Offshore Oil Workers Protected by California Wage, Hour Laws

Offshore workers can proceed on claims that their Louisiana-based employers failed to pay them for unused rest breaks and overtime in violation of California law, after an appeals court ruled Monday that the workers were governed by that state’s labor laws.

A class of former crew members who worked on rigs in the Pacific Ocean but didn’t live in California sued Gulf Offshore Logistics LLC and JNB Operating LLC in the Superior Court of Ventura County, alleging various violations of the state’s labor laws.

The California Court of Appeal, Second District, previously found the class relationship with the companies was ...