Crystal Lake landscaping company owes nearly $1 million in back wages, damages, U.S. Department of Labor says

The U.S. Department of Labor has filed a civil complaint against Red Oak Tree Service alleging the Crystal Lake-based landscaping company owes more than $963,000 in back wages to its employees.

An investigation by the federal agency’s Wage and Hour Division found the employer violated overtime provisions from the Fair Labor Standard Act, according to the complaint, which was filed by the Department of Labor in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Rockford on March 21.

According to the federal agency’s complaint, investigators found Red Oak Tree Service and its owner Humberto Gonzalez paid the affected employees “straight time in cash for their overtime work from at least Nov. 1, 2020, to Oct. 30, 2022.” The Fair Labor Standard Act requires workers to receive time-and-a-half of their hourly rate for hours over a 40-hour work week.

“Investigators found $963,854 – representing $481,927 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages – are due to 29 employees of Red Oak Tree Service Inc.,” according to the complaint.

The Department of Labor claims Gonzalez paid employees with a check for their first 40 hours and then paid overtime hours at regular rates in cash in the peak season of May through September. In the off season of the months March, April, October and November, Gonzalez paid employees all in cash at the regular rate, regardless if workers went over 40 hours a week, according to the civil complaint.

Red Oak Tree Service kept one month of time records during the investigation period, according to the complaint. Investigators said they found no records in the payroll of the overtime cash payments and the wages paid during the off-peak months.

An attorney representing Red Oak Tree Service and Gonzalez could not be reached for comment.

“Workers must be paid time and one-half their hourly rate of pay for all hours worked over 40 in a work week unless they meet very specific criteria. Not paying them earned overtime takes money out of their pockets of workers, harming employees and their communities because workers have less to spend,” Wage and Hour District Director Tom Gauza said in a Department of Labor news release.

The landscaping company, located at 2316 Route 176 in Crystal Lake, has been in business for about 15 years and provides services like tree removal and trimming. “Humberto Gonzalez, owns 100% of Red Oak, is Red Oak’s president, exercises operational control over the business, supervises employees, determines pay practices, and hires and fires employees,” according to the complaint.

Red Oak has a Better Business Bureau “F” rating and is not accredited by them due to failing to respond to two customer complaints, according to the BBB website.