Supreme Court rules Helix Energy oil rig worker who makes 0,000 is entitled to overtime

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Supreme Court rules Helix Energy oil rig worker who makes $200,000 is entitled to overtime

Published

2 years ago

February 22, 2023

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The Supreme Court of the United States on Captiol Hill, photographed on Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023 in Washington, DC.

Kent Nishimura | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images

The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that an offshore oil rig worker who earned more than $200,000 annually — and whose company classified him as a “bona fide executive” — is entitled to overtime pay for having worked more than 40 hours per week.

A lawyer for Helix Energy Solutions Group had argued in October that the worker, Michael Hewitt, was not entitled to overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act, despite the fact that he regularly worked 84 hours per week on the rigs.

“This decision could result in an enormous windfall for workers in a variety of occupations,” said Lou Pechman, a New York City employment attorney who has handled more than 300 cases involving the FLSA, but who was not involved in this case.

“The Supreme Court has sent a message to all workers paid on a day rate basis that they are entitled to overtime after 40 hours of work,” Pechman said.

In a 6-3 ruling Wednesday, the Supreme Court noted that the case hinged on the issue of whether Hewitt, whose job is called tool pusher, was paid on a salary basis.

The majority opinion, written by Justice Elena Kagan, noted that Hewitt’s bi-weekly paycheck amounted to his daily pay rate multiplied by the number of days he worked in the pay period.

“The question here is whether a high-earning employee is compensated on a ‘salary basis’ when his paycheck is based solely on a daily rate — so that he receives a certain amount if he works one day in a week, twice as much for two days, three times as much for three, and so on,” wrote Kagan.

“We hold that such an employee is not paid on a salary basis, and thus is entitled to overtime pay,” Kagan wrote.

A federal district court judge who first heard the case agreed with Helix’s view, finding Hewitt was paid on a salary basis and thus was not due overtime pay.

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The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the decision. It said that Helix Energy’s compensation for Hewitt did not satisfy a special rule of the FLSA that allowed so-called daily-rate workers to be paid on a salary basis.

In its ruling Wednesday, the Supreme Court affirmed the appeals court decision. The majority opinion said that “Hewitt was not an executive exempt from the FLSA’s overtime pay guarantee,” and that “daily-rate workers, of whatever income level, qualify as paid on a salary basis only if the conditions set out in” the special rule are met.

Kagan in her opinion noted that Hewitt’s compensation did not meet the conditions of that special rule, “which focuses on workers whose compensation is “computed on an hourly, a daily or a shift basis.”

Two justices, Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch, filed dissenting opinions.

Kavanaugh, in his dissent joined by Justice Samuel Alito, noted that Hewitt had a daily predetermined minimum pay rate of $963 per day. And under federal labor regulations, Kavanaugh added, “an employee who performs executive duties and earns at least $100,000 per year with a ‘predetermined’ weekly salary of at least $455 for any week that he works is a bona fide executive and not entitled overtime.”

“Per those regulations, Hewitt readily qualified as a bona fide executive,” Kavanaugh wrote. “As everyone agrees, Hewitt performed executive duties, earned about $200,000 per year, and received a predetermined salary of at least $963 per week for any week that he worked.”

Gorsuch, in his extremely short, two-page opinion, said he would dismiss the case as having been “improvidently granted” by the Supreme Court.

Gorsuch wrote that the court had allowed Helix to appeal the lower court’s ruling on the expectation that the question to be determined was “which regulations certain well-paid employees must satisfy to fit within the overtime-pay exemption.”

“Unfortunately, this case does not tee up that issue in the way we hoped,” Gorsuch wrote. “With the benefit of briefing and argument, it has become clear that the ‘critical question here’ is not how” two sections of the FLSA interact, he wrote.

The New York lawyer Pechman, who teaches a class on wage theft at Fordham Law School, said, “This case highlights one of the quirks about the FLSA in that sometimes liability is not a result of how much a worker gets paid but rather how he is paid.”

Environment

Trump says he will revoke Biden offshore drilling ban on first day in office

Published

3 hours ago

January 7, 2025

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Trump says he will revoke Biden offshore drilling ban on first day in office

A view of offshore oil and gas platform Esther in the Pacific Ocean on January 5, 2025 in Seal Beach, California.

Mario Tama | Getty Images

President-Elect Donald Trump said Tuesday that he will reverse President Joe Biden‘s ban on offshore drilling along most of the U.S. coastline as soon as he takes office.

“I’m going to have it revoked on day one,” Trump said at a news conference, though he indicated that reversing the ban might require litigation in court.

Biden announced Monday that he would protect 625 million acres of ocean from offshore oil and gas drilling along the East and West coasts, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, and Alaska’s Northern Bering Sea. The president issued the ban through a provision of the 1953 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.

An order by Trump attempting to reverse the ban will likely end up in court and could ultimately be struck down.

During his first term, Trump tried to issue an executive order to reverse President Barack Obama’s use of the law to protect waters in the Arctic and Atlantic from offshore drilling. A federal court ultimately ruled that Trump’s order was not lawful and reversing the ban would require an act of Congress.

The Republican Party has a majority in both chambers of the new Congress.

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ZEEKR to deliver multiple EVs in 2025 with NVIDIA Thor tech, including a US model for Waymo

Published

3 hours ago

January 7, 2025

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ZEEKR to deliver multiple EVs in 2025 with NVIDIA Thor tech, including a US model for Waymo

Chinese EV Automaker ZEEKR is marking its third consecutive presence on the display floors of CES. During this year’s event, ZEEKR began teasing at least three new models scheduled to launch in 2025, some of which will feature an NVIDIA DRIVE Thor-based smart driver domain controller. In addition to those codenamed models, ZEEKR is also planning to launch another NVIDIA DRIVE Thor-equipped EV called “RT” in the US to be used by robotaxi developer Waymo.

