(Newswire.net — October 14, 2020) — It seems like working on a cruise ship would be a great job. You get to travel all over the world and see exotic places. You get to meet many different kinds of people and, you get to see beautiful sunsets, sunrises, and star-filled skies on a nightly basis. When the cruise is over, you will have days off to relax with your family or at least you are supposed to.
Unfortunately, the Coronavirus trapped passengers and crew members on the high seas for months. Crew members were expected to continue to cook and clean the ships without compensation.
The CDC required cruise lines to fly crew members home on charter flights rather than commercial airlines, Many cruise ship lines claimed not to be able to afford this and instead, let crew members move into cabins normally used by passengers.
How Norwegian Responded to the Virus
In the middle of March, as the country was shutting down due to the pandemic, Norwegian had many passengers on its Pride of America cruise cancel at the last minute. The company docked the boat in Honolulu so that the crew could enjoy a night out in the capital city. As you can imagine, several of them came back with the virus.
The Financial Effects on Crew Members
Norwegian claims that they are making efforts to pay back their employees as best they can. However, crew members are saying that they not only lost money on their crew gig but from any other jobs they would have gotten during their break between cruises. They also lost valuable time at home with family.
Certainly, the lost pay is grounds for a lawsuit and the first lawsuit was filed in August of 2020. Suing a cruise line can be challenging Although Norwegian is American owned and operated they have workers from around the globe. The crew lines claim that they would have sent some of their workers home, but the ports of their respective countries were closed. They are claiming they had no choice but to keep them on the boat.
What you should do if You were a Crew Member
If you were a crew member on Norwegian Lines, and you believe that the line owes you money, it is a good idea to find out about a Norwegian cruise line lawsuit. Although Norwegian’s stock took a major hit due to the virus, they are still fluid. As the virus kills more people, the cruise line may suffer, even though they plan on resuming service in October. You want to make sure that they pay you what they owe you.
COVID 19 has changed the lives of Americans in many different ways. Money is going to be something that is more important than ever. There will be many lawsuits resulting from the virus. The response of many corporations and municipalities has been shameful. They should have to pay for making a bad situation worse. No one should be paid in room and board, no matter how nice the accommodations are.
Authoritative Sources:
https://time.com/5875938/cruise-ship-worker-lawsuit-coronavirus/