Worley Claims Services Facing Unpaid Overtime Lawsuit

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Worley Claims Services, LLC is the defendant in a lawsuit filed by a former claims adjuster who alleges she’s owed unpaid overtime wages.

The timeline in the case begins in October 2014, when non-party private equity firm Aquiline Capital Partners LLC reportedly acquired a majority stake in the defendant. Aquiline promptly cut payroll costs to “make Worley appear more profitable and to drive a higher sales price” in the event of a sale of the company sometime in the future, the lawsuit says. The plaintiff alleges that enmeshed in this cost-cutting are widespread Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) violations designed to “undermine and avoid” federal overtime pay provisions.

The plaintiff says she worked for Worley subsidiary RJMW Claims Services, Inc., a firm that handles daily and catastrophic property insurance claims. Prior to its acquisition by the defendant, RJMW paid the plaintiff proper time-and-a-half overtime for the hours over 40 she worked each week, the lawsuit says, such as for when she would work during “CAT pay events” stemming from instances of catastrophic weather nationwide.

After being bought by Worley in 2015, however, RJMW stopped paying time-and-a-half overtime, the plaintiff claims. The woman alleges that she and similarly situated employees were required by the defendant to work in excess of 40 hours per week “in instances of catastrophic weather and other staffing shortages” without proper overtime pay. In March 2018, the plaintiff's employment was supposedly terminated after she refused to work on Easter Sunday weekend.