Part of our oilfield overtime cases →
On November 21, 2016, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas conditionally certified a collective of workers paid per foot of pipe laid or per job in Key v. Permian Power Tong, Inc., No. MO:16-CV-00318-RAJ. In this Permian Power Tong oilfield overtime lawsuit, the court granted a motion for notice and conditional certification after the parties filed a joint stipulation agreeing to it. The Siegel Law Group represented the workers.
The plaintiff sued Permian Power Tong, Inc. and an individual defendant under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). He moved for notice and conditional certification in November 2016, and on November 18, 2016, the parties filed a joint stipulation asking the court to approve the motion.
United States Magistrate Judge David Counts signed the order on November 21, 2016, granting the motion “pursuant to the agreement of the Parties.” The collective the court conditionally certified included “All workers employed by Permian Power Tong, Inc. over the past three years from the date of this order who were paid on a Per-Foot of Pipe Laid or Per-Job Basis.”
The court approved notice in the form attached to the joint stipulation and set these terms:
Both sides agreed to this order, so it was not a contested win, and the group was defined by pay method rather than by job title. Conditional certification is a preliminary step that authorizes notice, not a ruling that Permian Power Tong failed to pay overtime.
The order explains that FLSA collective actions require workers to opt in, and it describes the two-stage approach most Fifth Circuit courts then followed: “a fairly lenient standard” at the notice stage and a possible decertification motion after discovery.
The court applied, at the time of this 2016 order, that two-stage approach. Some federal appeals courts have since changed this approach — the Fifth Circuit in Swales v. KLLM Transport Services (2021) and the Sixth Circuit in Clark v. A&L Homecare & Training Center (2023). Swales now governs federal courts in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi.
As general information, job-rate pay still carries overtime duties: for a worker paid only a flat sum per job, federal rules generally set the regular rate at total job earnings divided by total hours worked. Each hour over 40 then earns an extra half of that rate (29 C.F.R. § 778.112). Learn more about how pay type affects overtime.
This page describes a 2016 court order. The time to join that collective was set by the court in that case. If you have worked in a similar role, the Siegel Law Group can evaluate your own claims.
Were you paid by the foot of pipe laid, or by the job, for oilfield work, with weeks over 40 hours? A lawyer can review how you were paid. Talk to the Siegel Law Group for a free consultation.
Related rulings: McClure v. Rocky Mountain Casing, another overtime case involving footage-based pay, Gowens v. Bull Rogers, another overtime case involving quantity-of-work pay, and Scheriger v. Gabe’s Casing, entered the same day for workers paid per foot of pipe laid or per job.
Usually, if the job is not exempt, because under federal rules a flat per-job payment is turned into an hourly regular rate by dividing a week’s job pay by all hours worked that week. Hours over 40 are then owed at an extra half of that rate. Hands-on oilfield labor generally does not fit the white-collar exemptions.
The 2016 order covered all workers employed by Permian Power Tong, Inc. over the three years before the order who were paid by the foot of pipe laid or by the job. No particular job title was required; the group was defined by pay method alone. The window to join belonged to that 2016 case alone, so a worker paid the same way today should have a lawyer review his or her own pay.
Each court sets its own rules on this. In the Permian Power Tong case, workers could either mail or email their consent to join to the plaintiff’s lawyers within sixty days of the contact-list handoff. Each notice states its own deadline.
Under the FLSA, a claim for each short payday generally must be brought within two years, or three years for a willful violation by the employer (29 U.S.C. § 255(a)). Because every payday carries its own deadline, the oldest weeks expire first. A job-rate worker who opts in to a collective action generally has not filed until that worker’s consent, signed and in writing, is filed with the court (29 U.S.C. § 256(b)). Read about FLSA time limits.
If you did this kind of work for another employer and weren't paid overtime for hours over 40, tell us your job title, your employer and the state you worked in. We'll tell you plainly whether we think you have a case. Federal law makes it illegal to retaliate against you for asking.
Siegel Law Group PLLC concentrates in unpaid overtime cases under the FLSA and state wage laws. The firm has filed more than 100 federal overtime cases, obtained 50+ class and collective certifications in 20 federal judicial districts across 15 states, and recovered more than $100 million for workers. It has never represented an employer in a wage case. Free consultation. Contingency fee: we advance case costs, and they are repaid from any recovery. No recovery, no fee and no costs. Phone: (214) 790-4454 | Email: [email protected]
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"Certified" means a judge agreed the case could go forward for a group of workers at once, not just the one person who filed it. It is a step in the case, not the end of it.
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