Madigan took up the workers' cause after the state Labor Department ruled in May 2013 that Rodriguez paid the workers less than the minimum wage and owed them back pay. Madigan spokeswoman Maura Possley said the attorney general's office had simply been "working to make sure the workers are paid what they're owed." But its attempt to enforce the state's $262,000 finding against Rodriguez is likely now doomed, because the workers will be last in line among Rodriguez's creditors in bankruptcy court, according to Sophia Zaman of the Raise the Floor alliance of activist groups.