Court Documents

• Wrongful Termination Complaint
• Plaintiff's motion for summary judgment
• ConocoPhillips sanctioned by judge for withholding evidence.
• ConocoPhillips' motion for summary judgment.
• ConocoPhillips motion to exclude evidence.

Summary of Lawsuit

The plaintiff in the lawsuit, Mr. Bentley, alleges that he was induced to move to Montana to work for ConocoPhillips. He states that ConocoPhillips promised him "more money," "a rotating schedule," and "he would be given a work schedule that would allow him to pursue hunting and other outdoor recreational opportunities."

Of course, once Mr. Bentley started working for ConocoPhillips, he realized that it was hardly the workers paradise that was promised. About six months into his employment, ConocoPhillips replaced Mr. Bentley's supervisor with "little to no vetting or investigation of [the supervisors] past." Mr. Bentley alleges that the new supervisor then required the worker to work excessive "70-hour weeks back-to-back" in work that was "extremely hazardous." Mr. Bentley claims that he complained about the lack of sleep and how it was putting "him and his co-workers at risk of injury or death." He also complained that he was not being properly compensated for all the overtime he was working. Allegedly he was just being paid straight time for all the work. However, when he told his boss about how this was illegal, he claims the boss responded that it is "just the way it is" at ConocoPhillips.

Not happy with the way his immediate supervisor was handling the situation, Mr. Bentley claims he then told a human resources manager about the problem. Mr. Bentley asserts that when the HR manager discussed the issue with his boss, the two of them decided that the best way to handle the problem was to fire the trouble making employee. They allegedly concocted a plot to subject Mr. Bentley's vehicle to a search for firearms. Mr. Bentley refused the search and was later terminated. Mr. Bentley claims that he was the only one who was subject to this firearms search and that many other employees had firearms in their vehicles, included one with a customized license plate of "'22308' referring to his two favorite choices of rifle calibers: .223 and .308."