Boston, MA (July 19, 2013) – A putative class action lawsuit has been filed in the Superior Court of Hampden County against Mastec North America, Inc., a regional subsidiary of Mastec, Inc. (NYSE: MTZ), the multinational engineering and construction company based in Coral Gables, Florida. According to their web site, Mastec is one of the largest DirecTV installation and services companies in the United States, serving over 200,000 customers each month.

The suit, brought by ten former satellite television installation technicians, alleges that the Plaintiffs installed DirecTV satellite television equipment for Mastec, and were unlawfully classified as independent contractors, rather than employees. It is alleged that the technicians were paid on a “piecework” basis, per installation, but not compensated at an overtime rate during weeks in which they worked for greater than forty hours, among other issues. The litigation alleges that by classifying the technicians as independent contractors, Mastec violated the Massachusetts Wage Act, and unlawfully denied the workers wages, overtime pay, and other benefits associated with being an employee.

“We are of the considered opinion that these workers were misclassified as independent contractors, and denied overtime wages and other important benefits of correctly classified employment, precisely that which the Wage Act is designed to prevent,” said Michael J. Bace, Esq. of Bace Law Group, LLC (www.bacelaw.com), co-counsel for the Plaintiffs.

“We are proud to co-counsel and collaborate with Lichten & Liss-Riordan, P.C. (www.llrlaw.com), a nationally recognized plaintiff’s-side class action litigation firm. They have brought and won pioneering class action cases under the Wage Act.”

The Plaintiffs, on behalf […]