Parker Drilling Management Services, Ltd. v. Newton

Brian Newton worked on drilling platforms off the California coast on the Outer Continental Shelf. He sued his employer, Parker Drilling Management Services, for violating California wage and hour laws by failing to compensate for standby time. Parker Drilling argued that under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), only federal law (the Fair Labor Standards Act) applied, and California law was preempted. The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that OCSLA adopts adjacent state law as surrogate federal law to the extent it is not inconsistent with federal law, so California's wage and hour rules applied.

The Supreme Court affirmed the Ninth Circuit, ruling that state law is applicable as surrogate federal law where it does not conflict with existing federal law, and remanded for further proceedings.

Whether California's wage and hour laws could be applied as surrogate federal law to workers on the Outer Continental Shelf, or whether they were preempted by the Fair Labor Standards Act under OCSLA.

The decision affirmed important labor protections for offshore oil rig workers, ensuring they are entitled to the same wage and hour benefits as onshore workers in the adjacent state. It clarified the scope of state law application under OCSLA, preventing a regulatory gap that would have left platform employees without the full protections of either state or federal wage laws.