted voluntary buyouts may remain on the government's payroll through September. More layoffs are planned, affecting Minnesota's roughly 18,000 federal workers, with agency heads required to submit plans for massive staffing reductions by Monday. Jobs in state and local government, meanwhile, saw strong growth and added 1,500 jobs over the month in March. Members of the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters picketed outside an affordable housing development in Burnsville on Wednesday to protest Absolute Drywall, a subcontractor on the site with a long history of labor violations. The demonstration was part of coordinated protests across the country by the carpenters union called Tax Fraud Days of Action aimed at shaming contractors the union says drive down industry wages by skirting labor laws. Absolute Drywall has been cited repeatedly for various labor law violations, including illegally employing minors and misclassifying workers as independent contractors to avoid paying overtime, health insurance and payroll taxes. Minnesota loses upwards of $136 million a year in tax revenue because of payroll tax fraud, according to an estimate by the Midwest Economic Policy Institute. The company is currently being sued by the state Department of Human Rights for sex discrimination for firing a female worker who was raped by a co-worker on a job site. The company is also being investigated by state labor regulators for alleged wage theft on an apartment complex built by the owners of the Minnesota Vikings. The carpenters union also criticized MWF Properties — the developer of the Pillsbury Ridge development they picketed — and its general contractor, Eagle Building Company, for continuing to hire Absolute Drywall even after its checkered past has become public. Eagle Building Company told the Reformer the company does not condone the behavior laid out in the allegations against Absolute Drywall and would reevaluate its business relationship with the subcontractor after the legal process played out. 'We have a rigorous program in place to identify and prevent worker abuses on our job sites,' Nick Williams, vice president at Eagle, wrote in an email. MWF Properties did not respond to a request for comment. Members of Trump's Department of Government Efficiency initiative appear to have taken reams of sensitive data from the National Labor Relations Board, according to a whistleblower's account detailed by NPR. The intrusion into the agency, which investigates and adjudicates unfair labor practices, has alarmed labor experts, who say it could expose personal information about union members, proprietary corporate data and witness testimony — data protected by the Privacy Act and other federal laws. 'It could result in damage to individual workers, to union-organizing campaigns and to unions themselves,' Harley Shaiken, a professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, told NPR. DOGE's effective leader, world's richest man Elon Musk, owns companies with a number of cases before the NLRB, including alleged illegal firings of SpaceX employees. Lawyers for SpaceX have argued the NLRB's structure is unconstitutional in that case. In a report sent to Congress, NLRB information technology employee Daniel Berulis detailed how DOGE engineers were granted virtually unrestricted access to the agency's computer system. Then they took steps to conceal their digital footprints across the system and appear to have exported gigabytes of data. Berulis also noticed attempted logins from an IP address in Russia after DOGE accessed the system. 'If he didn't know the backstory, any [chief information security officer] worth his salt would look at network activity like this and assume it's a nation-state attack from China or Russia,' said Jake Braun, a former White House cyber official. After Berulis raised concerns about the data intrusion, he found a printed letter taped to his door which included threatening language and a picture of him walking his dog. The NLRB's acting press secretary denies that DOGE was granted access to its systems. NPR reports that a day after its investigation was published, DOGE assigned two of its people to work part-time, remotely at the agency.
