Mokena Cops To Get Nearly $370K From Village To Settle Suit

MOKENA, IL — Four Mokena Police sergeants have tentatively agreed to receive nearly $370,000 to settle a lawsuit that was filed earlier this year, alleging that the officers were owed money for unpaid overtime for which they claim they were never compensated over the course of a decade, according to court documents.

The officers all agreed to settlement officers ranging from just more than $13,000 to $126,000 to settle the lawsuit, which was originally seeking $5 million in unpaid overtime over 10 years. The lawsuit originally involved eight current and former officers and was an amended version of two previous lawsuits that had been filed against the village.

The proposed settlements, which were filed on Tuesday in the Northern District Court of Illinois, include payments to police sergeants Gregory Selin, Robert Williford, Robert Miller, and Joseph Ballentine, all of whom had filed suit against the village.

Documents show that Ballentine has agreed to a settlement of $110,000 while Miller agreed to accept $118,000, Williford agreed to accept $126,610 and Selin accepted a settlement of $13,930. Each of the settlements called for the officers to receive checks of various sizes within 14 days of the filing of the settlement agreements.

Mokena Mayor Frank Fleisher signed the settlement agreements on behalf of the village. The village did not respond to multiple requests from Patch seeking comment on the settlement agreements.

In the filing, the Village denies all wrongdoing and further denies that any purported violations of the law were willful. The Village also maintains that it acted in good faith in compliance with the law and denies that any of the officers who sued the village are owed any back pay under the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act as well as Illinois fair wages standards.

The lawsuit alleged that the $5 million in damages being sought consisted of unpaid overtime, accrued statutory interest, and statutory penalties such as “treble” or triple damages, the attorney representing the police officers, Patrick Walsh, told Patch previously.

Walsh told Patch on Wednesday that he was not authorized to speak on the record about the settlements.

The unpaid overtime was costing the village and its taxpayers an estimated $30,000 per month in interest alone, according to the suit.

The suit involved six current Mokena police sergeants, a police commander and one retired sergeant, all of whom say that the village has not properly paid them. In some cases, the lawsuit claimed, village officials forced the officers to work different shifts during the week to avoid paying them overtime, which is a violation of federal law.

The suit also claims that the village forced officers to work 20 minutes before each of their shifts, which caused them to work more than eight hours per day and 40 hours per week, and which — according to the village’s employee manual — constitutes overtime.

While the village manual calls for employees to be paid time and a half once they cross over into overtime, the village has consistently failed to pay the officers for the extra time worked, the lawsuit claims.

The remaining plaintiffs in the suit — Christopher Carlson, Stephen Chlebeck, Michael Keller and Jason Louthan — did not accept settlements, which were approved by the village during its meeting on Monday night.