According to the Illinois Department of Labor's ruling, Horizon will be forced to pay its workers an additional $692,000, Russ’s will be forced to pay an additional $249,000 and Essex has to pay a penalty of $188,000.

"Wage theft and the loss of tax revenue affects everyone,” said CRCC Executive Secretary-Treasurer Gary Perinar. “It takes advantage of workers, many of whom are unaware of their right to receive fair wages and benefits for themselves and their families. It puts signatory union contractors at a disadvantage for competitively bid projects and it cheats communities out of tax dollars to increase future growth, new projects and public services. Thanks to our research team for discovering this injustice and to the Department of Labor for enforcing the law."

Illinois' Prevailing Wage Act requires contractors and subcontractors to pay laborers, workers and mechanics employed on public works construction projects no less than the general prevailing rate of wages (consisting of hourly cash wages plus fringe benefits) for work of a similar character in the county where the work is performed. The CRCC filed charges against McShane Construction Company and its subcontractors in early 2018 but they were not investigated under former Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) despite the Illinois Finance Authority issuing bonds to fund the project. The investigation of the Lodge at Northbrook project began after new Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) took office in January.

“We appreciate Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s Department of Labor for addressing wage theft with the seriousness it deserves,” Perinar said. “This is the largest back pay award we’ve facilitated in our Council’s history. We have a new department dedicated to combating wage theft and are putting unscrupulous contractors on notice that cheating workers and taxpayers will not be tolerated.”

Horizon Carpentry and Russ's Drywall did not immediately return messages for comment on the ruling. Essex Corp. said it had no comment and referred all questions to its counsel.