US Department of Labor finds Tulsa oilfield construction company failed to pay electricians, assistants overtime wages

TULSA, OK – A Tulsa oilfield construction company denied overtime wages to nine electricians and electrician helpers when it paid them a flat salary for all the hours they worked in an attempt to avoid overtime pay, a federal investigation has found.

An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division recovered $27,027 in overtime back wages owed to the nine workers for violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Investigators found that ME3 Oilfield Services LLC failed to pay the employees the overtime they earned when they worked over 40 hours in a workweek. The division determined that because the electricians and electrician helpers were not managers or supervisors, they should be paid overtime when required.

“Workers have the right to be paid all of the wages they’ve earned,” said Wage and Hour District Director Michael Speer in Oklahoma City. “When employers violate this right, they hinder the worker’s ability to provide for themselves and their families. To avoid similar violations, we encourage all employers with questions to use our online compliance assistance tools or to contact their local Wage and Hour Division office directly.”

For more information about the FLSA and other laws enforced by the division, contact the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division. Workers can call the Wage and Hour Division confidentially with questions – regardless of their immigration status – and the department can speak with callers in more than 200 languages.