Whether you’re an hourly worker or you have a six-figure salary, we all expect to get paid for the work we do. That’s a right guaranteed by law.
But it hasn’t been the case for several former employees in DuPage County who said they’re missing paychecks and had their health insurance terminated without notice from their employer.
After seeing an NBC 5 Responds investigation report about trouble at one of the companies owned by that employer earlier this year, the former employees reached out to NBC 5 Responds for help.
There have been a lot of twists in this investigation. We first began investigating Springrock Gutters after customers told us the company took thousands of dollars in deposits and didn’t install their gutters. We learned the problems went a lot deeper, and now a federal agency is investigating.
In January, our first investigation into Springrock Gutters got Jon Snowden out of bed, and into a frantic group chat with his former coworkers.
“I was lying in bed getting ready to go to sleep. I heard ‘Springrock Gutters,’ and I kind of shot up and I looked at my wife and I said ‘What?'” said Snowden, a former employee of 101 Digital, Springrock Gutters’ sister company.
He wasn’t the only one.
“All of us had a few choice words. It was nice to see like, ‘Hey, we’re not the only ones going through this,'” said James Goggin, also a former employee of 101 Digital.
Goggins, Snowden and colleague Benjamin Ebert are all former employees of Springrock Gutters’ sister company 101 Digital, doing business as Sunny Direct.
Both companies were bought by business owner Anita Reinke within the past few years. It was under her ownership last year that they say their paychecks regularly arrived late. Instead of direct deposit, they said they sometimes got wire payments or no pay at all.
“It was scary at first when, you know, Thursday evening, Friday morning, and there’s no money in the bank account that they said there would be,” said Snowden.
“It’s just like … how am I gonna make my mortgage payment?” said Goggin.
The men said they’re still owed at least two weeks pay from Reinke.
Also missing is their health insurance.
Even though their premiums were deducted from their paychecks, bi-monthly employees said they discovered their health insurance coverage was canceled without notice from May through November of last year.
In NBC 5 Responds’ January investigation into Reinke’s other company, Springrock Gutters, employees there made the same claims. Springrock employees told NBC 5 Responds they were missing paychecks and that their health insurance coverage was also canceled by Reinke last year but they weren’t told.
Goggin found out when he was at his doctor’s office.
“One of the nurses came to me like, ‘Hey, your insurance isn’t valid. I was like, ‘Well, what do you mean? … It’s through my work, like, it’s coming out of my paycheck.’ And they’re like, ‘No, it’s not valid. It’s not active anymore,'” said Goggin, who later received a hefty bill for that visit.
“I get angry about it. I mean, it’s just, it’s deceitful. That could … ruin someone’s life,” said Ebert.
Several former employers told us their W-2 forms were incorrect as a result of those wire payments they received from the company. They said taxes weren’t deducted, along with their insurance premiums and 401(k) contributions.
In January, Reinke acknowledged she was working to get those health insurance premiums returned to her Springrock employees. She also said she would pay employees for any wages they were owed. She did not provide a timeline.
“It can really amount to being seen as theft,” said Juanita Rodriguez, an employment attorney and Founding partner of JBR Law Group. Rodriguez is not representing anyone in this case, but she said the allegations against Reinke are alarming.
“It seems like there is easily a number a couple of civil offences here, and to the extent it is pervasive and seems very intentional, there may even be criminal offenses,” said Rodriguez.
The Department of Labor confirmed to NBC 5 Responds it is investigating wage complaints from several of Reinke’s former employees.
“She’s the one that cut the checks, signed the checks. If those things don’t get paid, that’s on her,” said Ebert.
And Reinke is facing scrutiny in the courts too.
NBC 5 Responds poured through court records and found Reinke and her companies have been sued at least 15 times since last October for breach of contract and nonpayment. Recently, a judge issued an eviction order for Reinke’s Sunny Direct/101 Digital office in Naperville.
Five cases are still ongoing, three cases were dismissed, and in seven cases, Reinke was ordered to pay up to various banks, businesses and vendors to the tune of nearly $2.2 million.
“I knew deep down that there was no way that I could work for those people. I didn’t trust them,” said Ebert.
By late last year, Snowden, Ebert and Goggin said they’d had enough and left the company.
“I want what I’m owed for the work that I did. And then we can walk away and leave it at that,” said Goggin.
“I’d like it to not happen to anyone else,” said Ebert.
NBC 5 Responds has given Reinke multiple opportunities to speak with us on camera. She responded to our messages, but did not answer any of our questions.
Here are a few key takeaways
- In Illinois, employers are required by law to provide you access to your paystubs.
- You can take your employer to court over unpaid wages, and according to Illinois law, you are entitled to attorney fees if you win.
- Finally, workers who are missing wages may be able to get up to triple the amount they’re owed, if the Department of Labor finds in their favor after an investigation.