Plumbers sue Roto-Rooter, say company broke rules – News – The Patriot Ledger, Quincy, MA

Three plumbers — one from Middleboro, one from Whitman, and one from Mattapoisett — are suing Roto-Rooter, claiming the company repeatedly sent unlicensed apprentices out on plumbing jobs in violation of state rules.

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.

Pedersen said last week that he has decided to speak out about the lawsuit now because he wants to show his “license means something.” State rules require a licensed plumber to be on hand while an apprentice is doing plumbing work.

He said Roto-Rooter retaliated against him for being a whistle-blower, restricting his work while also enforcing an agreement entailing that he not find any other work with another company.

“This may be my only recourse, my only way to get any satisfaction out of all this,” Pedersen said. “Roto-Rooter can’t do this anymore. When I got my license, I thought this is how I would be able to feed my family. I’m expecting my license to remain something of value and I don’t want Roto-Rooter to make that not the case.”

The lawsuit says that during their employment with Roto-Rooter, the plaintiffs were called on the phone by apprentices to answer questions or give instructions on how to solve plumbing problems on the job. The suit says that the plaintiffs have on several occasions been sent out to correct and fix plumbing jobs that apprentices attempted on their own.

Reached by phone on Monday, Pedersen said he could no longer comment about the lawsuit due to the fact the parties are involved in settlement talks.

A spokesman for Roto-Rooter declined to comment about the lawsuit.