Wage theft @ Consilo LLC

A nationwide legal services corporation, after being caught systematically denying overtime pay to its licensed attorney employees, exploited a series of legal technicalities to potentially avoid all financial penalties for its actions.

The case, detailed in the attached down below document, reveals our shitty system where an evil corporation can correct a violation only after being sued, pay the bare minimum in back wages, and then argue that the courts lack the power to punish it further.

That was exactly what happened here, so please read on to learn more!

The Anatomy of a Corporate Pay Cut

The provided document from Cohen v. Consilio, LLC outlines a clear, step-by-step process that led to the legal dispute:

• July 2019: Consilio, a nationwide legal document review company, emails its Minnesota-based hourly attorney employees, including Bruce Cohen, to announce a new “premium overtime policy.”
• August 2019: The new policy takes effect, formally eliminating overtime premium pay for these employees. The company clarified they would be paid only their base rate for all hours worked.
• August 2020: Cohen files a class-action lawsuit against Consilio, alleging violations of three Minnesota wage laws for failing to pay overtime.
• During Litigation: After being sued, Consilio pays a total of $256,010.01 to cover the owed overtime wages and associated liquidated damages for Cohen and the other affected employees.
• The Stipulation: The parties agree that Cohen and the class have been “paid for all overtime wages” and liquidated damages they were owed. The only remaining dispute was over hundreds of thousands of dollars in statutory penalties.

The Consequences Are A System Designed for Impunity

The Economic Fallout for Workers

The initial harm was direct: attorneys were paid a flat rate for overtime hours, a clear violation of wage laws designed to discourage overworking employees without fair compensation.

While the back pay was eventually restored, our current modern day system allowed Consilio to use this money as a interest-free loan, only repaying it after being taken to court.

The real economic damage is the precedent it sets: wage theft can be a profitable gamble if the only consequence is paying what you should have paid in the first place.

The Erosion of Legal Accountability

The court’s analysis reveals how statutory penalties—the financial disincentives for breaking wage laws– can be neutralized.

• A Closed-Loop Penalty System: For one of the claims (under the Minnesota Payment of Wages Act), the court affirmed that only the state Commissioner of Labor can seek “average daily wage” penalties. An employee can sue for their stolen wages, but cannot themselves trigger this specific financial punishment against the employer. This creates a bureaucratic hurdle that dilutes accountability.
• The Jurisdictional Escape Hatch: For another claim (under the Minnesota Fair Labor Standards Act), the court identified a potential escape route for Consilio. The penalties here are payable to the state, not the employee. The court vacated the ruling and sent the case back, questioning whether Cohen even had standing to pursue these penalties now that he had been paid. If the company has voluntarily stopped its illegal policy, the case may be declared “moot,” allowing it to avoid penalties entirely. As the concurring judge noted, this central question of accountability was not even briefed by the parties, leaving a gaping legal uncertainty.

Accountability as a Legal Fiction

The official legal response was a mixed bag: a victory for employees on back pay, but a potential whitewash for the corporation on penalties. Consilio effectively conceded it violated wage laws, yet the legal architecture may allow it to walk away without a single dollar in statutory fines.

This case is symptomatic of a larger systemic issue: corporate liability is often a matter of timing and procedure, instead of justice like how it should be.

An evil corporation can implement an illegal policy, reap the benefits until caught, and then use the act of remediation (paying the original debt) to shield itself from punishment. Meaningful accountability would require penalties that are automatic, inescapable, and borne by the corporation, not just treatable as a cost of business to be settled later.

The Consilio case demonstrates how the current system often fails to meet that standard, making wage theft not a crime, but a calculated business decision.