Offshore Oil Workers Cannot be Paid for Time Spent Sleeping, Supreme Court Rules

Route Fifty: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that state wage laws do not apply to offshore oil workers stationed on platforms off the California coast.

The case before the court was brought by an oil worker, who argued that under California law, employees who live and work on drilling platforms should be paid for time they remain on platforms on standby but do not work. The high court was asked to decide whether federal or state wage laws applied to workers based on a platform located in waters on the outer continental shelf (OCS) near Santa Barbara, California.

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