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, Calvillo 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.
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.
Free consultation. Contingency fee — no fee unless we win.
Phone: (214) 790-4454 | Email: [email protected]
This website contains attorney advertising. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.
Search by company or industry to see overtime case activity.
Case information shown is from public court filings and approved settlements. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
