Highly Paid Rig Worker Eligible for OT, Full Fifth Circuit Says

摘要

A manager of offshore oil rig workers for Helix Energy Solutions Group is eligible for overtime pay under federal law despite making more than $200,000 a year, a sharply divided full slateof Fifth Circuit judges ruled Thursday.Helix argued that toolpusher Michael Hewitt was exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime requirements because he was a “highly compensated executive employee.” Hewittworked for various job “hitches” on oil rigs, about a month each time, and Helix said it paid him on a daily rate.