In this Bull Rogers overtime lawsuit, the court granted FLSA conditional certification for casing worker overtime claims spanning New Mexico and Texas. In Calvillo v. Bull Rogers, Inc., No. 2:16-cv-919 WJ-GBW (D.N.M.), the Siegel Law Group served as lead attorney, using a dual-track strategy that pursued both an FLSA collective action and a state-law Rule 23 class action to maximize overtime pay recovery for misclassified workers. The firm has recovered $100M+ for workers nationwide and concentrates in challenging overtime violations in the oil and gas industry.
On July 25, 2017, Judge William P. Johnson granted conditional certification, allowing casing employees across New Mexico and Texas to join a collective action under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The court identified two distinct categories of pay violations by Bull Rogers:
Uncounted Hours Policy: When casing employees were paid on a piece-rate or quantity-of-work basis, Bull Rogers failed to track or count the actual hours they worked — resulting in underreported overtime hours. Pay stubs submitted to the court showed workers receiving payment for "0" hours worked, illustrating what the court described as the employer's "total disregard to track the time worked."
Overtime Miscalculation Policy: Bull Rogers also excluded all "Additional Pay" — including non-discretionary bonuses, truck allowances, and safety bonus pay — from the regular rate calculation used to compute overtime. Under the FLSA, these forms of compensation must be included in the regular rate, and excluding them reduces the overtime premium owed to workers.
The court also approved notice by U.S. mail, email, and text — recognizing that oilfield workers are often dispersed across remote locations and may be away from their permanent addresses for weeks at a time. The case additionally included claims under New Mexico's wage laws as a Rule 23 class action, invoking protections under multiple statutes.
Casing workers in the oilfield perform physically demanding labor — lowering large-diameter pipe into wells, connecting joints, and working long hours in remote locations across multiple states. Despite these punishing schedules, many casing employers fail to pay proper overtime under federal and state overtime laws. The two types of violations found in this case — failing to count hours and miscalculating the overtime rate — are among the most common wage theft practices in the oilfield industry.
The dual-track strategy in this case — pursuing both FLSA collective action and New Mexico state law class action claims — demonstrates how experienced overtime attorneys can leverage multiple legal frameworks to maximize recovery for workers.
Under the FLSA, conditional certification requires a "modest factual showing" that potential opt-in plaintiffs are similarly situated. The casing workers in this case provided sworn declarations establishing that they were subjected to the same pay policies — both the failure to track hours on piece-rate work and the exclusion of additional pay from the overtime rate. The court found this evidence satisfied the lenient standard required at the notice stage.
The piece-rate overtime calculation issue is governed by 29 C.F.R. Section 778.111: when a worker is paid on a piece-rate basis, the employer must still track all hours worked, calculate the regular rate by dividing total earnings by total hours, and then pay the overtime premium for all hours over 40. Failing to track hours — as Bull Rogers did — makes it impossible to properly calculate overtime and is itself an FLSA violation.
Jack Siegel served as lead attorney. The firm concentrates in oilfield overtime cases involving casing crews, wireline operators, pressure control operators, and other field workers.
If you work or worked on a casing crew and your employer failed to track your hours, paid you on a piece-rate basis without overtime, or excluded bonuses and allowances from your overtime rate, you may have claims under both the FLSA and applicable state overtime laws. A dual-track filing strategy can maximize your potential recovery by invoking every available legal protection.
When an employer fails to track hours for piece-rate workers, it violates the FLSA's recordkeeping requirements and makes it impossible to properly calculate overtime. Courts treat this failure seriously — as the court noted in this case, pay stubs showing "0" hours worked demonstrate a "total disregard" for tracking time. Workers in this situation can use their own estimates and records to establish the hours they actually worked.
Yes. Under the FLSA, non-discretionary bonuses, truck allowances, safety bonuses, and per diem pay must generally be included in the regular rate calculation used to determine overtime pay. When employers exclude these payments — as Bull Rogers did — they underpay the overtime premium. This is one of the most common overtime violations in the oilfield industry.
Yes. Casing workers perform physically demanding, manual labor that typically does not qualify for any FLSA exemption. They are entitled to overtime pay at 1.5 times their regular rate for all hours worked over 40 per week. Employers who fail to pay overtime to casing workers are violating federal and state overtime laws.
A dual-track overtime lawsuit pursues claims under both the FLSA (as a collective action where workers must opt in) and state law (as a Rule 23 class action where workers are automatically included unless they opt out). This approach maximizes the number of workers covered and the potential recovery by invoking both federal and state protections.
The FLSA collective action process begins with conditional certification, where the court authorizes notice to potential opt-in plaintiffs. Workers then have a set period to join by filing consent forms. After the opt-in period, the employer may move for decertification. If the collective survives, the case proceeds to trial or settlement.
The Siegel Law Group is a national overtime and wage law firm devoted entirely to representing workers denied overtime pay. Where many firms include wage cases as a small part of a broader employment practice, the Siegel Law Group has built its entire practice around overtime litigation — and the results reflect that commitment: $100M+ recovered for workers, 50+ class and collective action certifications, and 100+ federal lawsuits filed in 27+ federal courts nationwide. Founding attorney Jack Siegel is a Bloomberg BNA contributing author on wage and hour law.
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