{"id":371362,"date":"2025-11-11T10:55:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T10:55:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/371362\/"},"modified":"2025-11-11T10:55:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T10:55:12","slug":"illinois-attorney-general-sues-chicago-construction-company-for-worker-misclassification-and-unpaid-wages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/371362\/","title":{"rendered":"Illinois Attorney General sues Chicago construction company for worker misclassification and unpaid wages"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/ag-logo.png\" data-caption=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"entry-thumb td-modal-image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/ag-logo.png\"   alt=\"\" title=\"ag logo\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Chicago Construction News staff writer<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"157\" data-end=\"479\">Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul has filed a lawsuit against PMJ Enterprises Inc. (PMJ) and its owner and president alleging that the Chicago-based construction company misclassified workers as independent contractors and failed to pay them hundreds of thousands of dollars in overtime wages.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/AG.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23302\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/AG.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"114\" height=\"156\"\/><\/a>Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"481\" data-end=\"796\">\u201cIn Illinois, we will not allow employers to skirt the law by misclassifying their employees as independent contractors,\u201d Raoul said in a statement. \u201cMy office will continue to fight to ensure workers are protected from misclassification and violations of their right to be paid what they are owed under the law.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"798\" data-end=\"1185\">The Attorney General\u2019s Workplace Rights Bureau launched an investigation that revealed PMJ paid some workers through money orders and checks issued by pass-through companies in an effort to disguise their employment status. The lawsuit further claims PMJ underreported wages to the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) to avoid paying unemployment insurance contributions.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1187\" data-end=\"1515\">Raoul\u2019s office alleges that PMJ violated both the Illinois Minimum Wage Law\u2014which requires employers to pay non-exempt employees 1\u00bd times their regular rate for hours worked over 40 per week\u2014and the Employee Classification Act, which defines when construction workers can be legally treated as independent contractors.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1517\" data-end=\"1699\">The lawsuit seeks recovery of all unpaid wages, statutory damages, interest, and penalties, as well as an injunction preventing PMJ and Espiritu from committing further violations.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1701\" data-end=\"1953\">Raoul said his office remains committed to protecting Illinois workers, particularly those in vulnerable or immigrant communities. Over the past year, the Attorney General\u2019s office has recovered more than $15 million for workers across the state.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1955\" data-end=\"2168\" data-is-last-node=\"\" data-is-only-node=\"\">Workers who believe they have experienced wage or hour violations can contact the Attorney General\u2019s Workplace Rights Hotline at 1-844-740-5076 or file a complaint online at the Attorney General\u2019s website.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chicago Construction News staff writer Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul has filed a lawsuit against PMJ Enterprises Inc.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":371363,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,5386,1818],"class_list":{"0":"post-371362","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-chicago","9":"tag-il","10":"tag-illinois"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115530703484207334","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=371362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371362\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/371363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=371362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=371362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=371362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}