The Seattle Foss shipyard located at 660 West Ewing Street in North Queen Anne, has permanently closed, and all operations have ceased. The 115 displaced shipyard employees will continue to receive salary and benefits and an average of overtime wages until the end of 2021, according to the company. This…
North Pacific Seafoods workers have been awarded a $440,000 settlement after being held for quarantine without pay in a Los Angeles hotel. Stacey and Jacobsen, PLLC first reported the details of this case on July 7th. Each of the 165 workers who were quarantined is most likely eligible to collect…
A lawsuit has been filed against North Pacific Seafoods after approximately 150 seasonal cannery workers were forced to quarantine without pay in a Los Angeles hotel. According to the complaint, all workers arrived at a hotel and were instructed to wait together in a crowded hallway to fill out paperwork.…
The Federal Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has recently held that an undocumented immigrant who is injured at work is not excluded from receiving benefits under the Longshore Harbor Workers Act. In Bollinger Shipyards v. U.S. Department of Labor et al., 2010 WL 1614594 (2010) an alien without proper working…
The United States District Court for the Third Circuit has ruled that land based commuter seamen, who eat and sleep ashore, have the same right to maintenance and cure as all other seamen. See Delaware River & Bay Authority v. Kopacz,2009 WL 3064708 (2009). The ruling explicitly stated that, in…
A housekeeper aboard a river boat casino and hotel has been ruled to be a Jones Act seaman by the Iowa Court of Appeals. The housekeeper fell on ice while taking trash out of the casino’s trash compacter. She sought workers compensation benefits under Iowa’s Workers Compensation Act. The Court…
Seamen working on charter vessels, cruise ships, and excursion vessels frequently receive tips in addition to their salaries. When crewmen are injured or become ill in the service of their vessels, under the General Maritime Law they are entitled to receive unearned wages until the end of the voyage. The…
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit rejected a fisherman’s claim that a verbal agreement to fish the entire season was grounds for recovering “unearned wages” after he became injured. Fisherman Jesse O’Neal signed a contract to work for American Seafoods Company. In the “fine print “,…
Seaman and fishermen do not always work aboard vessels. Sometimes a seaman’s duties require him or her to perform shore side tasks. Unfortunately, injuries do occur to seamen ashore. Well established maritime law requires that the employer must provide the mariner with a safe work environment. Over the years, courts…