Tate v. Showboat Marina Casino Partnership
By In the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
- Release Date: 2005-12-13
- Genre: Law
Description
This case is a sequel to Harkins v. Riverboat Services, Inc., 385 F.3d 1099 (7th Cir. 2004), decided a year ago, where, affirming a jurys verdict, we held that the members of the operating crew of a gambling boat that is most of the time moored rather than sailing are nevertheless "seamen" within the meaning of the provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act that exempts seamen from the Acts overtime provisions. FLSA § 13(b)(6), 29 U.S.C. § 213(b)(6). Noting that the plaintiffs were classified as seamen for purposes of the special benefits to which the Jones Act and the admiralty doctrine of maintenance and cure entitle persons so classified (a classification that confers benefits that they would be very reluctant to give up), we said that "when persons employed on a ship, even so atypical a one as an Indiana gambling boat [that most of the time is moored rather than sailing], are classified as seamen for purposes of entitlement to the special employment benefits to which seamen, including therefore these plaintiffs, are entitled, a presumption arises that they are seamen under the FLSA as well." 385 F.3d at 1103. We added that "the presumption could probably be rebutted in a case in which a person employed on a ship was engaged in activities that had no maritime tincture whatever; an example would be a waiter employed on a cruise ship to serve meals to the passengers at regular hours." Id. But the presumption was not rebutted, "because none of the plaintiffs is a croupier, cashier, bouncer, dealer, waiter, or entertainer; all are (or so the jury could reasonably find) members of the ships operating crew." Id. "A blackjack dealer does not become a seaman by virtue of leaving his job at Harrahs land-based casino and taking a job at Harrahs riverboat casino, but likewise a helmsman does not cease to be a seaman because he transfers to a casino boat that spends most of its time moored. It was for the jury to decide whether the three plaintiffs whose overtime claims survived to trial were more like the helmsman than like the blackjack dealer." Id. at 1104.
