Weatherford Settles Unpaid Overtime for $6M

Santa Clara, CA: A $6 million settlement in an unpaid overtime class action lawsuit brought against Weatherford PLC (U.S. division) by its oil field service workers is set to be finalized, with class approval now granted. The settlement, which received preliminary approval in July, will cover 1,758 non-exempt employees who alleged Weatherford violated California labor law.

Specifically, the lawsuit, filed in 2014, claimed that Weatherford's unpaid meal period policy was illegal because it was silent as to the timing of meal periods and failed to provide a second meal period for worker whose shifts exceeded 10 hours. Additionally, the suit alleged that Weatherford improperly docked workers for meal periods even though the workers hadn’t clocked out for meals.

Further, the plaintiffs claimed the defendant’s failed to include the value of so-called wellness bonuses in the regular rate of pay for the purposes of calculating overtime pay, which is also a violation of California law.

The settlement agreement covers two classes: the first for alleged unpaid overtime wages and other alleged violations of California law, and the second for alleged unpaid overtime wages and liquidated damages under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

According to court documents, an average of approximately $4,169.38 will be paid to each member of the California settlement class and approximately $157.96 to each member of the FLSA settlement class.

The case is Vega et al. v. Weatherford U.S. LP et al., case number 1:14-cv-01790, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.

Legal Help

If you have a similar problem and would like to be contacted by a lawyer at no cost or obligation, please fill in our form.
Published on Nov-7-16