ZEEKR wasted no time touting its latest EV and autonomous driving technology at CES 2025, which kicked off in Las Vegas earlier this week. As noted above, 2025 marks ZEEKR’s third consecutive participation in the annual tech event, which is notable considering the company was founded less than four years ago.

During last year’s event, ZEEKR showcased its 007, which had just launched in China days before. It offers a 540-mile range and a starting price below $30,000. At CES 2023, ZEEKR made its public debut in the US, showcasing its flagship 001 shooting brake and a purpose-built EV designed for robotaxi network Waymo, which we saw up close later that fall.

The Waymo BEV has become known as the ZEEKR RT, which is mentioned alongside several exciting announcements that the Chinese automaker teased last month.

ZEEKR Waymo — ZEEKR’s booth at CES 2025 / Source: ZEEKR/Weibo

ZEEKR shares plans for new models, plus Waymo BEVs

ZEEKR kicked off CES 2025 today with news of a new domain controller built using NVIDIA’s DRIVE Thor next-generation centralized computer. NVIDIA unveiled DRIVE Thor in the fall of 2022, announcing ZEEKR as its first customer and initial production of vehicles featuring the technology planned for early 2025.

As such, ZEEKR is hailing itself as the first OEM to integrate NVIDIA’s next-gen system-on-chip (SoC) into a domain controller to handle a wide range of smart driving, autonomous scenarios, and parking functions. Per NVIDIA during the DRIVE Thor debut, the computer “achieves up to 2,000 teraflops of performance, unifies intelligent functions — including automated and assisted driving, parking, driver and occupant monitoring, digital instrument cluster, in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) and rear-seat entertainment — into a single architecture for greater efficiency and lower overall system cost.”

As NVIDIA’s first DRIVE Thor customer, ZEEKR said its domain controller will soon be mass-produced and integrated into a new large SUV model to be launched this year. That SUV will be one of three new BEVs ZEEKR plans to launch in 2025. According to ZEEKR CEO Andy An, those vehicles have been internally codenamed “EX,” “DX,” and “CC.”

In addition to those passenger EVs in the works, ZEEKR shared that its RT van, based on the MIX and explicitly designed as a robotaxi for Waymo, is undergoing real-world testing and is expected to arrive as the world-first mass-produced purpose-built vehicle for autonomous rides.

ZEEKR RT deliveries to Waymo are expected later this year for further testing ahead of a future public robotaxi network launch. If that happens, ZEEKR could become the first Chinese EV brand to enter the US market, although it’s a bit of a loophole.

ZEEKR’s 009 MPV, MIX van, and 001 FR shooting brake are on display at CES at booth #5640 in the West Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center. Go check them out.

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Environment

Hyundai is selling vehicles on Amazon? ‘You’re gonna need a bigger cart’

Published

3 hours ago

January 7, 2025

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Hyundai is selling vehicles on Amazon? 'You're gonna need a bigger cart'

How about a new EV with your next Amazon order? As the first brand to sell vehicles on Amazon, Hyundai says, “You’re gonna need a bigger cart.” Hyundai is now selling cars directly on Amazon, including popular EVs like the IONIQ 5. Here’s how you can snag one.

How can you buy Hyundai EVs directly on Amazon?

Buying a new Hyundai is now as easy as adding it to your next Amazon order. However, you might need a bigger cart.

Amazon revealed plans to expand into vehicle sales in 2023, starting with Hyundai. After making it official at the 2023 LA Auto Show, Hyundai began selling vehicles on the platform just before the end of 2024.

Buying a new vehicle on Amazon Auto is as easy as buying a new laptop or outfit. You can browse through available Hyundai vehicles near you, secure financing, checkout, and schedule a pick-up time directly using Amazon’s trusted platform.

You can easily find the vehicle you’re looking for with the option to sort by model, trim, color, features, and more. After you find it, you can secure financing, sign the paperwork electronically, and complete the process in just a few clicks.

The best part is the haggle-free pricing. What you see at checkout is the price you will pay. Once finalized, you can pick the day and time to pick up your new ride at a local dealership.

If you have a trade-in, you can get an instant quote by answering a few questions and uploading images of the car. Then, you can apply the credit toward your new vehicle on Amazon Autos. When you go to pick up your new vehicle, the dealership will be ready for it.

Hyundai plans to expand the program by adding more dealers throughout the year and offering more leasing and financing options. On the Amazon Auto website, you can view Hyundai vehicles at participating dealers near you.

You can already find top-selling Hyundai EVs on Amazon Auto, including the updated 2025 IONIQ 5 and IONIQ 6. With new models, like the three-row IONIQ 9 rolling out, expect to see more EVs available soon.

Hyundai-EVs-Amazon — 2025 Hyundai IONIQ 5 (Source: Hyundai)

The new IONIQ 5 starts at $42,500. With a bigger (84 kWh) battery, the updated model has a range of 318 miles, up from 303 miles in the outgoing IONIQ 5. It also has an NACS port, so it can be charged at Tesla Superchargers.

After kicking off production at its new EV plant in Georgia late last year, Hyundai’s electric vehicles now qualify for the $7,500 EV tax credit for the first time.

For those of you who don’t have access to the program yet, we’ve got you covered. With the new 2025 models rolling out, Hyundai is offering 2024 IONIQ 5 SUVs for next to nothing while they are still in stock. You can use our links below to find the best deals on Hyundai EV models in your area.

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