DirecTV Inc. is currently facing nearly a dozen minimum wage and overtime pay lawsuits from a group of its technicians. The technicians claim the company willfully misclassified them as independent contractors to bypass wage-and-hour laws across the country in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Eleven lawsuits, representing nearly 80 technicians, are currently seeking to consolidate their lawsuit into a multidistrict litigation (MDL). Consolidation, they claim, will be more convenient, efficient and economical for all parties and witnesses.
Technician Classification
In each of the lawsuits, the plaintiffs claim DirecTV required the technicians to follow DirecTV’s uniform policies which made them employees, not independent contractors. The lawsuits raise the question of control over the technicians and whether the realities of the technicians following the uniform policies make them employees or independent contractors. One of the key features of independent contractors is the amount of control the contractors have in when and how they perform the work.
Consolidating Claims
The current plaintiffs believe there will be an additional 34 lawsuits filed in the near future. With the additional 34 suits, the plaintiffs expect nearly 500 plaintiffs to be covered. The technicians claim their lawsuits are nearly identical. Each of the claims focuses on DirecTV’s policies and procedures as they are applied.
More importantly, the majority of the plaintiffs in the current lawsuits were part of a putative class action against DirecTV in 2010. That class action gained conditional certification after a federal judge ruled there was a genuine question of whether or not the plaintiffs were employees. The parties in that class action were looking at the amount of discretion the technicians had and whether DirecTV threatened to fire technicians who refused to work evening shifts. Both factors would be keys to determining employment status. However, during discovery it was determined that calculating damages would be difficult to do for the group collectively. As a result, in the plaintiffs’ current request for consolidation, they also requested decertification and a dismissal of the plaintiffs who opted in to the class action.
Multidistrict Litigation (MDL)
Multidistrict litigations are the result of the consolidation of individual cases involving claims with similar factual bases and a common plaintiff or defendant. The MDL is brought under a single judge to coordinate pretrial proceedings, like discovery. The intent of an MDL is to reduce duplication of efforts by the parties in all of the cases and to prevent vastly different outcomes between cases. Additionally, in some MDLs, the judge will hear one case, usually the most representative. The outcome of that trial will indicate how the court will likely rule in all of the remaining cases, which generally results in settlement and rapid conclusion of the MDL.
If you feel you have been misclassified and denied proper wages and overtime, you do not need to wait for others to bring their claims. But combining your claim with others may strengthen your case. Our experienced team of overtime pay lawyers can help you evaluate and decide the best path for your situation. Call us today at (855) 754-2795 to discuss your situation. If we accept your case, we will represent you under our No Fee Promise. This means there are no legal fees or costs unless you receive a settlement.