Fmr. Mud Engineer Claims Nova, RUSCO, RigUp Oilfield Workers Misclassified as Independent Contractors, Denied Proper OT

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A proposed collective action claims Nova Mud, Inc. and two joint employers misclassified oilfield workers as independent contractors and failed to pay proper overtime wages.

Filed by a former mud engineer, the lawsuit says the oilfield services company and co-defendants RigUp, Inc. and RUSCO Operating, LLC jointly employed and paid the plaintiff as an independent contractor despite the strict level of control the companies maintained over his job duties.

“Although Plaintiff was labeled as a so-called independent contractor, the economic reality is that, at all times relevant, he was an ‘employee’ of Defendants as that term is defined by the [Fair Labor Standards Act],” the suit contends.

According to the case, the plaintiff and other oilfield workers did not exercise “sufficient, if any, control” over a meaningful part of the defendants’ business and thus could not be considered an economic entity, or independent contractor, separate from the defendants. Per the case, the work done by the plaintiff and similarly situated individuals was “integral” to the defendants’ business, which otherwise “would have no revenue or significantly less revenue.”

“Plaintiffs were simply part of Defendants’ workforce, performing job duties and work that were integral to Defendants’ business operations,” the complaint reads.

As such, oilfield workers should have been classified as bona fide employees and paid proper time-and-a-half overtime wages for the hours they worked above 40 each week, the suit says.

Nova Mud provides oilfield services such as selling, delivering and monitoring the on-site use of drilling fluids, i.e. lubricants, otherwise known as “mud,” used to cool the drilling bit of a rig during oil and natural gas drilling operations, the case explains. RigUp is a staffing company that provides software to connect workers to available jobs in the oil and gas industry, the suit says, and generates revenue by “successfully matching workers with its affiliated energy partners.”

RUSCO, according to the suit, provides payroll services to RigUp’s affiliated partners and is solely managed by RigUp.

The plaintiff, who worked for the defendants as a mud engineer responsible for monitoring the performance of drilling fluids on the rigs of Nova’s customers, says he typically worked a 14-day hitch, i.e., 14 days of work in a row followed by 14 days off, made up of 12-hour tours, or shifts. According to the complaint, the plaintiff’s tours sometimes lasted closer to 18 hours, and he typically worked at least 84 hours per week during each hitch.

The lawsuit alleges that because the plaintiff and other oilfield workers were classified as independent contractors, they received no overtime wages for the hours they worked above 40 each week, whether they were paid an hourly rate or a day rate. The case argues that the workers should have been classified as employees and paid overtime wages given they were economically dependent on the defendants at all times.

According to the suit, the defendants controlled the plaintiff’s and similarly situated employees’ opportunities for profit and loss, as well as their schedules, wages, and equipment used. Workers did not make a substantial investment in the defendants’ business, nor could they work for any other companies while employed with Nova Mud, the case avers.

The lawsuit goes on to claim that the plaintiff and other workers performed an integral part of the defendants’ business yet were not permitted to make independent judgments on the job site or use relevant skills as would an independent contractor.

The plaintiff looks to represent the following proposed collective:

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