Chicago masonry firm pays $550,000 to settle worker misclassification charges

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 employees overtime hours worked in excess of 40 per week.

If accepted by a judge, the settlement, which highlights a common problem in the construction industry, would resolve charges against United Builders Group Co. and its dissolved predecessor, Polo Masonry Builders of Glenview, Ill., and company owners Peter Pariychuk and Oleg Sinychak.

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul investigated masonry companies that operated primarily in the northern part of the state after receiving complaints from the masonry union, District Council 1 and the Illinois Department of Insurance.

The investigation, conducted between 2017 and 2023, also found that the company allegedly paid workers for overtime hours at regular hourly rates rather than the overtime rate.

The proposed agreement allows workers to be compensated for overtime and requires Pariychuk and Sinychak to inform the attorney general’s office of all construction firms they manage 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 denied critical labor protections to which they … are entitled under state law,” Illinois-based Raoul said in a statement.

Under the state’s Employee Classification Law, any construction industry worker is considered an employee and not an independent contractor unless the employer can prove that the worker is engaged in an independent profession, separate from the employer’s normal 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 worked in excess of 40 in one workweek.