Halliburton to Pay $18 Million in Back Pay for Overtime

November 12, 2015

The U.S. Department of Labor announced Tuesday it had come to an agreement with Halliburton, the oilfield giant and fracking pioneer, to pay $18 million for unpaid overtime to more than 1,000 workers in several states around the country.

The Department called it “one of the largest recoveries of overtime wages in recent years.”

The agency claims its wage and hour division investigated the company “as part of an ongoing, multi-year compliance initiative in the oil and gas industry in the Southwest and Northeast.”

The Department of Labor said investigators found Halliburton miscategorized employees in 28 job positions as exempt from overtime.

These positions included “field service representatives, pipe recovery specialists, drilling tech advisors, perforating specialists and reliability tech specialists.”

The Department also found Halliburton failed to keep accurate records of its employees’ work hours.

“The Department of Labor takes very seriously its responsibility to ensure workers receive the wages they have earned,” said U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez. “This settlement will put millions of dollars where they belong — in the pockets of hardworking people and their families. Employers who don’t pay their employees the wages they have earned don’t just hurt their workers, they undercut employers who play by the rules. That’s why we work every day to help level the playing field.”

Halliburton has more than 70,000 employees, and frequently contracts with oil and gas companies to develop wells around the country.

Do you think employer is stealing from you? Let our Florida Unpaid Overtime Lawyers at Whittel & Melton help you find out if you are entitled to overtime pay. Sadly, many employers do not pay their employees overtime. This is usually because they find it cheaper to ignore the overtime laws and hope their employees fail to discover their “error” that they are entitled to overtime. In some cases, it is because the employer simply does not understand the overtime laws. Regardless of the reason for an employer failing to pay overtime, you need a Florida Employment Lawyer to help you recover the pay you are rightfully owed.

It is not uncommon for employers to intentionally mischaracterize employees as exempt from overtime pay by making them salaried employees or labeling them as managerial employees when they are not. If you have questions about your eligibility for overtime pay, we can help. Call us today at 866-608-5529 or contact us online for a free consultation.