Four Companies Face Lawsuit Over Alleged Failure to Pay Wages for Travel Time to Cameron LNG Liquefaction Project Site

New to ClassAction.org? Read our Newswire Disclaimer

McDermott International, Chicago Bridge & Iron Co., Chiyoda International, and Cameron LNG are the defendants in a proposed collective/class action wherein two plaintiffs claim the companies have failed to pay proper wages, in particular for time spent by employees traveling to the Cameron LNG Liquefaction Project in Hackberry, Louisiana. 

According to the lawsuit, workers are mandatorily required to arrive at and depart from the project site by way of a transportation system implemented and controlled by the defendants. More specifically, the plaintiffs and similarly situated workers are required by the companies to arrive at one of a number of designated bus sites before riding a bus to work and clocking in, the case says. At the end of shifts, the suit goes on, employees are then required to clock out before waiting in line to ride a bus back to one of the defendants’ bus sites and commute home.

As the complaint tells it, the method of travel required by the defendants is not ordinary home-to-work-and-back travel, nor a “normal incident” of employment. The plaintiffs allege the defendants have failed to pay proper wages for time spent waiting for and riding the companies’ mandatory transportation system to the project site.

From the suit:

“Through its implementation of a mandatory transportation system and direct control over the number of buses and busing schedule, Defendants require Plaintiffs, and all those similarly situated, to report to the Defendant-designated bus sites at a particular hour. Upon arrival to their respective bus sites, Plaintiffs, and all those similarly situated, are willing and able to work; however, for reasons beyond their control, they are unable to perform work until some time has elapsed, namely the time between arrival at the bus site and the buses’ arrival at the job site. This wait time is not preliminary or postliminary activity; it is an integral part of Defendants’ principal activities.”

All told, the suit alleges the defendants effectively prevent employees from submitting compensable hours as a result of their mandatory transportation system requirement.