Plumbers sue Roto-Rooter, say company broke rules

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.patriotledger.com/business/x1260728568/Plumbers-sue-Roto-Rooter-say-company-broke-rules

By Patriot Ledger staff and news services
Posted Jun 16, 2011 @ 08:34 AM

Three local plumbers are suing Roto-Rooter, claiming the company repeatedly sent unlicensed apprentices out on plumbing jobs in violation of state rules.

The plumbers, who worked for Roto-Rooter’s Stoughton office, claim they were regularly deprived of work that was instead given to apprentices. They also claim the company penalized them for signing their names to a wage-and-hour class action lawsuit in New York federal court by further reducing their work assignments.

The plaintiffs include Kristian Pedersen of Middleboro, Russell Mullen of Whitman, and Jennifer Alves of Mattapoisett. All three were employed by Nurotoco of Massachusetts Inc., a Roto-Rooter affiliate located at 175 Maple St. in Stoughton.

“We caught them,” said Pedersen, who began working for Roto-Rooter in 2006 before being terminated last year. “They are sending out unlicensed apprentices to do work to the detriment of the licensed plumber, and it’s a public safety issue.”

The lawsuit was filed in Boston federal court in October 2010 but was later filed in Plymouth Superior Court.

The lawsuit claims that Cincinnati-based Roto-Rooter had an established pattern at its call center of directing apprentices to do plumbing work without the accompaniment of a licensed plumber.

Read more: http://www.patriotledger.com/archive/x1260728568/Plumbers-sue-Roto-Rooter-say-company-broke-rules#ixzz1Qi4KnSqQ

FULL story at link.

[Marblehead]

1. and away goes unions

down the drain...