LINCOLN, Ill. (WAND) — Thousands of dollars in back owed wages are finally being paid to hundreds of employees at a marijuana cultivation plant in Logan County.
The workers say they were forced to work off the clock.
"It was a dream job for every employee that is a part of this lawsuit. Every one of them had just the excitement and the drive to perform for Cresco," Robert Emperor told WAND News.
Emperor was a cultivation technician at Cresco Labs in Lincoln, Illinois, from March of 2020 to March of 2022.
"Topping the plants, de-leafing the plants, cleaning the cultivation sites," were some of his duties.
As part of the job, Emperor was required to pick up personal protective gear at the company storage shed and walk to a changing room to put it on — before clocking in.
"It was another coworker of mine, who changed behind me, and he brought to my attention that 'you know we should be getting paid for this time'," Emperor said.
He was let go in 2022 and realized those 15 minutes here and there added up, and he was owed thousands of dollars in back wages.
"I got a higher calling, and I wanted to represent all these people. So I took it upon myself to contact Sommers and Schwartz," Emperor told WAND News.
Emperor worked with the law firm through a lengthy legal process that finally ended with individual settlement agreements.
"The amount of money that each person was going to receive was different, because they all had different periods of time they worked for the company, different number of days that they worked — so they had different amounts of damages," Matthew Turner, Attorney for Sommers Schwartz, told WAND News.
Turner is now representing 118 Cresco employees. 37 have signed settlements and the rest are still in negotiations.
Cresco Labs Facility in Lincoln, Ill.
"There's all kinds of reasons why employers don't pay this money to employees who are owed the money, but the usual reason is, they get away with it," Turner added.
Now, Turner said these workers are finally getting what they should have been paid all along.
"We're representing the little guy. A few thousand dollars over a year, or two years of work, that's a lot of money to the normal everyday person," Turner explained.
Sommers Schwartz said they are still accepting new clients who may be eligible for back wages.
WAND News reached out to Cresco Labs about the settlement. They declined to comment or say whether polices have been changed at the Lincoln facility.
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