September, 2015 | The Law Offices of Gregory D. Jordan

Texas employment lawsuit claims company made employees work off the clock

An employee at a Texas call center has filed a lawsuit claiming that she and other employees were not paid for work that they were required to do off the clock.

Elissa Shetzer filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas against her employer, Harte-Hanks Response Management/Austin LP, which manages the call center in Texarkana, Texas. Shetzer claims that employees were not paid for time spent on tasks such as logging in to call systems and performing administrative work at the end of their shifts.

The lawsuit alleges that it took approximately 15 minutes to log into the computer system before the start of a shift, which was required in order to be able to take calls. In addition, the suit claims that employees had to spend about 10 minutes after each shift logging off and shutting down computer programs.

According to the lawsuit, if employees were on a call when their shift ended, they were paid only until the end of the phone call, even if there was additional administrative work related to the call that still needed to be completed before they could leave work. In addition, the suit alleges that workers often had to take a final customer call after their phones had automatically clocked them out.

Shetzer claims violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act and is seeking class-action status for her lawsuit. The suit seeks monetary damages, liquidated damages, interests and costs from the defendants.

Texas Supreme Court hears gas royalties case

The Texas Supreme Court heard arguments in a lawsuit by property owners against Chesapeake Energy, claiming that the energy giant improperly withheld millions of dollars in natural gas royalty payments.

Chesapeake is appealing a 2014 ruling by a San Antonio appeals court that upheld a decision by a state district court awarding at least $1 million to a Fort Worth family. The Hyder family argued that its lease with Chesapeake was heavily negotiated and specifically tailored to be “cost-free,” but Chesapeake has altered its interpretation of its obligations, attempting to deduct post-production costs.

The case is being closely watched by the oil and gas industry in Texas. The National Association of Royalty Owners-Texas and the Texas Land and Mineral Owners Association are backing the Hyders, saying that this case is one of many in which Chesapeake has sought to improperly deduct costs from royalty payments.

Observers say that the impact of the case will depend on whether the high court addresses its previous ruling in Heritage Resources v. NationsBank, which permitted the deduction of post-production costs even when contracts appear to disallow it. The Hyder lease included a provision stating that the findings in the Heritage case do not apply. The Fourth Court of Appeals in San Antonio agreed that the contract provision served to modify the general rule set forth in the Heritage case.

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