Optimal Energy Resources Facing Worker Misclassification Lawsuit in North Dakota

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The plaintiff in a proposed collective and class action claims Optimal Energy Resources, Inc. failed to pay proper overtime wages as a result of misclassifying certain employees as exempt from time-and-a-half pay. Citing suspected Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) violations, the complaint says the plaintiff worked for the oilfield services company handling inspection work from April 2016 through March 2018. The man claims he and other inspectors commonly worked more than 12 hours per day, six days per week, for $40 per hour without time-and-a-half wages for all hours worked in excess of 40. Instead, the plaintiff and similarly situated workers received only their regular rate for overtime work, the case claims while arguing down the defendant’s alleged misclassification of its inspectors.

“No exemption in the FLSA law shelters [the defendant] from paying overtime to its inspectors,” the case reads. “Inspectors do not supervise other employees or manage a customarily recognized department of [the defendant’s] company.”