Bridgeview company facing lawsuit for allegedly stealing wages from union carpenters

CHICAGO - The state of Illinois is suing a Bridgeview-based construction company for allegedly stealing wages from union workers.

The company Drive Construction racked up $40 million in contracts between 2015 and 2020 for Chicago Public Works jobs to repair schools and public housing apartments.

Instead of paying union carpenters the Illinois mandated prevailing wage, Drive is accused of funneling money to the workers through sham subcontractors that paid them less than what was required by law.

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The Illinois Attorney General says employees were often under paid for overtime and paid in cash or by money order.

"Drive's employees often worked over 50 hours per week on both public and private projects," Kwame Raoul said. "The Illinois minimum wage law requires employers to pay employees at time and a half their regular rate for each hour worked in excess of 40 hours. Instead, Drive paid many of its employees off the books at the same rate of pay for all time worked regardless of the numbers of hours employees worked on any given week."

The state is seeking back pay for the dozens employees impacted.

Drive Construction has not yet responded to a request for comment.