The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 USC 1333) provides that the civil and criminal laws of the adjacent state are adopted as federal law and apply on any installation affixed to the outer continental shelf “to the extent applicable and not inconsistent with” federal law. This decision holds that California law setting a minimum wage and required overtime pay after a specified number of hours of work is not inconsistent with the FLSA. So, that California law applies to workers on drill rigs on the outer continental shelf off the California coast. For state law to apply, it is not necessary that there be a significant void or gap in applicable federal law; all that is needed is that state law not be inconsistent with the applicable federal law. Moreover, the FLSA specifically provides that it does not excuse noncompliance with any other applicable law requiring higher minimum wages or a shorter normal work week. On remand, the district court is to determine whether California’s meal break, final pay and pay stub laws are inconsistent with federal law and if not allow plaintiff’s claims under those laws to proceed, as well as plaintiff’s PAGA and UCL claims.
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (Christen, J.) February 5, 2018; 2018 WL 706490.