Seafarer's Contract of Employment and its Features

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The Seafarer's Contract of Employment is a key maritime document that establishes the rights of a seafarer as an employee on a ship and regulates his relationship with the employer. As we have noted in previous articles, there are some conditions that any seafarer should keep in mind when concluding such an agreement. Now let's take a look at them from a legal point of view, as well as from the point of view of international law.

The International Labor Organization (ILO) began to consider the issue of regulating labor relations in the maritime business at the global level as early as 1926. This review resulted in the adoption of the Seafarers' Employment Contracts Convention, which entered into force in 1928. To date, 57 states have recognized it.

Contract of Employment

An interesting feature is the situation with the actual definition of the employer of the seafarer, depending on the way he concludes the Contract of Employment. So, if a seaman, when drawing up an employment contract, applies directly to the shipowner company, then here the vertical of labor relations "employee-employer" / "seaman-shipowner" is clearly defined. However, if a seafarer enters into an agreement with an employer, through recruitment agencies (crewing), or is assigned to a ship under a foreign flag, inconsistencies appear in the issues of establishing the employer and, accordingly, the rules of which state should be applied when resolving legal conflicts. Note that in accordance with the Convention, the ship and the crew working on it must be guided by the legal norms of the state whose flag the ship is flying.

Now let's take a closer look at the most important conditions of the Contract of Employment and define the specifics of the employment of seafarers:

- the employment contract must indicate the name of the ship or several ships on which the seafarer undertakes to work. In fact, this provision defines the "place of work" of the seafarer. Note that this item can only be changed by mutual agreement of the parties. In fact, the indication of several ships is possible, often, only from large shipowners and this provision simplifies for the employer-shipowner the procedure for transferring a seaman from one ship to another (eliminating the need to offer such a transfer and the written consent of the seaman);

- the employment contract must indicate the position of the seafarer in which he will work: this determines the so-called "labor function" of the seafarer. Often, this position remains unchanged throughout the life of the vessel. Also, this provision establishes the boundaries of the authority and competence of the employee;

- the establishment of deadlines for the appearance of seafarers on board to carry out their duties: there is a clause in the Convention that this should be indicated where possible. For a seafarer, the presence of this condition makes it possible to eliminate the likelihood of non-compliance with the terms of starting work at sea on the part of the employer;

- the amount of remuneration: we will not dwell on this in detail, this condition is mandatory in any kind of employment agreement;

Repatriation clause

- the presence of a repatriation clause in the employment contract: the obligation of this clause was confirmed by repeated cases of "abandonment" on the part of unscrupulous employers. It is worth noting that today Ukraine is not yet one of the countries that have ratified the "Consolidated Maritime Labor Convention", as a result of which the legal norms determining the reasons for repatriation payments by shipowners are rather vague and provide less protection for seafarers from arbitrariness employers and crewing;

- the obligatory presence of a clause defining the grounds for termination and termination of an employment contract: the Convention identifies four main options - by mutual agreement, in the event of the death of a seafarer, in the event of the death or termination of the seaworthiness of the vessel and, for any other reason, in accordance with the current Convention or national legislation. The last point is the most extensive and implies the existence of legal loopholes for termination of the contract.