Maritime labor law exclusions?

Hello. I have a question.

What about the maritime industry?

Many of our employees work onboard boats. They routinely work from 28 days to 4 months straight, always at least 12 hours a day, sometimes up to 18 hours a day, 7 days a week, no days off. They are not paid overtime, ever. They do not get paid for holidays, etc. They do not get paid for the time they spend on shore, example: They take 14 days off in a row, unpaid, after being away from home for months. They also only get paid 1/2 rate for the day they start their shift and the day they end their shift, no matter what time, or how long they actually work that day. They often actually work a 12 hour day on those days. They also have to pay their own expenses to and from the boat. The boat could be thousands of miles from where they started, so they can not have their car available, and they have to fly or catch a bus. Unpaid. I thought the Jones Act for sailors made the employer responsible for travel to home.

What do the rules say about those issues?

Thank you

Comments

  • 9 Comments sorted by Votes Date Added
  • Not to make light of your situation which I know absolutely nothing about, but just tell them to

    EAT MORE SPINACH !!!!!!!!!!

    POPEYE
  • From the FLSA provisions themselves US Code, Title 29, Chapter 8)

    "If such employee is employed as a seaman on an American vessel, not less than the rate which will provide to the employee, for the period covered by the wage payment, wages equal to compensation at the hourly rate prescribed by paragraph (1) of this subsection for all hours during such period when he was actually on duty (including periods aboard ship when the employee was on watch or was, at the direction of a superior officer, performing work or standing by, but not including off-duty periods which are provided pursuant to the employment agreement)"

    Paragraph 1 establishes the federal minimum wage.

    See also the FLSA regulations regarding "seamen" at
    [url]http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/29cfr783_03.html[/url]
  • While in college, I worked offshore during a summer and would work two weeks at 12 hours per day, then be off for awhile. My pay never varied. I suppose I fit into the 'seaman' classification, but never wondered and never asked. It was simply more money than I thought anybody could make or I could spend. I thought the money was obscene, although, looking back now, it wasn't. I remember the Halliburton guys in red jumpsuits who never seemed to do anything other than fish and eat and they made, get this, one hundred bucks a day! God, I thought they must be millionnaires.
  • Are we dating ourselves? $8/hr makes no millionnaires today!! Haha

    There is whole discussion that could be had based on the condition of the oil industry today!!

    I think that Halliburton hires the entire boat, complete with crew- captain, mates, oiler, cook, etc. Halliburton's crew is the specialty workers, engineers, chemists, company men. Who knows what they get paid.

    Just a note, I am really from the healthcare industry, your heads would explode if you knew what Nurse Anesthetists are making now!!!
  • Hatchetman,

    Thank you so much for the reply. It was certainly the right place to look, however, I am a trained nurse, thrown into a new management position in another company, and really have no training reading this gobble-de-gook. After reading all the info in the link you provided, it sounds like to me that because they are seamen, they do not have to be paid any overtime or minimum wage requiremnts, because they are exempt from that provision. The reason I am asking, is that my company wants to make a 7% pay reduction, from $150 a day for a 16 hour work day at 28 days on board ship. That means that they will be reduced to $141 a day. That comes to $8.81 an hr. straight time. They work 126 hours that week. I was unaware that you could work over 40 hrs a week and not be paid overtime. They are working 86 hours a week of overtime. I was woried that this could be broken down where they made less that minimum wage for the first 40 hours if you added the 86 hours at 1.5 pay. This reduction is being taken pretty hard by the seamen, and to me it seemed unfair too. I read that whole thing you sent and the rest of the documents, but it seemed very confusing. Might I impose on you to explain it in everyday language? Thank you!

  • Well.....it did not work very well for Marie Antoinnette did it? ("let them eat cake")

    I think I'll just keep my head, thanks!
  • I thought this was a very interesting question and am surprised one of our distinguished jurists has not weighed in.
  • I am totally new to this forum. Do we really have distinguished jurists? I can't wait!
  • [font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 05-05-04 AT 07:11PM (CST)[/font][br][br]Each state has a labor law letter sponsored by the owners of the Forum and each labor law letter has a 'local' editor who is an attorney. From time to time they surface. Mine only surfaces when a question is posted from Mississippi. They have a tie-in alert of some sort that red flags when one of their 'constituents' asks a question. And, yes, they are distinguished. They're often right too. x:-) But, I hear they're all in Destin, Florida May through August of each year.
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