San Antonio oil workers due $157K in back wages benefit from US Labor Department enforcement effort

SAN ANTONIO — The latest investigation in the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division ongoing enforcement initiative, focused on the oil and gas industry in New Mexico and Texas, has helped 188 workers who will receive $157,000 in back wages after investigators found their employer violated the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Wage and Hour Division investigators in the San Antonio District Office found that Elite Production Services LLC failed to include the workers' bonus payments when calculating their rates of pay for overtime hours.

Since the initiative began in 2014, the agency has recovered more than $1.3 million owed to more than 1,300 workers.

"There is a misconception in the oil and gas industry that, because workers typically earn more than the minimum wage, they are being paid legally. That is not always the case," said Cynthia Watson, regional administrator for the Wage and Hour Division in the Southwest. "Employees must be paid properly for every hour worked, and employers need to calculate the total amount of pay to pay overtime correctly."

Employers must base overtime pay on an employee's total earnings, including their normal hourly rate and most bonus payments. For example, a $10-per- hour employee who works 50 hours and receives a $50 bonus in that workweek must be paid overtime based on a rate of $11 per hour. The FLSA excludes certain payments, such as reimbursement of work-related expenses, from the regular rate calculation.

Based in San Antonio, Elite Production Services provides on-site services throughout the drilling, completion and production cycles of oil fields. The company has agreed to correct the violations, comply in the future and pay the full amount of back wages.

The division's ongoing enforcement initiative has found overtime violations associated with various illegal pay practices, including the following:

• Improperly applying exemptions from overtime.
• Failing to include bonus payments made to employees when calculating overtime pay rates.
• Not paying for time spent working off-the-clock and before and after scheduled work shifts.
• Paying flat, daily shift rates without regard to how many hours the employee worked and without additional time and one-half pay for overtime.

Focused on this fast-growing industry, the initiative seeks to inform workers of their rights and ensure FLSA compliance among oil and gas companies and other related businesses including, but not limited to, trucking, lodging, haulers of water and stone, staffing service providers and other types of oil and gas supporting trades.

The division also is reaching out to employers and employer associations to provide them with compliance assistance information and to secure their cooperation in promoting industrywide compliance. Similarly, the division continues to conduct outreach to workers and community groups to inform them of the initiative and departmental services and to encourage employees to come forward with potential violations.

The division conducts strategic enforcement initiatives to maximize impact. To learn more about this approach, read Wage and Hour Division Administrator Dr. David Weil's blog. Accessible and searchable information on enforcement activities by the department is available athttp://ogesdw.dol.gov/search.

For more information about the FLSA and other federal wage laws, call the Wage and Hour Division's toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243) or the San Antonio District Office at 210-308-4515. Information also is available at http://www.dol.gov/whd.