On November 19, 2015, a former employee of Newsco International Energy Services, USA, Inc. (“Newsco”) filed a Fair Labor Standards Act Complaint in federal court in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, seeking overtime pay. The named Plaintiff filed his FLSA claims individually, and on behalf of directional drillers who worked for Newsco at oil fields across the country. In the Complaint, the named Plaintiff alleges that Newsco misclassified him and other directional drillers as exempt employees, asserting that the labor they perform as directional drillers does not qualify them for any of the exemptions from the law's overtime pay requirements. The named plaintiff seeks to recover unpaid overtime and double damages.
Newsco International Energy Services USA, Inc., headquartered in Houston, Texas, is an oilfield services company that provides drilling services to the oil and gas industry. The company’s services include horizontal directional drilling, measurements while drilling, and additional downhole engineering solutions.
Plaintiff's attorney Ashley Thronson stated, "directional drillers do labor-intensive work for long hours (often 12-hour days for 15 days straight) without receiving overtime compensation. We seek to get them paid the overtime premiums to which they are entitled by law."
Plaintiffs are represented by Paul J. Lukas and Ashley R. Thronson from Nichols Kaster, PLLP, which has offices in Minneapolis, Minnesota and San Francisco, California. The case is entitled, Dean v. Newsco International Energy Services, USA, Inc. CaseNo.: 4:15-cv-03406 (Southern District of Texas).
Additional information about how to make a claim in the case may be found at www.nka.com or by calling Nichols Kaster, PLLP toll free at (877) 344-4628.
