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Worker accuses Carnival of forced labor, slavery in lawsuit
By Donna Balancia
Florida Today
A crew member working on a Port Canaveral-based cruise ship filed a lawsuit Tuesday in federal court against Carnival Corp., accusing the Miami-based cruise line company of "forced labor, slavery and/or human trafficking" of her and other crew members aboard Carnival ships.
In court papers filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District in Florida in Miami, attorneys for Reshma Harilal, a 33-year-old citizen of South Africa, ask that she be removed from the Carnival Glory cruise ship, where she currently is working. The suit also asks that her passport is returned to her, and that she be paid wages that she agreed to work under.
"Based on what our client has told us, there are other crew members who are also working in lower positions and at a lower pay than they agreed when they boarded the vessel," said Tonya Meister, an associate at the Miami-based law firm Lipcon Margulies & Alsina. "This case stands for more than money. Human beings should not be treated this way. They should not be forced to work under conditions they did not agree upon, and thatŐs what this case is about."
Carnival Cruise Lines, the Carnival Corp. division that operates the Glory, issued a statement late Tuesday denying the allegations, calling them "completely false" and "baffling."
With Harilal aboard, the Carnival Glory left Port Canaveral on Saturday.
Court documents claim that Harilal traveled from South Africa to take a position as a "stateroom stewardess" - a job that pays about $1,500 every two weeks.
But, after signing a contract indicating that would be her position, the suit alleges, while already aboard the Bahamas-flagged ship, Harilal was told to work in a "lower position" at pay of about $250 to $300 every two weeks, the suit claims.
That position, her lawyers say, is as an assistant cabin steward.
The suit alleges that Harilal on or about Saturday "refused to work in the lower position at the lower rate of pay," and asked Carnival to "return her passport so she could leave and return home."
Instead, the suit claims, Carnival refused to return her passport, and "forced and/or psychologically coerced" Harilal to stay on the ship "against her will," and work in the lower position at lower pay.
In its statement, Carnival Cruise Lines said: "Reshma Harilal has worked for Carnival since 2000. She joined the company in the position of stateroom stewardess and is presently employed as a stateroom stewardess. Over the past seven years, she has returned for multiple contracts with the cruise line. The allegations contained within the suit are not only completely false, but baffling, and the company looks forward to vigorously defending itself."
» Lawsuit against Carnival - Adobe PDF
Read more about this story in tomorrow's FLORIDA TODAY.
Contact Balancia at 242-3647 or dbalancia@floridatoday.com.
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