The Houston cases I see most
Oilfield and energy services. Houston is the back office and the staging ground for the entire oil patch. Consultants, inspectors, and field hands dispatched out of Houston are routinely paid day rates with no overtime or put on a 1099. The federal rule is simple: a day rate covers straight time only, and hours over 40 are owed at additional half-time on top, and that assumes the day rate arrangement is even lawful for an employee doing that work.
Plant, refinery, and Ship Channel workers. Turnaround season means 60 and 70-hour weeks. Staffing agencies and contractors who supply that labor often pay straight time for overtime: your regular rate for hour 41 instead of time and a half. That practice violates the federal law in almost every case, and it is one of the most common violations I litigate. See What Is Straight Time for Overtime?
Healthcare workers. The Texas Medical Center is the largest medical complex in the world, and the violations there are the ones I see everywhere: automatic lunch deductions while nurses work through lunch, charting after the shift ends, on-call time that is really work time.
Construction crews. Day rates, piece rates, and 1099 classification for framers, electricians' helpers, and concrete crews working 50 and 60-hour weeks.
Security guards and 1099 contractors. Guards on 12-hour shifts paid flat shift rates, couriers, and delivery drivers misclassified as contractors.
Filing in Houston
Houston cases are filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas. I handle these cases on the plaintiff side only, for workers, never for employers. Most of the case happens by phone, email, and video; you do not need to take time off work to pursue it.
What it costs
Nothing upfront. Free consultation, contingency fee. If there is no recovery, you pay nothing, not even the costs.
Frequently asked questions
My employer is a staffing agency. Who owes my overtime?
Often both the agency and the client company. Federal law recognizes joint employment: when the client controls your schedule and your work, the client can be liable for your overtime along with the agency. Hours split across two paychecks do not erase the obligation.
I signed a contractor agreement. Does that end it?
No. You cannot sign away overtime rights, and a contract calling you an independent contractor does not make you one. Courts look at the working relationship, not the label the employer put on it.
I still work there. Can I bring a case?
Yes. The federal law prohibits retaliation for asserting your overtime rights, and retaliation gives rise to its own claim with its own damages. Many of my clients are current employees.
How much could my case be worth?
Unpaid overtime for up to two years back, three if the violation was willful, plus an equal amount in liquidated damages in most cases, plus attorney's fees paid by the employer on top of your recovery. The overtime calculator gives you a rough number in a few minutes.