Supreme Court Rules Against Former Oil Platform Worker

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously this week against Ventura resident and former oil platform worker Brian Newton, who sued his former employer over overtime wages. Newton worked 14-day stretches on Santa Barbara Channel rigs for Parker Drilling Management Services, a drilling equipment and technology company, from about January 2013 to 2015, and he argued California overtime laws applied to the off-work time he spent on the platforms, including sleeping. Justice Clarence Thomas said “federal law is the only law” that applies on the Outer Continental Shelf and “there has never been any overlapping state and federal jurisdiction there.”