Shifting workweek claim leads to lawsuit
An argument by a group of former and current workers that their employer moved the start and end dates of their workweek led to a civil suit that was eventually ruled for in favor of the employer.
The defendant in the suit, an energy services company from Arkansas, is alleged to have made the change exclusively to reduce overtime liability, according to industry news source Human Resources Journal. The company shifted the workweek timing so that the week-on, week-off schedule worked by oil drilling rig operators resulted in less overtime payment.
The FLSA regulates the structure of a workweek but not in the terms argued by the plaintiffs. A workweek must be 168 hours long and have defined start and end times. Employers are allowed to change the timing of the workweek as long as the new schedule is intended to be permanent and isn't done strictly so that employee attendance, and therefore overtime, is evaded - a two-part test.
Although the change was made to reduce the overtime liability of the company, the change wasn't temporary, and it was ruled to be legal by both a district and an appellate court.
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