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The Minnesota Court of Appeals has revived a whistleblower retaliation claim against a Minnesota real estate company. It concluded that the whistleblower statute extends to former employees.

In 2019, the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office received complaints from three people who had been or were currently employed as security guards by Madison Equities, a private real estate company that leases, manages, and owns residential and business properties in downtown St. Paul.

C.L., a former security guard, was the first to bring a complaint. He stated that once he reached the threshold of working 40 hours at the First National Bank Building, he would work at other Madison Equities properties. However, C.L. was not paid the overtime rate of time-and-a-half. Instead, he received straight-time pay from different companies. Two more individuals made similar allegations.

The Attorney General’s Office issued a civil investigative demand (CID) to Madison Equities and nine subsidiaries associated with seven properties where security guards worked in October 2019. However, Madison Equities did not produce any information requested in the CID. Instead, it moved for a protective order and sought to quash the CID in its entirety.

After the Attorney General’s Office filed a cross-motion to compel enforcement, the district court denied the protective order and granted the motion to compel. Although Madison Equities appealed the order and sought a stay from the...

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