Romeoville Company Ordered to Pay Workers $185,000

A federal judge has ordered a Romeoville-based cleaning company to pay nearly $185,000 in back pay and damages to employees after violating the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Super Maid LLC owner and president Paul Krawczyk was ordered by U.S. District Judge John J. Tharp to pay 55 employees a total of $184,5050, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

According to the ruling, employees at the company were misclassified as independent contractors when they were really employees entitled to minimum wage and overtime pay.

According to the Department of Labor, despite requiring workers to sign non-compete agreements, the employees were treated as contractors and paid a flat rate per house cleaned, regardless of the amount of time worked. The result was that the employees earned less than $7.25 an hour. Workers were also prohibited from working for another cleaning service. while working for Super Maid.

In his ruling, Tharp ordered Krawczyk to pay the workers $92,252.50 in unpaid overtime and minimum wages, plus an equal amount in damages.