Ohio's DISH Network TV Technicians: Working Hard For No Money?

COLUMBUS (TDB) -- Is there workplace static coming into the picture? A federal judge in Ohio this week conditionally certified a class-action against Digital Dish, a privately owned regional service provider for satellite TV company DISH Network of Englewood, Colo. Technicians who installed, maintained and repaired digital satellite equipment -- primarily dishes and receivers -- contend they worked more than 40 hours a week but did not receive overtime pay. The workers say they were told that "as a matter of company policy" they would be terminated if they recorded working more than 40 hours in a week.

At this point, the lawsuit appears to cover the technicians who worked in Ohio, and portions of Kentucky, Indiana and West Virginia. Court records indicate Digital Dish has about 300 satellite TV installers on its payroll in the region at any given time. The records also indicate they worked long days:

"Technicians typically receive their next day's work orders in the evening and pre-call customers to schedule service appointments in advance. The Digital Dish warehouses open at approximately 7:30 a.m. each day. When a technician arrives at one of Digital Dish's warehouses in the morning [apparently around 6:30 a.m.] he pick up the DISH Network equipment necessary to complete his day's assigned work orders. Prior to leaving the Digital Dish warehouses, technicians generally attach the mounting structure, arms, and certain low-noise block feedhorns to satellite dishes to make more space in their trucks. Further, technicians often spend fifteen to twenty minutes downloading the necessary programs to the receivers set for delivery, so they can save time once they arrive at a costumer's home.

"With the equipment in hand, each technician then sets out to complete his day's schedule. In general, a technician's primary task is the delivery and installation of DISH Network equipment, but technicians also do repairs, upgrades, and returns. Each technician completes approximately two to three installations per day. After the technician completes a service call, he secures the customer's approval on a DISH Network Customers Service Agreement and (in the case of satellite receiver equipment installations) activates the customer's satellite subscription by contacting DISH Network."

U.S. District Judge Algenon L. Marbley said the case can go forward as a class-action for the time being. He said some of the company's legal moves to stop the class-action side-stepped the workers' contention Digital Dish "was officially putting one policy on paper, but unofficially threatening and enforcing a separate practice."

The case is Dominic Mussarra, et al v. Digital Dish Inc; No. 2:05-cv-545 Southern District of Ohio. Judge Marbley said the satellite technicians "clearly define the proposed class and their declarations in support claim first-hand knowledge of illegal practices being imposed on technicians from multiple facilities. Applying a lenient standard to the pleadings and affidavits submitted in this case, the Court finds conditional certification appropriate."

Nude Footage On The Internet: Cleveland Judge Dismisses Ohio Mom's $100 Million Lawsuit

CLEVELAND (TDB) -- A federal judge says an Ohio woman who signed an agreement to appear nude in the 1990s for "adult film work" now has no standing to complain she's a victim under the UN's declaration of human rights. The woman lives in Wooster and says she fears for the safety of her children, including a daughter. She filed a $100 million lawsuit contending the scenes of her work are appearing on the Internet accompanied by sexually charged derogatory comments that encourages "violence against women." She did not object to the nude pictures, but argued the alleged verbal abuse was "completely unnecessary to advertise adult film work." Apparently, the footage was shot in August 1998 for a production called Action Sports Sex 2.

U.S. District Judge Sara Lioi ruled that the UN Charter does not apply. She said courts have declared it a non-binding resolution:

"Moreover, at the time of its adoption in 1948, it was the explicit position of the United States that the Declaration 'is not a treaty . . . or an international agreement' and 'that it does not purport to be a statement of law or of legal obligation." The judge noted that the statement she quoted was made by Eleanor Roosevelt, then a delegate to the UN General Assembly.

Judge Lioi said the Ohio woman could not invoke the Violence Against Women Act, a federal law that contains no provision for civil damages. Lioi dismissed the lawsuit, which named Los Angeles-based porn distributor Vivid Video as one of three defendants. In the lawsuit, Case No. 5:08 CV 0274, Northern District of Ohio, the woman complained she became aware of the video 11 months ago:

"The Internet site and advertising, as well as the video being sold with the same abusive and obscene comments regarding her, have been in circulation for ten years unknown previously to the plaintiff . . . The same work has been sold to other Internet site owners. The comments advertising the nude plaintiff are detailed as 'stupid sl-t,' and 'dirty wh-res with filthy mouth', f--k my a--, spit in my mouth and throw me back in the street where I belong."

The woman said the comments damaged her reputation and that she was "humiliated, appalled, crushed emotionally. . ''