Lawsuit alleges 30 minutes daily of unpaid gear prep and improper bonus calculations in overtime pay
A silica mining company is accused of requiring workers to suit up in safety gear off the clock and shortchanging overtime pay by leaving bonuses out of wage calculations.
Patric Farmer has taken U.S. Silica Company to federal court in Houston, claiming the industrial minerals producer systematically underpaid him and other hourly workers through policies that skirted wage and hour requirements.
The November 12 filing in the Southern District of Texas alleges two distinct pay problems that HR professionals frequently grapple with: what counts as compensable work time, and how to properly calculate overtime rates when bonuses enter the picture.
Farmer worked as a Bagger and Operator at U.S. Silica's South Carolina facility from approximately June 2024 through March 2025, earning approximately $21.85 an hour. His job involved operating the spout to load rail cars and tankers with sand and other materials and bagging different types of sand.
But before clocking in each day, Farmer says he and his coworkers had to spend around 30 minutes preparing and putting on an extensive array of safety equipment: hard hats, safety glasses, gloves, ear protection, steel-toed boots, respirators, safety vests, and harnesses. All of this happened on company premises, unpaid.
The suit argues this gear was not optional. Federal regulations mandate much of it, and U.S. Silica maintains data...
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