Yahoo
05-03-2025
- Yahoo
State seeks to join lawsuit alleging Lakeville drywall company fired employee who reported being raped at Eagan jobsite
A Lakeville drywall company violated the Minnesota Human Rights Act by allowing an employee to sexually harass and rape a co-worker and then fire her after she reported the harassment, a lawsuit alleges. The lawsuit was filed less than two weeks after Norma Izaguirre's former co-worker admitted in court to raping her in a bathroom on May 20, 2021 On Tuesday, the state Department of Human Rights announced that it had filed a motion to join the lawsuit, which was filed last week in Dakota County District Court by rape survivor Norma Izaguirre against her former employer, Absolute Drywall. Attorney General Keith Ellison said a state investigation found the company violated the Minnesota Human Rights Act. 'The State's decision to join my case against Absolute Drywall is an acknowledgment of not only my truth, but also the unacceptable reality that women like me, Latina women, too often face sexual harassment and assault in the construction industry,' Izaguirre said in a statement issued by the Department of Human Rights. Izaguirre, who is represented by the Minneapolis firm Nichols Kaster, filed the four-count lawsuit against Absolute Drywall on Feb. 26, alleging sex discrimination, reprisal, negligent retention and negligent supervision. A judge will decide whether the state can join the lawsuit. The lawsuit came less than two weeks after Izaguirre's attacker, Juan Diego Medina Cisneros, admitted in court to raping her in a bathroom on May 20, 2021, while the two were working for Absolute Drywall at an apartment complex at the Viking Lakes development in Eagan. Dakota County prosecutors charged the 32-year-old male Mexican national in July 2022 by warrant with third-degree criminal sexual conduct and fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct. Izaguirre told Eagan police she believed he fled for Mexico after she reported the assault, the criminal complaint says. In June, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers arrested Cisneros at Gateway International Bridge, between the cities of Brownsville, Texas, and Matamoros, Tamaulipas. He appeared in Dakota County District Court on Feb. 13 and pleaded guilty to third-degree criminal sexual conduct after reaching a plea deal that calls for a three-year prison term, a downward departure from state sentencing guidelines. Sentencing is scheduled for July 8. The lawsuit says Izaguirre immigrated to the United States from Mexico in 1997, and moved to Minnesota around 2001. While she was working at Los Grandes Mexican Restaurant in Burnsville in January 2021, Cisneros approached her and struck up a conversation about their employment. Cisneros told Izaguirre that his employer, Absolute Drywall, was looking to hire women, and that she should apply to work with the company, the lawsuit says. She did, and started work as a drywall laborer on Jan. 16, 2021. Cisneros was a crew leader. According to the lawsuit, around early March 2021, Cisneros began making sexually harassing comments to Izaguirre. When they were alone, he would try to touch, hug or grope Izaguirre, who at all times rejected his advances and told him to stop. The lawsuit alleges that when Izaguirre threatened to report Cisneros, he threatened her and said no one would believe her. At least one co-worker witnessed Cisneros groping Izaguirre on multiple occasions. Izaguirre reported Cisneros' sexual harassment and inappropriate touching and aggression to her supervisor, who told her that he would address the issue, the lawsuit says. Absolute Drywall did not investigate Izaguirre's report, the lawsuit alleges, and 'made no effort to address Izaguirre's concerns. Unfortunately, because nothing was done, (Cisneros) continued to escalate his aggressive pursuit of Izaguirre.' Izaguirre reported the sexual assault to St. Paul police in January 2022, according to the criminal complaint. The investigation was referred to the Eagan police in March 2022, and Izaguirre provided a statement to investigators on May 22, 2022. According to the complaint and lawsuit, Izaguirre was on her hands and knees cleaning the job site, when Cisneros came up behind her and aggressively put his arms around her and pushed himself against her. Despite Izaguirre's pleas that he stop, he continued. Cisneros pushed Izaguirre into a shower and raped her. After the assault, Cisneros threatened Izaguirre and said he would harm her if she reported him, the lawsuit and complaint say. Soon thereafter, the lawsuit, says, Izaguirre reported Cisneros' sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior to her supervisor a second time. Although Izaguirre's second report included general reference to Cisneros' inappropriate sexual advances, harassment and touching, the lawsuit continues, 'she did not expressly report the rape. She did not feel comfortable sharing such private, sensitive information with (the supervisor), particularly because he had done nothing after her first report of harassment.' In or around August 2021, Izaguirre reported that Cisneros' sexual harassment and touching a third time, but to a different supervisor over the phone. Shortly thereafter, Izaguirre was at Absolute Drywall's office and asked a human resources employee if there were any updates on the investigation into her report against Cisneros. The employee stated they had not heard about any type of investigation, and that there were no records of her report, the lawsuit says. In the fall of 2021, Izaguirre reported the sexual harassment to the owner of the company. The owner told Izaguirre to stop reporting the harassment or she would be fired, the lawsuit alleges. She was fired in October 2021. Izaguirre filed a charge of discrimination against Absolute Drywall with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights in May 2022. The agency completed its investigation in April 2024 and issued its determination finding probable cause of discrimination. Absolute Drywall appealed the department's determination in June, and that same month the agency affirmed its original probable cause finding against the company. In August, the parties participated in conciliation through the Human Rights department, but were unable to reach resolution. 'To date, Defendant has refused to adopt policies prohibiting sexual harassment, reprisal, or sexual assault,' states the lawsuit, which seeks compensatory and punitive damages, and other damages in an amount to be proven at trial. Crime & Public Safety | Robbinsdale man who said he stabbed St. Paul light-rail rider in self-defense sentenced to probation Crime & Public Safety | St. Paul man admits to throwing fatal punch outside East Side bar Crime & Public Safety | St. Paul man sentenced in 2023 shootout at White Bear Lake bar Crime & Public Safety | St. Paul man charged in fatal stabbing of wife in city's first homicide of 2025 Crime & Public Safety | 'Purely evil': Man sentenced to 40 years in prison for killing, dismembering 2 women The Department of Human Rights says it wants Absolute Drywall to have and enforce anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policies and wants to ensure the company's employees, including those who speak Spanish, know about the policies and can easily report sexual harassment, assault and other forms of discrimination. 'The court-ordered changes we're seeking will help women, like Norma, who deserve respect in the workplace,' Human Rights Commissioner Rebecca Lucero said in the statement. Minnesota has one of the highest percentages of women working in construction, according to a March report by Labor Finders. However, sexual harassment in the construction industry is prevalent across the U.S. A 2021 report by the Institute for Women's Policy and Research states that nearly one in four women working in construction surveyed said they experience near constant sexual harassment on the job.
