A Chicago-area masonry contractor must pay $550,000 for misclassifying nearly 100 employees as independent contractors and failing to pay overtime for current and former workers who worked more than 40 hours per week.
If accepted by a judge, the settlement, which highlights a common problem in the construction industry, will resolve allegations against United Builders Group Co. and its dissolved predecessor, Glenview, Ill.-based Polo Masonry Builders, and company owners Petro Pariychuk and Oleh Synychak.
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul investigated the bricklaying companies, which operated primarily in the northern part of the state, after receiving complaints from the Bricklayers union, District 1 and the Illinois Department of Insurance .
The investigation between 2017 and 2023 also revealed that the company allegedly paid overtime workers at regular hourly rates instead of overtime.
The proposed settlement allows employees to recover overtime wages and requires Pariychuk and Synychak to report to the attorney general’s office any construction companies they operate so they can be monitored for future compliance with Illinois law.
Pariychuk did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“When employees are misclassified as independent contractors, they are deprived of critical employment protections to which they are entitled under state law,” Illinois Raoul said in a statement.
Under the state’s Employee Classification Act, any worker in the construction industry is presumed to be an employee, rather than an independent contractor, unless the employer shows that the employee works in a trade independent, separate from the usual course of business and free from the control of the employer.
Illinois minimum wage law requires an overtime premium of 150% of regular wages for every hour worked over 40 in a single workweek.
