ATTORNEY GENERAL RAOUL HIGHLIGHTS HIS OFFICE’S EFFORTS TO PROTECT WORKERS IN ANNUAL LABOR DAY REPORT

ATTORNEY GENERAL RAOUL HIGHLIGHTS HIS OFFICE'S EFFORTS TO PROTECT WORKERS IN ANNUAL LABOR DAY REPORT

September 04, 2026

Chicago - Heading into Labor Day weekend, Attorney General Kwame Raoul highlighted a report detailing actions his office has taken during the past year to advocate for and protect Illinois workers.

The Attorney General's Workplace Rights Bureau was codified in state statute in 2020 and has since launched more than 115 investigations, resulting in the recovery of more than $30 million in owed wages and restitution for workers and penalties on cases involving wage theft, misclassification, child labor, discrimination, and other violations of Illinois employment laws.

"The dedicated attorneys and staff of my office's Workplace Rights Bureau work every day to uphold and defend Illinois laws, resolve serious and persistent violations of workers' rights, and ensure that law-abiding businesses are not undercut by those that violate the law to gain unfair advantages," Raoul said. "I am committed to continuing to fight for workers' rights, and I encourage anyone with questions or concerns about their workplace to reach out to my office's Workplace Rights Bureau. Our bilingual attorneys and staff are happy to speak to workers about their concerns and provide information and resources to make sure that workers know their rights."

The Workplace Rights Bureau advances the employment rights of all Illinois residents by taking actions, such as investigating labor law violations, collecting owed wages and civil penalties, filing lawsuits to protect Illinois workers, and advocating for stronger legal protections for workers.

This year, Raoul's office led the effort to pass a law that will help ensure the Workplace Rights Bureau has the necessary tools to defend workers' rights and a level playing field for law-abiding businesses. The new statute, which was signed into law in August, clarifies the bureau's jurisdiction, streamlines the subpoena processes to prevent delay tactics and expensive court battles, and grants the bureau investigative tools already in use by other agencies that enforce labor laws.

Raoul's office also works to protect the temporary labor market from anticompetitive schemes. In May 2026, Raoul's Antitrust Bureau and Workplace Rights Bureau announced the last of seven settlements fully resolving a lawsuit against Vee Pak LLC, doing business as Voyant Beauty, and six temporary staffing agencies for engaging in unlawful no-poach agreements. Through this lawsuit filed in 2022, Raoul has secured over $2.5 million in settlements from all defendants and robust injunctive relief to ensure temporary workers are not prevented from seeking or obtaining new job opportunities.

The lawsuit alleged that Vee Pak facilitated an unlawful no-poach conspiracy by the temporary staffing agencies not to recruit, solicit, or hire temporary employees from one another at the Vee Pak worksite in violation of the Illinois Antitrust Act. Under the most recent settlement, Vee Pak has agreed to pay $625,000, which will primarily be used to compensate temporary workers impacted by the no-poach agreement, and change its practices to prevent future violations.

The Workplace Rights Bureau ensures that all employers, regardless of whether they are traditional or gig employers, adhere to the employment laws that govern their operations. In the last year, Raoul has secured settlements from gig staffing agencies that violated Illinois employment laws, underpaid workers and unfairly undercut competitors.

Raoul's Workplace Rights Bureau also holds employers liable for violating the Illinois Child Labor Law of 2024 that protects children aged 15 and younger from dangerous and exploitative employment conditions. Following a 2025 settlement against Hearthside Food Solutions, LLC for $4.5 million in child labor penalties, Raoul is encouraging any employee who was a minor when they worked at Hearthside Food Solutions in Illinois to review the eligibility requirements and file their claims online with the settlement administrator, Atticus Administration, at hearthsidefssettlement.com.

Attorney General Raoul's 2026 Labor Day Report, which is also available in Spanish, highlights the Vee Pak settlement and child labor investigations, along with other recent settlements the office has obtained on behalf of Illinois workers and litigation the office has filed to enforce labor laws and recover wages for workers:

• In July 2026, Raoul announced a $95,000 settlement with a gig staffing agency, GigSmart, which followed a July 2025 settlement with a different gig staffing agency, Wonolo. The companies functioned as temporary staffing agencies but held themselves out as gig companies connecting workers with temporary work at their client companies via their apps. Both companies misclassified most or all of their temporary workers as independent contractors, and as a result, failed to properly pay them. The two settlements allowed more than 3,800 eligible workers to recover unpaid wages and ensured that future temporary workers for the companies will be classified as employees.
• In February 2026, Raoul settled claims that a medical staffing agency, Adelphi Staffing, violated the Illinois Freedom to Work Act when it required Illinois employees to sign non-solicitation agreements. Non-solicitation agreements, which restrict employees from soliciting co-workers or their employer's vendors or clients for employment or business, are prohibited by the Freedom to Work Act unless the employee earns more than $45,000 annually. The company agreed to remove the non-solicitation clause from the agreements.
• In August 2025, Raoul filed a lawsuit against Keystrokes Transcription Service, Inc., Chartnet Technologies Inc., and their common owner for failing to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in wages to its medical service transcriptionists. Raoul found that Keystrokes hired employees to remotely transcribe medical records and failed to pay their wages for years, while making false promises of pay to keep employees working.
• In November 2025, Raoul filed a lawsuit against a Chicago-based construction company, PMJ Enterprises Inc., alleging the company had misclassified its construction workers as independent contractors, made off-the-books wage payments and failed to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in overtime wages. The suit seeks to recover all owed wages, statutory damages, interest and penalties, and injunctive relief.

Raoul works with attorneys general offices throughout the country to advocate for workers' rights and hold accountable those that undermine the law, including the federal government. Raoul frequently collaborates with other attorneys general to challenge actions by the Trump Administration that have threatened to roll back worker protections, dismantle worker protection institutions, and harm workers.

In June 2026, Raoul led a coalition of attorneys general in suing the Trump administration to stop an executive order that directs federal agencies to adopt new terms in their contracts prohibiting federal contractors from engaging in "racially discriminatory DEI activities." In their lawsuit, the coalition asserts that the attempt to purge diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility from federal contracting imposes confusing requirements on contractors, including requirements that may depart from antidiscrimination policies contractors have already followed for decades. The terms impose needless costs and threaten to chill lawful efforts to prevent, detect, and remedy unlawful discrimination.

Raoul's Workplace Rights Bureau also comments on proposed regulatory changes, often in collaboration with other state attorneys general. In the past year, Raoul has submitted comment letters opposing a rule proposed by the U.S. Department of Labor to weaken the test used to determine whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor, a rule proposed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that would economically devastate asylum seekers by essentially preventing them from obtaining legal employment, a rule proposed by the U.S. Department of Labor that would weaken protections for agricultural workers, and a rule proposed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration that would sharply limit employers' liability for hazards in inherently risky professions, leaving many workers in these industries without critical federal safety protections.

Attorney General Raoul encourages workers who wish to file a complaint about an employer's potentially unlawful practices to call the Workplace Rights Hotline at 1-844-740-5076 or visit the Attorney General's website.