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Yahoo
Worker raped at Eagan job site sues drywall company after her firing
Absolute Drywall, a subcontractor on Eagan's Viking Lakes development, is accused of violating state law by allowing sexual harassment to go unchecked and ultimately firing an employee after she was raped at the job site in 2021, state leaders alleged on Tuesday. The Minnesota Department of Human Rights, represented by Attorney General Keith Ellison, on Tuesday filed to join Norma Izaguirre's lawsuit against the construction company. Juan Diego Medina Cisneros, 31, pleaded guilty to felony criminal sexual conduct in Dakota County last month in connection with raping Izaguirre at the job site while they were both Absolute Drywall employees in May of 2021. Speaking at a press conference, MDHR Commissioner Rebecca Lucero accused Absolute Drywall of violating the Minnesota Human Rights Act by fostering an environment that allowed sexual harassment and rape to go "unchecked." "At the end, Absolute Drywall fired Norma because she reported the sexual harassment to the company," Lucero said Tuesday. Izaguirre began working for Absolute Drywall in January 2021 and began to immediately experience consistent sexual harassment, including unwanted sexual advances, according to MDHR. MDHR said Izaguirre reported the harassment repeatedly and reported the rape, but Absolute Drywall allegedly "failed to take any meaningful action" and ultimately fired Izaguirre. In a statement Tuesday, Izaguirre said she hopes speaking out will empower other women to tell their stories and hold abusive employers accountable. 'The State's decision to join my case against Absolute Drywall is an acknowledgment of not only my truth, but also the unacceptable reality that women like me, Latina women, too often face sexual harassment and assault in the construction industry,' Izaguirre stated. A 2021 report by the Institute for Women's Policy and Research found nearly one in four women working in construction stated they experience near constant sexual harassment on the job. Bring Me The News has reached out to Absolute Drywall for comment.
CBS News
04-03-2025
- CBS News
Minnesota sues drywall company accused of firing worker who reported being raped on job
Minnesota is joining a lawsuit filed against a Twin Cities construction company after its management allegedly fired a woman who reported being sexually harassed and raped on the job by a co-worker. The Minnesota Department of Human Rights says the lawsuit was filed by Norma Izaguirre, who alleges Lakeville's Absolute Drywall violated the state's Human Rights Act by failing to protect her from harassment and sexual assault. The office of Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison took on the case following the department's investigation. According to the lawsuit, Izaguirre says she first learned of the job opportunity with Absolute Drywall from her eventual rapist while at a restaurant. She went on to work as an on-site cleaner for the company from January to September 2021 and was "immediately and consistently sexually harassed" by the man, who worked as a drywall laborer. Documents say the man raped her while she was cleaning a tub on a worksite in Eagan in May of that year. Izaguirre says she reported him five times to management, who "failed to take any meaningful action" and eventually decreased her work hours down to zero, according to court documents. Later that year, her attacker parted ways with the company and was charged in her assault. He pleaded guilty last month to third-degree criminal sexual conduct. Izaguirre filed a human rights complaint with the state, which eventually found Absolute Drywall had no policies in place to prevent harassment and assault or ways its workers could report it, including those who speak Spanish. "When anyone is discriminated against or harassed, our state and our businesses are deprived of enormous potential," said Rebecca Lucero, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Human Rights. "Norma deserved to be treated with humanity. Instead, Absolute Drywall allowed sexual harassment and rape to go unchecked." Izaguirre is seeking damages and is demanding the company make "clear anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policies," and to ensure its employees "can easily report sexual harassment, assault and other forms of discrimination." "The State's decision to join my case against Absolute Drywall is an acknowledgment of not only my truth, but also the unacceptable reality that women like me, Latina women, too often face sexual harassment and assault in the construction industry," Izaguirre said. "I hope that by standing up for myself and speaking out, other women feel empowered to tell their stories and employers who are abusive to their workers are held accountable." The department says Minnesota is among the top states when it