State claims Illinois business failed to pay $120K in wages to five employees

An Illinois business is facing accusations it failed to pay its employees their wages.

The People of the State of Illinois, upon information from the Illinois Department of Labor, filed a lawsuit June 13 in the Cook County Circuit Court against The Lakeshore Centre Holdings LLC and Walter Kaiser, alleging violations of the Wage Payment and Collection Act.

According to the suit, Pei Yu Valentine Chen, Daniel Figueroa, Aurora Javier, Christine McCary and Lori Payuer are employees of the defendants. The state claims the defendants failed to comply with the Wage Payment and Collection Act and underpaid the five employees a combined sum of $120,257.83.

The state, according tot he suit, assessed combined additional damages in the amount of $2,405.15 and claim the defendants now owe the Department of Labor a $250 administration fee per employee .

The state is asking the court to award the Department of Labor those damages, as well as court costs. It is being represented by Chicago attorney Laurie Smigielski and Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan.

Cook County Circuit Court Case No. 2014L006374.

This is a report on a civil lawsuit filed at the Cook County Courthouse. The details in this report come from an original complaint filed by a plaintiff. Please note, a complaint represents an accusation by a private individual, not the government. It is not an indication of guilt, and it only represents one side of the story.