PATTERSON UTI BEING SUED FOR LAYING
OFF WORKERS
FEBRUARY
11TH, 2015
The
national law firm of Baron and Budd announced today that it is representing
oilfield workers who allege they were terminated by Patterson-UTI Drilling
Company, LLC in violation of the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification
Act (WARN). Employees who worked at Patterson Drilling’s Dickenson or Midland
facility and were terminated without proper written notice may be eligible to
participate in the lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of Texas, Houston Division (In Re: Case 4:15-cv-00346).
The national
law firm of Baron and Budd is representing plaintiffs who worked for
Houston-based Patterson Drilling. They claim the company failed to give proper
written notice before they were laid off from their jobs as “roughnecks,” or
drilling rig workers. The plaintiffs worked at Patterson Drilling facilities in
Dickenson, North Dakota and Midland, TX.
The WARN
Act became law on February 4, 1989, requiring companies with 100 or more
employees to provide a 60-day advance written notice in the event of mass
layoffs or plant closings. The Act was designed to provide employees with an
adjustment period where they could either search for a new job or obtain
training to help them find work in another field.
One
plaintiff served in the U.S. Army and participated in several deployments in
Iraq. Patterson Drilling recruited him to work on rigs throughout North Dakota,
and he commuted from his home in Tennessee on a regular basis to work two-week
shifts. It was common for him and other employees to work 80 hours per week drilling
oil rigs. He and many other employees were verbally informed on or about
January 16, 2015 that they were being immediately terminated. They had not been
provided with any prior written notice.
Another
plaintiff worked on numerous drilling rigs throughout the Permian Basin in
Texas, and was assigned work out of Patterson Drilling’s Midland office. On or
about February 5, 2015, he and dozens of other employees working out of the
Midland office were abruptly terminated. As with the Dickenson terminations,
none of the Midland employees were provided with 60 days advance written
notice.
“Consistent
with its statements to the Securities and Exchange Commission in connection
with its February 5, 2015 8-K filing, we believe Patterson Drilling was aware
that it was going to end the employment of hundreds of employees many weeks
before those layoffs began. However, Patterson Drilling failed to give any
advance written notice of those layoffs pursuant to the WARN Act. Many hard
working American families have been hit hard, and out of the blue, due to
Patterson Drilling’s actions, and we intend to do all that we can to help
them,” said Allen Vaught, manager of the Employment Law Section of the national
law firm of Baron and Budd.
Source: Businesswire