Labor
Chicago Masonry Firm Pays $550K to Settle Misclassified Worker Allegation
Masonry contractor United Builders Group will pay $550,000 in pact over misclassifying employees as independent contractors.
Credit: Original Illustration by Getty Images/sorbetto
A Chicago area masonry contractor must pay $550,000 for allegedly misclassifying nearly 100 employees as independent contractors and failing to pay current and former workers overtime hours worked above 40 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 masonry companies, which operated largely in the northern part of the state, after receiving complaints from the Bricklayers union, District Council 1 and the Illinois Dept. of Insurance.
The investigation between 2017 and 2023 also revealed that the company allegedly paid workers for extra hours at regular hourly rates rather than overtime rate.
The proposed settlement allows employees to recover overtime wages and requires Pariychuk and Synychak to inform the attorney general’s office of any construction firms 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 labor protections they ... are entitled to under state law,” said Illinois Raoul in a statement.
According to the state Employee Classification Act, any construction industry worker is presumed to be an employee, rather than an independent contractor, unless the employer shows the employee is working in an independent trade, separate from the employer’s usual course of business and free from the employer’s control.
The Illinois minimum wage law requires an overtime premium of 150% of regular hourly wages for each hour over 40 worked in a single workweek.
