A FEDERAL DISTRICT COURT PROPERLY DISMISSED A CRUISE SHIP STATEROOM ATTENDANT'S SUIT FOR UNPAID WAGES UNDER THE SEAMAN'S WAGE ACT BECAUSE THE CONVENTION ON THE RECOGNITION AND ENFORCEMENT OF FOREIGN ARBITRAL AWARDS REQUIRED MANDATORY ARBITRATION OF THE CL
INACIO EUFEMIO LOBO, Plaintiff-Appellant, versus CELEBRITY CRUISES, INC., Defendant-Appellee.
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 13141; 20 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. C 704
June 7, 2007, Decided
PROCEDURAL POSTURE: Plaintiff cruise ship worker appealed a judgment from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, dismissing with prejudice his complaint for unpaid wages and penalty wages brought under the Seaman's Wage Act, 46 U.S.C.S. � 10313.
OVERVIEW: The worker was a stateroom attendant who complained that he was required by his employer to share gratuities with his assistants by paying them $1.20 per passenger per day from his own earnings. The worker alleged that the cruise line was able to impose the requirement through duress and as a result of the unequal bargaining position of the parties and that the requirement constituted a failure to pay wages in violation of the collective bargaining agreement governing his employment. The district court dismissed the claim, finding that the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, art. II(1) June 10, 1958, 21 U.S.T. 2517, 330 U.N.T.S. 38, and its implementing legislation, 9 U.S.C.S. �� 202-208, superseded the Seaman's Wage Act and compelled arbitration of the claim. On appeal, the court agreed. Deciding an issue of first impression, the court held that the Convention required enforcement of the collective bargaining agreement's arbitration provision. Congress did not intend the Convention to be superseded by the Seaman's Wage Act with respect to wage disputes raised by foreign cruise ship workers.
OUTCOME: The court affirmed.
