Chevron subsidiaries in California, Texas to pay $1.5 million in overtime back wages, damages to 750 field workers after US Labor Department investigation
Oil and gas industry enforcement initiative has recovered $41.5M since 2012
SAN FRANCISCO – Oil and gas industry workers often work long hours to provide essential products for the nation’s economy. In return, these employees expect their employers to pay them fairly and fully, as the law requires. For 750 workers employed by one of the world’s largest industry operators, this was not the case.
An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found that three subsidiaries of Chevron Corporation violated the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime provisions when they failed to pay hourly field operators for the hours they worked during mandatory pre-shift relief meetings, where they turned over their duties to employees on the next shift.
Investigators found Chevron Products Company in San Ramon, Chevron Pipeline Company in Bellaire, Texas and Chevron North America Exploration and Production Company in Houston, failed to pay workers fully.
The division announced today that Chevron will pay more than $750,000 in overtime back wages and an equal, additional amount in damages to the affected workers. The investigation also identified recordkeeping violations as the company failed to record accurately the number of hours employees worked.
“Employers need to understand that workers must be paid for all the time they work, including time they must spend in briefings before or after their scheduled shifts,” said Susana Blanco, director of the Wage and Hour Division’s San Francisco District Office. “Our investigation will result in hundreds of workers receiving checks reflecting the hours they worked, and compensation for time that had been missing from their paychecks in the past. The back wages and damages in this case should send a strong message to employers – violating the law at the expense of your workers can be costly.”
Since 2012, the division has concluded more than 1,000 investigations nationally and recovered more than $41.5 million in back wages for more than 29,000 employees in an initiative focused on oil and gas and related industries. As part of its shift toward industry-based enforcement strategies, the division’s ongoing education and enforcement initiative seeks to improve oil and gas industry compliance focusing resources where data shows violations are common and business models lend themselves to violations.
Based in San Ramon, Chevron is one of the world’s leading integrated energy companies. Its subsidiaries conduct business worldwide in virtually every facet of the energy industry.
For more information about federal wage laws administered by the Wage and Hour Division, call the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Information also is available at http://www.dol.gov/whd/.
WHD News Release:
09/08/2016
Oil and gas industry enforcement initiative has recovered $41.5M since 2012
SAN FRANCISCO – Oil and gas industry workers often work long hours to provide essential products for the nation’s economy. In return, these employees expect their employers to pay them fairly and fully, as the law requires. For 750 workers employed by one of the world’s largest industry operators, this was not the case.
An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found that three subsidiaries of Chevron Corporation violated the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime provisions when they failed to pay hourly field operators for the hours they worked during mandatory pre-shift relief meetings, where they turned over their duties to employees on the next shift.
Investigators found Chevron Products Company in San Ramon, Chevron Pipeline Company in Bellaire, Texas and Chevron North America Exploration and Production Company in Houston, failed to pay workers fully.
The division announced today that Chevron will pay more than $750,000 in overtime back wages and an equal, additional amount in damages to the affected workers. The investigation also identified recordkeeping violations as the company failed to record accurately the number of hours employees worked.
“Employers need to understand that workers must be paid for all the time they work, including time they must spend in briefings before or after their scheduled shifts,” said Susana Blanco, director of the Wage and Hour Division’s San Francisco District Office. “Our investigation will result in hundreds of workers receiving checks reflecting the hours they worked, and compensation for time that had been missing from their paychecks in the past. The back wages and damages in this case should send a strong message to employers – violating the law at the expense of your workers can be costly.”
Since 2012, the division has concluded more than 1,000 investigations nationally and recovered more than $41.5 million in back wages for more than 29,000 employees in an initiative focused on oil and gas and related industries. As part of its shift toward industry-based enforcement strategies, the division’s ongoing education and enforcement initiative seeks to improve oil and gas industry compliance focusing resources where data shows violations are common and business models lend themselves to violations.
Based in San Ramon, Chevron is one of the world’s leading integrated energy companies. Its subsidiaries conduct business worldwide in virtually every facet of the energy industry.
For more information about federal wage laws administered by the Wage and Hour Division, call the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Information also is available at http://www.dol.gov/whd/.
WHD News Release:
09/08/2016