Attorney General Kwame Raoul announced a consent decree with construction subcontractors building a new production line for Rivian Automotive Inc. (Rivian), expanding on a settlement reached in December 2021. The settlement requires two subcontractors to pay over $300,000 in back wages and penalties to resolve allegations that they failed to pay Mexican laborers for overtime worked. A joint investigation conducted by the Attorney General’s office and the Illinois Department of Labor (DOL) revealed that a chain of subcontractors hired to construct Rivian’s new production line in Normal, Illinois failed to pay overtime wages to their Mexican workers at the site. The consent decree Raoul filed requires China-based Guangzhou MINO Equipment Co. (MINO) and Florida-based BIW Automotive Solution Inc. (BIW), to pay owed overtime wages and civil penalties totaling $315,000 to 59 workers who were denied overtime wages they earned.

According to the Attorney General’s office, MINO, BIW and SDS used an elaborate subcontracting arrangement to deny overtime pay to Mexican laborers at Rivian’s facility in Normal. After Rivian hired MINO to build assembly lines, MINO subcontracted work to BIW. BIW then further subcontracted to SDS to obtain much of the workforce MINO used to fulfill its obligations to Rivian. Although SDS was responsible for paying the workers, MINO and BIW shared significant control over their work and their conditions of employment. Under the consent decree Raoul’s office filed today, MINO agrees to pay 59 affected employees $170,000 in owed overtime wages and penalties, and BIW will pay an additional $145,000. The Illinois Minimum Wage Law allows employees to recover up to triple the amount of damages for any underpayment of wages to which they are entitled. Through the settlement, Raoul’s office is recovering about 150 percent of the overtime wages that employees should have received if they had been paid the required overtime premium rate.