I live in Minnesota. Is it legal for an employer to unexpectedly decide to hold my check, as well as other employees for a week or more due to his own financial issues? I have looked online for an answer but they seem to be harder to find than I thought.

Nio it is not legal for them to hold your check past the scheduled pay date. You can report them to the Labor Dept. ( I would do it as a group)

Also you do know this is a sign that they may well go out of business. If they do go out of business, you may never see the pay for the last week or weeks of work.

Call a local union and they will help you out

Call a local union and they will help you out

Unless it is currently a union shop, a union can do nothing. They might try to get a union into the shop, but that's a long process.

I wasn't saying that for organization purposes. Although that would be beneficial from the sound if it. Any local union will know the labour laws and can answer that question. Organization is a separate issue in which you are correct does take time.

Very few unions that I know of, will help a non member, especially if they are not a union member at all. The State Dept of Labor will handle this.

As a member of one of the largest unions in the country,I know my local union would definitely answer this question along with provide information about the pros of organization. I would hope that your local unions wouldn't discriminate in a situation like this when organization could potentially be fairly simple. And if they do shame on them

Maybe they would help. But if they did it would be in their own self interest to promote unionization. The OP would still be better off going to the Dept of Labor. The only thing the Union might do is refer to the law. The Dept of Labor can enforce.

I am sorry first you can not be sure to get the correct answers at many labor unions, most would want to use this as a reason to organize the shop. You do need the government agency, the Labor Department which would investigate or force payment.

As a follow up, also if they close or go bankrupt you are a non secured debtor.

Another even bigger fear, are they actually paying your taxes into the government, your weekly withholdings.