comes to the percentage of women working in the construction industry. A 2021 report by Institute for Women's Policy and Research found nearly a quarter of the female construction workers it surveyed said they face frequent sexual harassment from co-workers. In January, the department settled a lawsuit with Home Depot on behalf of a woman who was sexually harassed by co-workers for years at its Fridley location. The Minnesota Department of Human Rights also entered into a consent decree in 2023 with the owner of several Twin Cities McDonald's restaurants after a 14-year-old employee was sexually assaulted by her manager. . Sexual Assault Resources (SOS – Ramsey County) Sexual Violence Center (SVC – Hennepin County) Aurora Center (U of MN) 360 Communities (Dakota County) Hope Center (Rice County) Canvas Health (Washington County) Alexandra House (Anoka County) General Sites for information related to sexual assault and resources throughout Minnesota: Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault General Sexual Assault Websites:
Yahoo
13-02-2025
- Yahoo
Construction worker at Viking Lakes apartments pleads guilty to raping cleaner on job site
Juan Diego Medina Cisneros leaves the Dakota County Government Center in Hastings after pleading guilty to felony sexual misconduct on Feb. 13, 2025. Photo by Max Nesterak/Minnesota Reformer. A construction worker pleaded guilty on Thursday to raping a co-worker in an apartment bathroom during construction of Viking Lakes, a sprawling multi-use Eagan development built by the Wilf family, owners of the Minnesota Vikings. Juan Diego Medina Cisneros, a 31-year-old Mexican citizen, was charged in Dakota County two-and-a-half years ago but wasn't apprehended until last June by border patrol agents at the Gateway International Bridge in Texas. The Dakota County Sheriff's Office brought him back to Minnesota, where he was released the next day on $100,000 bail. The assault came to light as the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters was helping workers report their allegations of wage theft on the Viking Lakes development by two subcontractors — Absolute Drywall and Advantage Construction. Absolute Drywall employee Norma Izaguirre said she repeatedly rejected Medina Cisneros' advances while working as a cleaner at Viking Lakes, which is built around the Vikings' headquarters and training facility. One day in May 2021, Medina Cisneros came up behind Izaguirre as she was cleaning a bathtub and raped her. (The Reformer does not typically name survivors of sexual violence, but Izaguirre consented when she shared her story with the Reformer in 2022. She has spoken publicly about her attack in hopes of preventing other women in construction from being treated the way she was.) Izaguirre told her supervisor about the abuse, but the company determined it was a consensual relationship and owner Dan Ortega fired Izaguirre soon after. In response to a complaint Izaguirre filed with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights, Absolute Drywall said Izaguirre was fired for creating a hostile work environment by refusing to do cleanup work. Izaguirre said she did complain to her supervisor about having to clean bathtubs because they were often filled with urine and other excrement. Izaguirre watched Thursday's court proceeding over Zoom, wiping away tears as Medina Cisneros admitted to the assault in Spanish through an interpreter. Medina Cisneros' attorney said he was 'deeply remorseful.' Izaguirre has filed a complaint with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights, which is investigating her allegations of sex discrimination, and could bring a lawsuit against the contractor. Medina Cisneros will serve 36 months in prison followed by 10 years probationary release. His lawyer explained to him during Thursday's hearing that he will likely be deported upon leaving prison. It's unclear if Medina Cisneros has legal authorization to be in the United States, and he could be swept up in Trump administration efforts to carry out widespread deportations. Izaguirre's attorney said they hope he will serve prison time in the United States to ensure justice is served. Dakota County District Court Judge Luis Morales seemed dissatisfied with the settlement agreement, which is five months shorter than the sentencing guideline. But he said he would accept the agreement because Izaguirre approved. He said he would make further comments when Medina Cisneros returns to court on July 8 to be formally sentenced and taken into custody. The state Department of Labor and Industry opened an investigation into Absolute Drywall for wage theft and is currently seeking $2.4 million in back wages for workers for Advantage Construction and its subcontractor Property Maintenance and Construction, including for work at the Viking Lakes development. It is the largest wage theft case ever brought by the agency.
