Today we filed a class action lawsuit in New Mexico federal court on behalf of a class of frac operators claiming overtime violations against their employer, oilfield hydraulic fracturing and wireline services company FTS International Services, LLC. The lawsuit claims that FTS deprived its frac operators required overtime wages by recategorizing part of the operators’ work time at the job site as “travel time” and then paying only straight time rates for those hours.
This case is brought under both the FLSA (federal law) and the New Mexico Minimum Wage Act. We are requesting class certification under both laws.
Employers that violate the FLSA are subject to double damages for all of the wages they failed to pay their workers. Violations of the New Mexico Minimum Wage Act subject the employer to treble damages. Under both laws, employers are also responsible for an employee’s attorneys’ fees and costs if the employee prevails. In the lawsuit, we are seeking to represent a class of the defendant’s frac operators and are requesting lost wages, liquidated (double) damages (under the FLSA), treble damages (under the New Mexico Minimum Wage Act), injunctive relief, attorneys’ fees, costs, and expenses.
You can read the Complaint here.
