Summary:
On Friday, April 24, 2020, Fitapelli & Schaffer, LLP along with Bruckner Burch, PLLC filed a class and collective action against Lochend Energy, an oilfield services company, for unpaid wages. Lochend Energy, which provides a complete line of coil tubing and flow back production testing for the oil and gas sector in the United States and Canada, has allegedly failed to properly pay its workers for overtime. Affected employees include salaried Coil Tubing Supervisors, day-rate Flowback Supervisors, and hourly Assistants/Junior Supervisors/ Operators. These oilfield workers typically work on oil well sites for at least 12-hour shifts, 7 days a week, for weeks at a time, all while in some of the harshest working conditions.
Affected oilfield workers, such as Coil Tubing Supervisors were paid with a salary and day rate without regard to the amount of hours they worked in a given week. Classifying these workers as exempt from overtime has allegedly violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) and corresponding state wage and hour laws because their duties are more in line with non-exempt employees who are entitled to receiving overtime pay. Their duties included, but were not limited to: operating their trucks’ equipment, rigging up and rigging down well sites, cleaning up job sites, helping Operators while on the job sites, and filling out routine end of day reports. Moreover, Coil Tubing Supervisors cannot hire or fire employees, nor are they involved in the interview process.
Additionally, Lochend Energy paid certain Flowback Supervisors at a set daily rate, regardless of how many hours they worked. These Day-Rate Supervisors did not receive any additional amount of overtime compensation from Lochend Energy when they worked over 40 hours in a workweek. Finally, Lochend Energy paid certain Flowback Supervisors and Assistants/Junior Supervisors/Operators, at a fixed hourly rate of pay but failed to pay them while off-the-clock for certain job related duties such as when they were required to attend mandatory pre- and post-shift safety and “cross-over” meetings while on job sites. These hourly workers were also required to spend a signature portion of their time traveling to and from job sites, as well as preparing for their assigned jobs at Lochend Energy’s offices/yards.
The oil and gas industry is unfortunately riddled with wage and hour violations. If you worked for Lochend Energy as a Coil Tubing Supervisor, day-rate Flowback Supervisor, or hourly Assistant/Junior Supervisor/ Operator you may be eligible to join this matter. Additionally, if you have concerns about your pay structure while you were working in this industry, speaking to an employment attorney may help you understand if you might be owed wages. You can speak to an available representative at Fitapelli & Schaffer, LLP for a free and confidential consultation at (212)300-0375 or you can visit our website for additional information.
You can also view the complaint here.