Borcea v. Carnival Corp
Court Approves Settlement For Crew Cheated Out Of Wages
October 30, 2006
A class action lawsuit was filed against Carnival Cruise Lines by employees who say the cruise line was robbing them of wages, by altering the employee time records.
Putative class actions were filed against Carnival by former employees on behalf of several thousand workers alleging that Carnival manipulated employee time records and deprived employees of wages due; the class actions sought unpaid wages, attorney fees and costs, penalty wages, and injunctive relief. Borcea v. Carnival Corp., 238 F.R.D. 664, 667-68 (S.D. Fla. 2006).
The class action group consisted of employees who worked aboard a ship owned by Carnival Cruise Lines at any time from November 16, 2001 through the date that notice is first provided to the class for class certification (June 2, 2006).
The lawsuit was filed by former Carnival employees, who claimed that Carnival failed to pay adequate wages to employees who worked aboard any Carnival ship during the "Settlement Class Period" (November 16, 2001 through June 2, 2006).
These individuals are referred to as the "Plaintiffs". The lawsuit was brought to require Carnival to pay employees wages, other compensation and penalty wages of two times the Plaintiffs' daily wages per day since discharge from their vessels. Carnival denied that it owed the wages, other compensation and penalties.
Then, Carnival decided to settle out of court. A Fairness Hearing was held on October 25, 2006. On October 30, 2006 the Court granted final approval of the Settlement consisting of $6,250,000. The approved amount will be less any attorney's fees and expenses.
The class action was handled by Tucker Ronzetti, Esq. Kozyak Tropin &
Throckmorton, P.A.,
