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Army Veteran Owned | Expert Surety Bonds Since 2004
Have a question? +1 815-826-6324 (815-8-BondAI) phil@AmericasSuretyBonds.com
Army Veteran Owned | Expert Surety Bonds Since 2004
Before you buy, check whether you owe a bond at all. Under the Funds' Revised Surety Bond Policy effective May 1, 2025, an Honor Roll Employer has a zero bond requirement. Honor Roll means no more than two late payments in a Plan Year and a most recent payroll audit showing a delinquency no greater than $1,000 or 2 percent of required contributions, whichever is greater. If you are outside that, your Level 1 amount is set by your own collective bargaining agreement based on how many covered employees you have, so get the figure from the Fund Office rather than from a web page.
This is not a state licence bond and no Illinois statute requires it. The obligee is a private multiemployer benefit fund. The Chicago and Vicinity Laborers' District Council Funds require a contributing employer to secure its wage and fringe benefit contributions by surety bond or cash bond held by the Fund Office, under a Revised Surety Bond Policy effective May 1, 2025. An Honor Roll Employer posts nothing. A non Honor Roll employer posts the minimum level bond required by its collective bargaining agreement, based on the number of covered employees. That amount doubles if it is not provided within 120 days of notice, and a larger bond applies after a second collection suit within five years.
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Start here, because the wrong assumption sends people to the wrong place.
A wage and welfare bond in the Chicago Laborers' jurisdiction is not a state licence bond. The Illinois Department of Labor does not administer it, does not set the amount, and has no role in it. The obligee is a private multiemployer benefit fund, and the requirement comes from two documents: the Funds' own surety bond policy, and the collective bargaining agreement you signed.
That matters practically. There is no code section to look up, no state form, no filing fee and no licence to renew. What there is, is a fund office and a CBA.
The Funds' Revised Surety Bond Policy took effect May 1, 2025 and it is graduated by how you have behaved rather than by how big you are.
An Honor Roll Employer has a zero bond requirement. A non Honor Roll employer is required to maintain the minimum level bond required by the collective bargaining agreement to which it is signatory, based on the number of covered employees, called the Level 1 Bond.
The amount doubles to a Level 2 Bond if the non Honor Roll employer fails to provide the Level 1 Bond by surety or cash bond within 120 days of notice.
And if the Funds are required to file suit against a contractor for a second time within a five year period from the date the last suit was dismissed, the contractor is required to post a Level 3 Bond equal to two times the average monthly contributions owed for the preceding twelve month period.
So the cost of ignoring a notice is not a late fee. It is double the bond, and then a bond sized off your own contribution history.
Worth reading closely, because it is the difference between paying a premium and paying nothing.
An Honor Roll Employer is a Contributing Employer with no more than two late payments in any Plan Year, the period from June 1 to May 31, and whose most recent payroll audit reveals a delinquency of no more than the greater of $1,000 or 2 percent of its required contributions during the audit period.
Two tests, both of which have to hold. A third late payment in a Plan Year costs you the exemption even if your audit is spotless.
A new employer starts on a Level 1 Bond and can attain Honor Roll status when it obtains clean audit findings in its first audit cycle, involving two audits. So it is reachable, it just takes two clean audits to get there.
This is the honest answer to the question everybody arrives with.
The Funds' policy does not name a dollar amount for Level 1. It points at the minimum level bond required by the collective bargaining agreement to which the employer is signatory, based on the number of covered employees. Different agreements and different headcounts produce different figures, and the Funds do not publish the table.
So the only reliable number comes from your own CBA or from the Fund Office at 708-562-0200. Get it in writing, send it to us, and the bond gets written to match. Anyone quoting you a single Chicago Laborers wage and welfare figure without asking your headcount has not read the policy.
The policy refers to maintaining the requirement by a Wage and Fringe Benefit Insurance Bond or a Cash Bond held by the Fund Office.
