Case: Jackie Usher & Eric Leung v. DirecTV, et. al. [misclassification]
Court: Superior Court of California
Date: October 22, 2021
Result: Hogue & Belong obtained final court approval of a $2,400,000 settlement against DirecTV and a contracting company that installed DirecTV dishes.
Facts and Allegations: A class of approximately 120 service technicians worked for a contracting company and did satellite installations for DirecTV. These service technicians were restricted from performing satellite installations for any other company. DirecTV misclassified the workers as independent contractors, and paid them on a piece-rate basis (i.e. by the job). If there was ever a problem with the service technician’s satellite installation, DirecTV would deduct money from the service technician’s pay.
Because DirecTV treated the service technicians as independent contractors instead of employees, the service technicians were deprived of overtime pay, and meal and rest periods. Hogue & Belong also brought a claim for unlawful deductions.
After approximately 7 years of litigation, Hogue & Belong was appointed as class counsel and successfully obtained final court approval of a statewide class action settlement.
