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Pipeline inspectors have reached a $3.9 settlement agreement with Kinder Morgan Partners LP over claims the company failed to pay the oil and gas workers for overtime, according to court documents filed on Tuesday.
Lead plaintiff and former Kinder Morgan pipeline inspector David Oates filed the class action lawsuit claiming the oil and gas company violated federal wage-and-hour laws when it improperly classified him and other workers as independent contractors. This classification meant that Oates and others missed out on important benefits, such as overtime pay.
Citing uncertainty about how the class action lawsuit would fair in a trial, the motion for preliminary approval of the settlement called the $3.925 million agreement “in both the parties’ best interest.”
Under the terms of the oil and gas worker overtime pay class action settlement, class members are expected to get an average rebate of $1,928. Class members include oil and gas workers employed as pipeline inspectors with Kinder Morgan in the past three years who were paid a daily fee.
Oates, as lead plaintiff, will be awarded $7,500 and the attorneys’ fees and costs come to approximately $1.4 million.
While Kinder Morgan will escape the class action lawsuit under the settlement agreement, claims against some vendors named in the legal action will proceed.
Oates alleged in his class action lawsuit that he and other oil and gas pipeline inspectors were expected to work 12-hour days for a flat rate. He accused Kinder Morgan of violating the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) by failing to offer overtime pay.
Kinder Morgan maintains it did not improperly classify its oil and gas workers and denied liability in a statement to Law360 Tuesday.
“We retained third-party vendors to hire inspectors for our expansion projects and these vendors were responsible for complying with all applicable wage and hour laws,” the spokesperson said in the statement. “We expect our vendors to contribute toward the settlement and have reserved all of our rights against them.”
The oil and gas worker class action settlement will need to obtain court approval before claims are paid out.
Do you work in oil and gas at Kinder Morgan or another company? Have you been denied overtime pay? Tell us about your experience in the comment section below.
The lead plaintiff is represented by Andrew W. Dunlap, Michael A. Josephson and Taylor A. Jones of Josephson Dunlap LLP; by Richard J. (Rex) Burch of Bruckner Burch PLLC; and Michael Burrage of Whitten Burrage.
The Kinder Morgan oil and gas overtime class action lawsuit is Oates v. Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP, Case No. 5:19-cv-01171, in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma.
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One thought on Oil and gas workers reach $3.9M settlement in overtime pay class action lawsuit with Kinder Morgan
I worked numerous jobs for kinder Morgan and wasn’t paid overtime. The longest job was Savannah to Elberton Ga. Was for 13 months