Paul Goodrich, Laborers’ New England Regional Organizing Fund Organizer, and Sean Flaherty, Managing Partner at Keches Law Group, joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast and spoke about a lawsuit recently filed against a non-union contractor who is alleged to be missclassifying its workers as independent contractors and committing wage theft.
Several years ago, Goodrich began looking into the gas utility industry, as Laborers’ International Union Of North America affiliated Local Unions were losing market share within this sector.
He learned that Dorchester, Massachusetts-based Feeney Brothers Utility Services, owned by Artera, who in turn is owned by the private equity firm Clayton, Dubliere and Rice, was one of the big players providing construction services to utility companies.
As he began to speak with Feeney’s workers, it became clear to Goodrich the company was misclassifying their workers.
Besides missclassifying employees as 1099 workers or independent contractors, Goodrich also alleged the company is in violation of the Affordable Care Act. He claimed that many of Feeney’s 1,400 employees are forced to use Massachusetts Public Health Insurance. He said the companies figured out a way to unload health insurance and liablity onto Massachussets taxpayers, despite the private equity firm holding about $170 billion in assets.
Goodrich then explained how he has turned Feeney into his personal hiring hall. As of Jan. 30, Goodrich has organized over 120 of their workers into LiUNA and said he had hundreds of other names and phone numbers of their workers, who he will organize as soon as union jobs open up.
According to Goodrich, Feeney employees can visit the campaign’s website, Justice For Feeney Workers, and print off organizing cards. They can also find testimonials and other information on the site.
Flaherty followed Goodrich on the program and said this is the early stage of the lawsuit, as he has filed a complaint on behalf of workers who alledge they did not receive payment for hours of essential work at beginning and end of each day.
He explained what the suit seeks and how it could cover hundreds of workers and tens of thousands of hours worked without getting paid.
Discussion then turned to the stance of the Massachusetts Attorney General and Flaherty spoke about the tests used to determine who is an independent contractor and how it benefits this case.
He also talked about how the suit was filed as a class-action lawsuit, but has not yet been certified as one. He believes it soon will certified as a class-action suit and open it up to all current and former Fenney employees
Listen to the blog to learn more about the allegations leveled against Feeney and this lawsuit.