Former HellsGate, Statesville Haunted House Worker Sues Over Pay: Suit

LOCKPORT, IL — A class action lawsuit filed last week in Will County maintains that employees who worked two popular local haunted houses were paid less than minimum wage during long shifts at the high-trafficked Halloween destinations.

Amanda Zabinski is listed as the lone plaintiff in the suit, which is seeking damages from the owner of HellsGate and since-closed Statesville Haunted Prison in Crest Hill. In the suit, Zabinski said she worked at both local attractions for 15 years and said that the lucrative haunted houses operate “on the backs of hundreds of indispensable employees” who are paid “far below” minimum wage, the lawsuit states.

The suit said that non-exempt employees of the operation include costume and make-up personnel, actors, directors and other staff who worked at the two haunted attractions.

Zabinski said she made an average of $6.95 per hour while working shifts that ran anywhere from 8 ½ to 11 hours per day. She claims in the lawsuit that she and others made no more than $75 per shift, and that the two haunted houses could not have operated without the efforts of the workers.

In the lawsuit, Zabinski said that while Illinois' rate of minimum wage was $11 per hour in 2021 and $12 in 2022, workers at both haunted attractions were paid half of those rates "for all hours worked during their shifts.

The Statesville Haunted Prison last operated in 2021 and both haunted attractions did not run in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

John LaFlamboy, Jr., is listed in the lawsuit as the owner of the theater company and parent organization that operates haunted houses. He did not immediately return a message to Patch on Thursday seeking comment on the lawsuit and its claims.

LaFlamboy told Shaw Media that Zabinski was an independently contracted employee who worked a total of eight shifts over the past three years. The lawsuit says Zabinsky spend the past three years working with costuming for the operation.

“She’s an independent contractor who’s trying to sue us like she was an employee,” LaFlamboy told Shaw Media.

The lawsuit says that the haunted houses depend on 200 employees to work the Halloween-themed attractions. The suit claims that workers like Zabinski were required to show up to work at 4 p.m. for their shifts and work until 4 a.m.

The owner maintains that employees were paid more than minimum wage and never were forced to work as late as the lawsuit maintains, the Shaw Media report stated.