A Minnesota trucking company closed down for good without warning yesterday, leaving hundreds of workers stunned.
Multiple sources reached out to CDLLife to confirm that LME Inc. has closed their doors for good. According to FMCSA’s SAFER website, LME Inc. operated 382 power units and employed 424 truck drivers.
One source told CDLLife via email that “two of my family members were working for LME, Inc and today they abruptly closed their doors and sent their employees home, as they did so back in 2016. To make matters worse, employees have been informed that they will not be getting paid for the last two weeks of work.”
The company’s website informs customers that the company will no longer be accepting pickups.
LME Inc. has been described as an “alter ego” for Lakeville Motor Express by the National Labor Relations Board.
Just before Thanksgiving in 2016, 95 union workers employed by Lakeville Motor Express say that the company suddenly locked its doors at the Roseville, Minnesota location and laid them off without pay.
While the Roseville location filed for bankruptcy, the former employees said that the company simply moved to Maple Grove, Minnesota, and changed its name to LME Inc. or Finish Line Express, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune. Teamsters representing the laid off workers say that the new Maple Grove location was staffed by lower paid non-union employees from Lakeville Motor Express.
In January 2019, the National Labor Relations Board ordered the company to pay back wages for 89 of the 95 laid off workers and to offer them new jobs that became available.
As of April 30, 2019, the National Labor Relations Board issued orders for LME Inc. to begin paying out the required back wages. Failure to begin issuing checks within 60 days would result in the judgment doubling from $1.25 million to $2.4 million.
This is a developing story.