Minnesota State Employee Union Opens Investigation Into Recently Departed President

By Max Nesterak, Minnesota Reformer

February 11, 2026

Minnesota’s largest union of state workers is investigating alleged financial improprieties by its former president, Megan Dayton, who abruptly resigned her union position and left her job with the state last month.

The union launched the investigation after several union members raised concerns at a Jan. 16 board meeting about Dayton’s expenditures and how much she claimed to be working for both the union and the state.

Public financial records from the state and union show Dayton claimed to be working more than half-time in her regular job as a senior demographer in the Department of Administration while also working full-time for the union, earning upwards of $185,000.

MAPE, which represents some 18,000 state employees, pays its elected leaders for the time they miss from their regular jobs to work on union duties.

Under the union’s policy, most elected union leaders may not bill the union for “lost time” beyond the hours they missed from their regular jobs. The policy is more generous for the president, who may also be paid for time spent working on nights and weekends.

“There’s a difference between feasible and likely. Is it feasible to work 70 hours a week? Yep. But is that likely to go on at length? That’s what we want the investigator to look into,” said MAPE Communications Director Ashley Erickson.

Dayton, who did not respond to a call seeking comment, resigned her union position on Jan. 2 with three years left of her term. She is now the CEO of the American Council of Engineering Companies Minnesota, according to her LinkedIn and the company’s website.

Erickson declined to elaborate on what was presented at the Jan. 16 board meeting including the complaints about Dayton’s expenditures, saying the independent investigation by a forensic accountant would lead the union’s decision-making. Erickson couldn’t say when that investigation would be complete.

In the meantime, the union put its finance director, Todd Maki, and statewide treasurer and former president, Chet Jorgenson, on administrative leave, though their expenditures and timekeeping are not under investigation.

Calls to Maki and Jorgenson were not returned.

The investigation comes at a delicate time. Unions broadly are facing an onslaught of attacks by the Trump administration, while MAPE’s relationship with Gov. Tim Walz has been acrimonious since he ordered employees back to the office part-time last year. Dayton led the union through one of the most contentious contract negotiations in recent years, with Dayton and many other workers saying they were ready to strike over the return-to-office order.

Dayton earned $111,013 from the union for working 40 hours a week on average in 2024, according to the most recent available tax document filed by the union. In fiscal year 2024, which ends in June, she also earned around $75,000 from the state for working around 29 hours per week, according to public state data.

In 2023, Dayton also claimed to be working around 70 hours per week on average between the union and the state, earning around $177,000.

Other years, Dayton claimed to be even more productive. One year she earned more than $1,218 in overtime from the state on top of her regular earnings of $68,763 while also claiming to work full-time for the union.

Jorgenson, her predecessor, earned far less because he never claimed to work full-time for the union or the state as an analyst in the Commerce Department while juggling both roles.

He was paid less than $60,000 a year by the union and never claimed to work more than 32 hours on average, according to a review of public financial documents for his last five years as president. During the same period, he was only paid for working around 16 hours a week for the state, earning around $30,000 a year.

The union’s elected vice president Angie Halseth became president after Dayton resigned. Halseth said she will not seek to serve out the remainder of Dayton’s term through 2028, according to an email she sent to MAPE members.

Until a new president is elected in the spring, Halseth told members she would work on renewing relationships, rebuilding trust, and “ensuring a fair, thorough and expeditious investigation into any allegations of misuse of your dues and a full audit of MAPE governance and policies.”

The Minnesota Reformer is an independent, nonprofit news organization dedicated to keeping Minnesotans informed and unearthing stories other outlets can’t or won’t tell.