EDMOND – An Edmond man who was hired to haul explosives for a Colorado based company is suing that company for breach of contract and unpaid overtime.
Court documents show that John Brown, who is listed as a resident of Edmond, filed a lawsuit against Colorado based DynaEnergetics US, Inc.
Brown initially filed his lawsuit in Oklahoma County District Court; however, on Jan. 27, attorneys for DynaEnergetics moved to
shift the suit to Western District Federal Court in Oklahoma City.
“Plaintiff’s claims arise under the laws of the United States and involves issues of federal question,” Nathan Whatley, an attorney for the company, wrote in a brief. Records indicate that Brown has not responded to the effort to move the case.
In his lawsuit, Brown wrote that he was employed to deliver explosives to assist DynaEnergetics in its oil and gas services. Brown said the company scheduled him to handle on call requests – those after the regular working hours–for 83 of the 85 weeks he was employed by DynaEnergetics and he should be compensated for his time covering on-call events.
Brown’s lawsuit said that DynaEnergetics did not pay him for “on call time spent waiting to be engaged,” and the company imposed “significant restrictions on him to ensure that he was immediately available.”
Brown is seeking pay for overtime totaling more than $75,000. In addition, he alleged that DynaEnergetics failed to promote him to a managerial position even though the company had promised to do so.
As of Jan. 31, DynaEnergetics had not filed court papers responding to the allegations. The company was founded in 1867 by Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite.