Corinne Brown - U.S. House of Representatives member with No Heart, but Hand in the Pocket of Cruise Lines

Corinne Brown - U.S. House of Representatives member with No Heart, but Hand in the Pocket of Cruise Lines

What is Rep. Corinne Brown thinking? We think we know - whatever the cruise ship industry tells her to think.

As a member of the House of Representatives from the State of Florida, and the recipient of thousands of dollars from the mega cruise ship operators, in particular money passed through from Carnival Cruise Lines, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Lines, Ms. Brown is always willing to throw seamen under the ship to bolster even larger profits of the cruise ship companies. A few years back, seamen's advocates and the cruise lines entered into a compromise whereby cruise ship workers, who notoriously were forced to work 70-100 hours per week, 7 days per week, for as many as 10 consecutive months, while being cheated out of overtime pay, would still be allowed to use the U.S. Seaman's Wage Act to sue in class actions for unpaid wages and a reasonable penalty for unjust actions by the shipowners.

Generally, seamen, even on passenger ships carrying 500 or more passengers, may bring their own separate claims and receive in compensation of two days pay for each day wages are wrongfully denied. This has been recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court as a powerful deterrent to shipowners from cheating their employees. See, Griffin v. Oceanic Contractors, Inc., 458 U.S. 564, 102 S.Ct. 3245 (1985)

Now, however, Ms. Brown has offered an amendment to 46 U.S.C. § 10313, the Seaman's Wage Act, which would prevent individual seamen on passenger ships from receiving that potential penalty wage, rather, they would be limited to ten times the wages not paid. That may sound like a lot, but many of these workers make only a few dollars a day in wages. Ten times $10 is only $100. The filing fee for bringing a case in federal court currently is $350, so a seaman simply will not be able to bring his claim in court, and no lawyer would represent him on a contingency fee basis.

The cruise lines know this, Ms. Brown knows this, and now you do too. Tell Ms. Brown to start representing the people, not billionaire multi-national cruise ship companies.

The firm of Hofmann & Schweitzer has, for over 35 years, represented individual seamen in wage claims against shipowners who have cheated them. We are proud of the work the seamen do, and support their rights to a fair opportunity to obtain redress in court.