in Newswire Published on November 27, 2017

DirecTV Satellite Technicians File Multi-Count Wage and Hour Lawsuit [UPDATE: SETTLED]

Last Updated on May 8, 2018

Pointer et al. v. DirecTV, LLC et al.

Filed: November 21, 2017 ◆§ 4:17-cv-00772-SWW

DirecTV and three others are facing a lawsuit filed by satellite technicians who claim they worked for the defendants for up to 70 hours per week without being paid proper wages.

Defendant(s)

DirecTV Moses Capital Group, LLC Moses Holdings, LLC Sky Connect Endeavor Communications Endeavor Holdings Sky High Communications

Law(s)

Fair Labor Standards Act

State(s)

Arkansas

Update – July 16, 2019 – Lawsuit Settled

In July 2019, a federal judge certified this case as a collective action for settlement purposes.

The settlement class covered “[a]ll satellite installation and repair technicians who worked for David Moses d/b/a Endeavor Communications from 30 October 2015 to 5 July 2019, who provided installation and repair services for DIRECTV customers, who were not managers, and who were classified as independent contractors at any time during this period.”

The court noted that the settlement was “a good-faith compromise” between the defendants and the approximately 40 technicians covered by the suit.

DirecTV, LLC, along with Moses Capital Group, LLC, Moses Holdings, LLC, and their individual owner (who the suit says also does business under the names Sky Connect, Endeavor Communications, Endeavor Holdings, and Sky High Communications), is facing a proposed class action. The plaintiffs in the case say they worked for the defendants as satellite installation and repair technicians for up to 70 hours per week without receiving proper wages.

According to the suit, the defendants misclassified their employees as independent contractors despite maintaining control over “almost every aspect of the employment relationship,” including what jobs they were assigned, the uniforms they wore, the prices they charged, and when they were to work. The plaintiffs claim the alleged misclassification was an attempt to avoid paying employees overtime wages for the hours they worked above 40 each week.

On top of that, the suit alleges, the defendants withheld workers’ wages for any job they performed that purportedly failed to meet quality expectations and would sometimes duplicate or fabricate these “charge backs.” The complaint continues by listing several other supposed wage violations, including requiring employees to pay for their own fuel and failing to pay them for training. As a result, the plaintiffs claim they and similarly situated employees are owed minimum and overtime wages.

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