LME, Inc: Truckers to wait for paychecks until lenders are paid

A trucking company that closed down without warning last week says that former employees should expect to wait months before they see the paychecks that they earned.

Last week, LME Inc. stunned its hundreds of truck drivers and other employees when it suddenly announced that it was closing down permanently on the afternoon of Thursday, July 11. More than 40 terminals across the county were abruptly closed down and approximately 600 workers, most of them truck drivers, found themselves unemployed without notice.

Contractor with LME truck company speaks out

CONTRACTORS UPSET: LME Inc. is a trucking company based out of Minnesota. Hundreds of workers showed up to work Friday to find out they didn't have a job. We spoke to one man who works out of the Iowa office. bit.ly/2ScZwHJ

Posted by We Are Iowa Local 5 News on Friday, July 12, 2019

Many drivers said after the shutdown that they did not receive paychecks for work already performed, and a new post on the LME, Inc. website indicates that they may have to wait a few months before they are paid.

The post reads:

A Message To All Employees:

Unfortunately our lender is in control of all finances. The lender must be paid all monies owed to the lender first before payment can be made to the employees. This process will take at least 90 days if not longer. Updates will be provided over time. -LME Inc.

Many of the company’s former drivers have said that because of the pay structure at LME, they are missing three weeks of pay.

LME also apologized to customers for the inconvenience caused by the closure on their website:

We apologize for the inconvenience of the situation but effective July 12, 2019 LME Inc. will no longer be making pickups or deliveries of freight due to unforeseen circumstances and have ceased operations. Our plan is to utilize an alternate carrier to assist in getting all freight delivered and some staff are remaining to help with that. Freight handled by the alternative carrier will be billed by the alternative carrier but with your LME rates applied to the invoice. There will be some delays in the transits of these moves and they may be significantly delayed in some remote locations. – LME Inc.

The announcement about LME, Inc.’s closure came shortly after the company was ordered to start paying more than $1 million in back pay to 89 union workers suddenly laid off in 2016 by Lakeville Motor Express, a company that has been described as an “alter ego” for LME, Inc.