Class Action Lawsuit Claims Seadrill Failed to Provide Workers Proper Notice Before March 2021 Facility Closure

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Seadrill Americas, Inc. has been named in a proposed class action lawsuit wherein a former employee claims the offshore drilling company failed to provide at least 60 days’ notice before executing a mass layoff and closure of its facilities.

According to the 15-page case, Seadrill has violated the Worker Adjustment Retraining and Notification (WARN) Act by failing to provide employees proper notice of a “plant closing” or “mass layoff” that took place around March 31, 2021. The suit claims that given Seadrill’s February 10, 2021 bankruptcy filing, the company reasonably should have expected that a significant portion of its workforce would be laid off and could have provided notice of such.

The lawsuit, filed in Texas bankruptcy court as part of the defendant’s Chapter 11 proceedings, claims workers are owed pre-termination wages and other benefits they would have received had they been provided with adequate WARN Act notice.

The plaintiff says he worked for Seadrill at its Houston facility and offshore drillship as a “roughneck” from December 2012 to March 2021, when he was terminated without cause as part of Seadrill’s closing of its Houston and other facilities. Per the case, the facilities’ closure was subject to WARN Act requirements given it involved a permanent or temporary shutdown that resulted in the termination of at least 50 Seadrill employees (excluding part-time employees), or, alternatively, at least 500 Seadrill employees or 33 percent of the company’s workforce (excluding part-time employees).

The lawsuit claims that under the WARN Act, Seadrill was required to provide workers with 60 days’ advance written notice of the plant closing or mass layoff and is now liable to provide back pay and benefits under an employee benefit plan for “each day of violation.”

The case looks to represent current and former employees of Seadrill who were terminated without cause or suffered other employment loss as part of or as the result of a plant closing or mass layoff ordered by the company within the past two years and who were not provided with advance written notice as required by the WARN Act.

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