A former employee has filed a lawsuit against a prominent Illinois facilities and grounds service company, alleging unpaid overtime wages. The complaint was lodged by Laureano Castillo on November 7, 2025, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, targeting Elite Facility Professionals, Inc., along with its owners Jennifer M. Ogrodny and Lester Ogrodny.
The lawsuit claims that Elite Facility Professionals, Inc., failed to pay Castillo and other similarly situated employees the legally required overtime compensation for hours worked beyond forty per week. Castillo worked as a landscaper and manual laborer from April 2023 through May 2024 at the company’s Romeoville location. He alleges that despite regularly working between fifty-four to sixty-six hours weekly, he was often compensated only at his standard hourly rate or not at all for overtime hours. This alleged practice violates both the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the Illinois Minimum Wage Law (IMWL), which mandate overtime pay at one and one-half times the regular hourly rate.
Castillo’s complaint outlines that during his employment, he frequently worked six days a week in spring and summer, five days in fall, and seven days during winter months due to snow removal duties. Despite this extensive schedule, Castillo asserts that the defendants systematically avoided paying appropriate overtime wages by manipulating their digital time-keeping system to prevent logging work hours past 3:00 p.m., thus obscuring actual hours worked.
The plaintiff seeks to represent other current and former employees who were subjected to similar wage practices over the past three years. The lawsuit calls for collective action under FLSA provisions, aiming to notify potential plaintiffs who might opt into the case. Castillo argues that Elite Facility Professionals had a common policy of violating maximum hour provisions by refusing due overtime compensation.
In terms of relief sought from the court, Castillo is asking for judgment covering unpaid overtime compensation calculated at one and one-half times his regular pay rate for all excess hours worked beyond forty per week. Additionally, he requests liquidated damages equal to unpaid wages, statutory damages under IMWL amounting to three times unpaid wages plus interest penalties of five percent monthly on underpayments. Furthermore, he seeks coverage of reasonable attorney fees incurred during litigation.
Representing Castillo are attorneys Timothy M. Nolan from Nolan Law Office and Alvar Ayala from The Farmworker & Landscaper Advocacy Project. The case has been filed under Case No. 1:25-cv-13677 in front of an unnamed judge within this district court jurisdiction.
Source: 125cv13677_Laureano_Castillo_v_Elite_Facility_Complaint_Northern_District_of_Illinois.pdf
