Workers: Lynn welding company owes back wages

LYNN – Local welding company workers filed a lawsuit this week and held signs on the Lynnway to underscore their claim that firm owner Michael Cutillo owes them thousands of dollars in back wages.”We haven’t had any wages for the last two-and-a-half months,” said Hamza Bakkal, a Revere resident who stood on the Lynnway near North Shore Community College on Wednesday and Thursday holding a “Cutillo Stop Cheating Workers” sign.Bakkal and fellow Cutillo welder Mahfud Abderrahmane said Cutillo fired them on Tuesday after Cutillo learned that the men and four other employees filed a Superior Court lawsuit seeking to recover the wages they said Cutillo has not paid them.Bakkal said he is owed $37,000 in wages he has not been paid or underpaid wages.Attorney Ara Balikian said he filed a state wage law claim in Superior Court on Monday on behalf of five of the workers.”The allegations we have is that Cutillo did not pay proper wages – regular or overtime,” Balikian said.Cutillo’s attorney, Karl Gross of Framingham, said he will file an answer in Superior Court to the lawsuit after he finishes reviewing it. He said he was recently retained by Cutillo and declined on Thursday to answer questions about the lawsuit.”To the extent wages are owed, all obligations will be satisfied,” said Gross.Cutillo, through employee Ron Whitaker, referred all questions about the workers’ claims, to Gross.Abderrahmane said he has not been able to support his family without a regular paycheck from Cutillo. He has worked for Cutillo for two years and Bakkal has worked for Cutillo for five years.”They have paid me a little but not all the time,” Abderrahmane said, adding that when he asked Cutillo for a paycheck, Cutillo told him, “?I don’t have any money, what am I going to do?'”Cutillo Welding is located off the Lynnway and Shepard Street next to EZ Landscaping. Bakkal and other welders contacted Iron Workers Local 7 in Boston six months ago and asked for help in recovering their wages.”They are non union workers who need our help,” said Local 7 Business Agent Stephen Williams.State Attorney General’s spokesman Harry Pierre would not confirm Cutillo workers claims on Thursday that the AG’s office is investigating the wage withholding allegations.”It is office policy not to confirm or deny any investigation,” Pierre said.