OGE wins summary judgment in wage-hour lawsuit concerning "on-call" time

Client(s) OGE Energy Corp.

Jones Day won summary judgment for its client, Oklahoma Gas & Electric ("OGE"), in an FLSA wage-hour litigation matter in which five former area service linemen claimed that OGE violated the FLSA by failing to compensate them for time spent "on-call." The plaintiffs alleged they were always "on-call" outside of normal working hours and, as such, worked 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. The United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma disagreed, concluding that plaintiffs' on-call time was spent predominantly for their own benefit. The court held that the mere fact that plaintiffs were unable to use their on-call time as they wished or that they had to spend some time at home that they otherwise might have spent elsewhere was insufficient to make on-call time compensable under the FLSA.

Beck v. Oklahoma Gas and Electric Co., Case No. 14-770 (W.D. Okla.)