Erick Flowback Services Among Four Defendants in Oklahoma Wage and Hour Suit

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A proposed class action out of Oklahoma alleges Erick Flowback Services LLC, New Source Energy Partners, L.P., Ericks Holdings, LLC, and one individual improperly classified oil and gas well monitors as independent contractors, not as employees, and thusly owe unpaid time-and-a-half overtime wages. The lawsuit, filed by an individual who worked as a “flow tester” between March 2014 and October 2015, alleges the plaintiff and similarly situated workers across Oklahoma, Texas, Ohio and Pennsylvania were improperly classified as a way for the defendants to avoid their Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) overtime obligations. 

Describing the defendants’ alleged conduct as “egregious,” the lawsuit claims the companies “intentionally set up a paper façade” to mask the extent of interaction between their workforce and the entities themselves. To its argument that the defendants knowingly sought to avoid paying overtime wages, the case alleges the companies insisted workers submit “invoices,” not traditional timesheets, that were intended to, “on the surface give the impression that their workforce was composed of independent contractors,” going so far as to require proposed collective members to set up a corporation or limited liability company in order to get paid for their work.

“That is, [the defendants’] misclassification was not by accident, but a well thought out scheme to reduce their labor costs,” the plaintiff claims. “Accordingly, [the defendants’] violations of the FLSA were willful.”