So you can satisfy it with money instead of a surety. The trade is the usual one. A surety bond costs an annual premium and leaves your working capital free. A cash bond ties up the full amount with the Fund Office. For a contractor whose cash is committed to payroll and materials, the bond is usually the cheaper of the two, but it is worth pricing both.
Most employers who end up bonded got there through timing rather than intent.
Contributions are submitted by the 10th of the first month following the month in which covered work was performed. They become delinquent on the 10th of the second month following the month in which the covered work was performed.
That is the clock behind the Honor Roll test. Three months where the paperwork slips past the 10th and you have lost a zero bond requirement for the Plan Year.
The Collection Committee, on behalf of the Funds, is authorized to enforce the bond requirements, and a noncompliant employer is liable for the costs of enforcement including attorneys' fees.
Combine that with the Level 2 doubling and the Level 3 formula and the pattern is clear. This is not a filing you can quietly let slide.
None. That is the honest answer and it is the one most people arrive looking for. This is not a state licence bond and the Illinois Department of Labor has no role in it. The obligee is a private multiemployer benefit fund, and the requirement comes from the Funds' Revised Surety Bond Policy effective May 1, 2025 together with the collective bargaining agreement you signed.
Not if you are an Honor Roll Employer. The policy says an Honor Roll Employer will have a zero bond requirement. Honor Roll means a Contributing Employer with no more than two late payments in any Plan Year, which runs June 1 to May 31, and whose most recent payroll audit reveals a delinquency of no more than the greater of $1,000 or 2 percent of required contributions during the audit period. Both tests have to hold.
It depends on your agreement and your headcount, and the Funds do not publish a figure. The policy requires a non Honor Roll employer to maintain the minimum level bond required by the collective bargaining agreement to which they are signatory, based on the number of covered employees. Get the number from your CBA or from the Fund Office on 708-562-0200. Anyone quoting a single figure without asking your headcount has not read the policy.
The amount doubles. The policy says the bond will double to a Level 2 Bond if a non Honor Roll employer fails to provide the Level 1 Bond by surety or cash bond within 120 days of notice. The same doubling applies to an employer who loses Honor Roll status and does not obtain a Level 1 bond within 120 days.
The one sized off your own numbers. If the Funds are required to file suit against a contractor for a second time within a five year period from the date the last suit was dismissed, the contractor must post a bond equal to two times the average monthly contributions owed for the preceding twelve month period. For a busy contractor that can be considerably larger than the CBA minimum.
On a Level 1 Bond. A new employer can attain Honor Roll Employer status when it obtains clean audit findings in its first audit cycle, involving two audits. So the zero bond position is reachable, it just takes two clean audits and disciplined reporting to get there.
Yes. The policy refers to maintaining the requirement through a Wage and Fringe Benefit Insurance Bond or a Cash Bond held by the Fund Office. A cash bond ties up the full amount with the Funds. A surety bond costs a premium and leaves your working capital free. Price both, particularly if the amount is large relative to your cash position.
By the 10th of the first month following the month in which the covered work was performed. They become delinquent on the 10th of the second month following the month in which the covered work was performed. That calendar is what drives the late payment count in the Honor Roll test, so treat the 10th as a hard date.
You pay a premium rather than the face amount, and we cannot quote a rate until we know the amount your CBA calls for. Understand what the surety is looking at here. The obligee is a benefit fund and the exposure is your ongoing ability to pay contributions, so this class is underwritten on business financials and ownership credit rather than as a routine licence filing. An employer that has already fallen out of Honor Roll status is by definition a harder file, which is worth knowing before you assume a rate.
The Collection Committee, on behalf of the Funds, is authorized to enforce the bond requirements, and a noncompliant employer is liable for the costs of enforcement including attorneys' fees. Taken with the Level 2 doubling and the Level 3 formula, ignoring the requirement is the most expensive option available.
The Fund Office. Chicago and Vicinity Laborers' District Council, 11465 W. Cermak Road, Westchester, IL 60154, telephone 708-562-0200. They are also the right people to confirm your Honor Roll status and your Level 1 amount before you buy anything.
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