AUBURN – Assistant managers at the Home Depot here could be included in a class action lawsuit that claims they were unfairly denied overtime pay and pension benefits.

A federal judge in Newark, N.J., is mulling a request for class action status filed by lawyers representing three Home Depot workers.

If the judge grants the status, more than 500 current and former Home Depot employees in Maine and 19 other states would be lumped into the suit, lawyers said Thursday.

Lawyer Della Bahan of Pasadena, Calif., who is representing the workers along with New Jersey lawyer Joseph Fine, said Home Depot purposely misclassified the employees as assistant managers. She said the misclassification violated federal and state laws by forcing them to work more than 40 hours a week without overtime.

“These men and women have been given the phony title of assistant store manager,’ but in fact have primarily been performing the work of hourly employees and are, therefore, entitled to overtime pay,” Bahan said.

The lawyers also said the assistant managers received reduced company retirement plan benefits because they weren’t eligible for a 4.5 percent matching contribution from the company.

Home Depot denied the charges in papers filed in U.S. District Court in Newark. The company, the nation’s largest home improvement retailer, also opposed class action lawsuit status, saying the plaintiffs have no common issues of law or fact.

Federal wage and hour regulations say that employees are not eligible for overtime pay when their primary duties consist of management of the company or a department, when they regularly direct two or three other employees, when they have the authority to hire and fire and when their weekly salary is at least $400.

“Assistant store managers at Home Depot do not meet any of these criteria,” Fine said. “In many instances, the employees’ responsibilities and duties remained the same as before they were given their new titles. Many so-called assistant store managers’ primary responsibilities are still mopping floors, taking out the garbage and stocking shelves, all tasks traditionally assigned to hourly employees.”

In their suit, the workers contend that Maine’s employment laws were also broken.

Home Depot has about 300,000 employees and more than 1,800 stores in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.