Chicago Masonry Firm Pays $550K to Settle Misclassified Worker Allegation

A Chicago space masonry contractor should pay $550,000 for allegedly misclassifying almost 100 workers as unbiased contractors and failing to pay present and former staff time beyond regulation hours labored above 40 per week. 

If accepted by a choose, the settlement, which highlights a standard drawback within the building business, will resolve allegations in opposition to United Builders Group Co., and its dissolved predecessor, Glenview, Ailing.-based Polo Masonry Builders, and firm homeowners Petro Pariychuk and Oleh Synychak. 

Illinois Legal professional Normal Kwame Raoul investigated the masonry firms, which operated largely within the northern a part of the state, after receiving complaints from the Bricklayers union, District Council 1 and the Illinois Dept. of Insurance coverage. 

The investigation between 2017 and 2023 additionally revealed that the corporate allegedly paid staff for additional hours at common hourly charges slightly than time beyond regulation price.

The proposed settlement permits workers to recuperate time beyond regulation wages and requires Pariychuk and Synychak to tell the legal professional normal’s workplace of any building corporations they function to allow them to be monitored for future compliance with Illinois regulation. 

Pariychuk didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

“When workers are misclassified as unbiased contractors, they’re disadvantaged of crucial labor protections they … are entitled to below state regulation,” mentioned Illinois Raoul in a press release. 

Based on the state Worker Classification Act, any building business employee is presumed to be an worker, slightly than an unbiased contractor, except the employer exhibits the worker is working in an unbiased commerce, separate from the employer’s standard course of enterprise and free from the employer’s management.

The Illinois minimal wage regulation requires an time beyond regulation premium of 150% of normal hourly wages for every hour over 40 labored in a single workweek.