Houston Overtime Lawyer

Common Houston Wage and Hour Fact Patterns

Several patterns repeat across the Houston metro often enough that I recognize them on the first call. In the energy sector, day rate hands, drilling consultants, completion crews, and pipeline workers are paid flat daily amounts with no overtime, often issued 1099s even when they report exclusively to one operator. After Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc. v. Hewitt, 598 U.S. 39 (2023), the salary-basis defense most oilfield day rate structures relied on no longer holds.

At the Texas Medical Center and across the broader healthcare network, nurses, CNAs, home health aides, and clinic workers face automatic 30-minute meal-period deductions on shifts where they cannot actually take an uninterrupted break. The deduction runs on the time clock whether or not the break actually happens, and the hours that fall off the books push compensated weekly hours under 40 while the worker's actual hours run well above 40.

In refining, petrochemicals, and industrial maintenance along the Ship Channel and in Pasadena, Baytown, and Texas City, shutdown and turnaround workers, plant operators, and contractor maintenance crews are paid day rates or 1099'd for work that follows the operator's schedules and uses the operator's facilities.

In construction across the metro's continuous building boom, trades workers are paid as 1099 contractors, day rate workers, and crews running 60-hour weeks with no overtime premium. In trucking and port logistics, drivers serving the Port of Houston supply chain and last-mile delivery routes face misclassification and misapplied motor carrier exemption claims.

In hospitality and restaurants, tip credit problems, off-the-clock prep, and assistant-manager misclassification (the title is manager but the daily work matches the line staff) produce consistent claims.

How Federal Court Cases Work in the S.D. Tex. Houston Division

Houston FLSA cases are filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division. The Houston Division is one of the busiest federal dockets in the country and one of the most active FLSA dockets nationally.

The basic workflow is straightforward. I file the complaint asserting an FLSA claim. The employer answers. If the case is a collective action with multiple workers in the same job classification, I move for issuance of notice under 29 U.S.C. § 216(b) so that other workers who may want to join can do so. Discovery follows: payroll records, timekeeping data, written policies, schedules, and depositions of the employer's decision-makers. Most cases resolve in mediation. The cases that do not settle proceed to trial.

I have tried FLSA cases to verdict in S.D. Tex. and started my career on the defense side at Houston firms, including Wickliff & Hall and Brown McCarroll, before switching to plaintiff's work. I know how Houston employers think about these cases, how they litigate them, and where their arguments break down.

Counterargument: When a Houston Worker May Not Have a Claim

Three categories make a Houston FLSA claim harder. First, a true salaried exempt worker. After Encino Motorcars, LLC v. Navarro, 138 S. Ct. 1134 (2018), and Helix, exemptions are read using a fair-reading approach rather than the older narrow-construction rule. A worker who is paid on a guaranteed weekly salary that meets the salary-basis test and whose primary duty genuinely matches an exempt executive, administrative, or professional category may not have an overtime claim. The duties test is rigorous, and most assistant-manager and working-manager titles fail it, but a true salaried operations manager whose work matches the duties test may be properly exempt.

Second, a genuine independent business. The FLSA only protects employees. A worker who genuinely operates an independent business, holds out services to multiple clients in the market, supplies their own significant capital equipment, and bears real economic risk may be a true independent contractor under the economic reality test rather than an employee.

Third, the statute of limitations. The FLSA has a two-year limitations period that extends to three years for willful violations. Wages that fell outside the lookback window are not recoverable. The right time to call is while those wages are still within the window.

How I Handle Houston Cases

I am admitted in the Southern District of Texas and file Houston cases there regularly. I travel to Houston for matter work as the case requires: client meetings, depositions, mediations, and court appearances. The work is mine from start to finish. There is no junior associate and no handoff. The worker who hires me works directly with me from the first call through the final distribution.

If there is no recovery, you pay nothing, not even the costs.