PITTSBURGH – An Allegheny County man has brought class action litigation against a well drilling contractor, claiming it unlawfully withheld overtime pay from himself and other employees in violation of multiple wage payment laws.
Ryan Copley (individually and on behalf of all those similarly-situated) filed suit in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas on Aug. 25 versus Evolution Well Services, LLC, of Washington.
“This action is brought by Copley on his own behalf and as a representative of the proposed class consisting of all employees of Evolution Well Services who were required to report to a designated company location to begin their day, and did not receive appropriate compensation for any of the time between the mandatory reporting time, and the beginning of their next work task,” the suit states.
“Copley worked for Evolution Well Services as an employee. As an employee of Evolution Well Services, Copley was subject to a number of requirements including; A) Living in housing which was owned and provided by the defendant when on-call; B) Reporting every morning to a designated pickup location determined by defendant, and at a time prescribed by defendant; C) Being transported by the defendant to the location where he was to complete the day’s work; and D) Reporting to the designated pickup location to be brought back to the company-owned housing.”
On any average day, Copley says he would be required to arrive at the pickup location, where and others would be transported to a location determined by Evolution Well Services. That daily drive would take upwards of an hour on average, he says, and the process was repeated, in reverse, at the end of each workday as well.
“Copley had no option to choose to live closer to the worksite, nor did he have the option to transport himself to the worksite. By all accounts, defendant, through its mandatory arrival time and strict control of the transportation arrangements, required Mr. Copley to report to work and start his day by showing up to the pick-up point. This pick up point was the start of Mr. Copley’s work day, and the subsequent commute via company mandated transport was time that Mr. Copley was ‘clocked in’ for, however, he was not paid for any time during this commute, again equaling up to two hours per day on average,” per the suit.
“Evolution Well Services did pay the operators of the company vehicles for the time that they were driving Copley and others to and from the worksite however. Because this was time that Copley was on the job, it was time to which he was entitled compensation. Defendant knowingly and purposefully failed to pay Copley for the time that they required him to be transported him to and from the site each day. Defendant Evolution Well Services employs a significant number of other employees like Copley.”
For counts of violating the Pennsylvania Minimum Wage Act and the Wage Payment Collections Law, the plaintiff is seeking damages for all class plaintiffs in excess of the arbitration limits, including: 1) Full back pay for all hours not compensated to date, 2) Liquidated damages as allowed under the WPCL, 3) Pre-judgment interest, 4) All costs associated with this litigation, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, 5) Injunctive relief prohibiting the defendant from violating the WPCL in the future, and 6) Any other relief which the Court deem necessary and proper, plus a trial by jury.
The plaintiffs are represented by Sean L. Ruppert, David M. Manes and Prabhu Narahari of Ruppert Manes Narahari, in Pittsburgh.
The defendant has not yet obtained legal counsel.
Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas case GD-20-009129
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com