Labor Department Fines Chicago Sanitation Company $60K for Wage & Overtime Violations

A federal court ordered Green Maintenance Services Inc., a Chicago-area sanitation company and its owner Jan Jarosz to pay US$60,084. The fine represents $29,083 in back wages and an equal amount in damages and interest to 10 current and former employees.

An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found the Chicago-based sanitation company and Jarosz violated provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) when they failed to pay employees overtime at time and one-half their average hourly rate for hours worked over 40 in a week from at least April 7, 2021, through April 6, 2023. Investigators also noted one employee did not receive a final paycheck. 

The consent judgment restrains the sanitation company and Jarosz from future violations of the FLSA. Additionally, Green Maintenance Services agreed to classify sanitation workers as employees and not independent contractors. The Wage and Hour Division  found the company misclassified two of its sanitation workers as independent contractors. The company will pay the back wages in three monthly installments. 

For more than 85 years, federal law has required that employees receive time and one-half their hourly rate of pay for all hours worked over 40 in a week.