Griffin v. Oceanic Contractors, Inc. (458 U.S. 564)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 30, 1982 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 458 U.S. 564 · 102 S. Ct. 3245
- Decided
- June 30, 1982
- Term
- October Term 1981
- Vote
- 7–2
- Majority author
- Justice Rehnquist
- Issue area
- Economic Activity
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Justice Rehnquist delivered the opinion of the Court. This case concerns the application of 46 U. S. C. §596, which requires certain masters and vessel owners to pay seamen promptly after their discharge and authorizes seamen to recover double wages for each day that payment is delayed without sufficient cause. The question is whether the district courts, in the exercise of discretion, may limit the period during which this wage penalty is assessed, or whether imposition of the penalty is mandatory for each day that payment is withheld in violation of the statute. I On February 18, 1976, petitioner signed an employment contract with respondent in New Orleans, agreeing to work as a senior pipeline welder on board vessels operated by respondent in the North Sea. The contract specified that petitioner’s employment would extend “until December 15, 1976 or until Oceanic’s 1976 pipeline committal in the North Sea is fulfilled, whichever shall occur first.” App. 41. The contract also provided that respondent would pay for transportation to and from the worksite, but that if petitioner quit the job prior to its termination date, or if his services were terminated for cause, he would be charged with the cost of transportation back to the United States. Respondent reserved the right to withhold $137.50 from each of petitioner’s first four paychecks “as a cash deposit for the payment of…
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