Chicago Masonry Firm pays $550,000. dollars to resolve an allegation regarding a misclassified employee

A Chicago-area masonry contractor must pay $550,000 for allegedly misclassifying nearly 100 workers as independent contractors and failing to pay current and former employees overtime hours worked more than 40 per week.

If accepted by a judge, the settlement, which highlights a widespread problem in the construction industry, will resolve allegations against United Builders Group Co. and its dissolved predecessor, Polo Masonry Builders, based in Glenview, Illinois, as well as company owners Petro Pariychuk and Olech Synychak.

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, after receiving complaints from the bricklayers’ union, District Council 1 and the Illinois Department of Insurance, conducted an investigation into bricklaying companies that operated primarily in the northern part of the state.

The investigation, conducted between 2017 and 2023, also revealed that the company allegedly paid employees for additional hours at their regular hourly rate, rather than the overtime rate.

The proposed settlement allows workers to recover overtime pay and requires Pariychuk and Synychak to report to the attorney general’s office about any construction businesses they operate so they can be monitored for future compliance with Illinois law.

Pariychuk did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“When workers are misclassified as independent contractors, they are deprived of key job protections to which… they are entitled under state law,” Illinois Raoul said in a statement.

Under the state’s Employee Classification Act, anyone in the construction industry is considered an employee and not an independent contractor unless the employer can demonstrate that the employee is engaged in an independent occupational activity that is distinct from the employer’s regular course of business and free from the employer’s control.

The Illinois Minimum Wage Act requires an overtime premium of 150% of the regular hourly wage for each hour worked in excess of 40 hours in a workweek.