I work aboard a ship that may be going out of business and am covered under maritime law due to the nature of the work I do on that vessel. A story/rumor has been going around that if we become unemployed, we will be entitled to 3 months pay under maritime law. I can’t find anything of that nature online and was wondering if anyone else had knowledge of this? It’s one of those “sounds too good to be true” things for me.
Is it an oceangoing vessel or does it operate within waterways which fall under a state’s jurisdiction?
It operates in Federal waters to circumvent state gaming laws. It operates in the Atlantic ocean.
You mean it operates outside of the US’s limits, but ports in the US? What flag does she fly?
I hesitate to give out a ton of details because it would be easy to identify me if I did. Let’s assume for the sake of argument that I am covered by maritime law and leave it there. I’m just asking if anyone knows if there is actually something on the books regarding maritime law and unemployment. I searched and searched with no luck.
Sorry but no can do. “Maritime law” is not a uniform concept. Maritime law of where? What books? The questions you are being asked are utterly pertinent to the answer to your question.
There is nothing in maritime law dealing with being laid off. If the ship you are on is not on US flag then you are out of luck. Have you signed articles?
If it is a US flag ship and the business is closing in bankruptcy again you are out of luck. In fact you may not get all of your wages.
If it is a US flag ship the state will be the registry of the ship and not the ports you are sailing in and out of.
What you are intitled to is call a Wagner notice. When a large company has a layoff of more than 50 people, they are required to give 60 days notice. If they do not then they are required to pay a days wage for each working day they are short of the 60 days. That is according to Federal labor laws.
Giving notice is giving a letter to each employee who is not covered under a collective barganing contract. Sending a letter to the union covers those under a collective barganing contract.
Good info, but I think you meant a WARN notice, not a Wagner notice:
Fact Sheet - The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act
Good information and I appreciate it! I didn’t realize that I’d need to give out as much information publicly as is required to answer this, so I’ll thank everyone who took the time to post and consult someone here locally and see if I can get some more information. Thanks very much!