Here is the penalty statute for not paying wages 3171G…
Sec. 31-71g. Penalty. Any employer or any officer or agent of an employer or any other person authorized by an employer to pay wages who violates any provision of this part: (1) Shall be guilty of a class D felony, except that such employer, officer or agent shall be fined not less than two thousand nor more than five thousand dollars for each offense if the total amount of all unpaid wages owed to an employee is more than two thousand dollars; (2) may be fined not less than one thousand nor more than two thousand dollars or imprisoned not more than one year, or both, for each offense if the total amount of all unpaid wages owed to an employee is more than one thousand dollars but not more than two thousand dollars; (3) may be fined not less than five hundred nor more than one thousand dollars or imprisoned not more than six months, or both, for each offense if the total amount of all unpaid wages owed to an employee is more than five hundred but not more than one thousand dollars; or (4) may be fined not less than two hundred nor more than five hundred dollars or imprisoned not more than three months, or both, for each offense if the total amount of all unpaid wages owed to an employee is five hundred dollars or less.
USCG has withdrawn the DOC, classnk has invalidated SMC and MLC SOVC for both Geysir and Transatlantic. Impossible for the ship to legally trade until all are re-validated. Requires company audit by RO (NK) witnessed by USCG and additional shipboard audits for each ship by RO (NK) witnessed by USCG. That has not happened.
Heard that USCG has stopped all their inspections until TAL pays them for their past inspection which were in vicinity of $50k past due
Unfortunately it is not an extreme aberration, it is an all too common occurrence within the FoC community with 3rd world crews and corrupt owners operating under maritime administrations more interested in generating cash flow than ethical standards.
Even more unfortunately, the description above now applies to (purportedly) American shipowners and operators. It should have been impossible for a company like Transatlantic to operate for so many years with such a well documented history of unseaworthy ships and working conditions that we normally associate with FoC rustbuckets. The blame for this debacle lies squarely on the shoulders of the USCG, MARAD, TransCom, and the Department of Defense who knew exactly who and what they were dealing with while handing over taxpayer cash to a foreign carpetbagger.
If shame and accountability were not among the attributes abandoned by politicians and regulators there would be more than a few resignations and dismissals in the agencies charged with oversight of Transatlantic’s activities.
TAL has given us a peek at the future of the American merchant marine under an increasingly corrupt and uninformed political regime.
I’m fairly certain there was an implied “in US flag shipping” in his statement. We’re all aware that this goes on somewhat regularly on foreign POS ships.
Well, The latest, The senior officers were paid yesterday, and the water barge is tied to the M/V Transatlantic as I type this. Someone(secretly) is planning to have the vessel sail to a different location. It’s sounds like a few senior officers have been “behind the scenes” aiding and abetting the owner.
Well, I talk to my shipmates, the debt was settled with the rest of us today Monday, August 28, 2017, just in time. Minus I’m assuming a giant gift tax. But this has taught us all. I think the slime ball paid up because the feds were now looking at/for him. There are some who, after this fiasco, wanna board again. I pray they get some sense.
A BIG Thank You to the CT Dept of Labor for making a personal visit to Gudmunder… for making him realize he was a criminal and would be punished to the full extent of the law with JAIL TIME!! Word has it that he paid his crew and then went on a nice vacation. Hmmmm… Somehow came up the $$ and paid the crew… Maybe cancelled his yacht club membership or took a LOC on his 2.1M home… or ripped open his mattress to some hidden cash.