The Long Arm of California Law: California Wage Laws Apply to Non-Resident Seamen

Gulf Offshore Logistics, LLC v. Superior Court of Ventura County, 2020 Cal. App. LEXIS 1154 *, 2020 WL 7137048 (Dec. 7, 2020)

Gulf Offshore Logisctics, LLC is a Louisiana limited liability company with all its members as residents in Louisiana. All of its operations are conducted in Louisiana. The claimants were employees on a vessel which was operating in the Gulf of Mexico but moved to operate off the coast of California outside of the boundaries of the state. None of the claimants lived in or were residents of California. They were flown from their homes in Texas, Ohio and Mississippi to Los Angeles where they were then taken to the vessel. When their hitch was completed they were brought to the airport and then flown home. They sued alleging violation of California wage laws.

After initially ruling in favor of the vessel owner on the basis that Louisiana had greater interest in the matter, on remand from the California Supreme Court, the Superior Court of Ventura County, held that the relevant law to apply is where the work is performed. Most of the work was done in the Santa Barbara channel which under California law is within the state of California but is not under Federal law. (Tidewater Marine Western, Inc. v. Bradshaw (1996) 14 Cal.4th 557 [59 Cal. Rptr. 2d 186, 927 P.2d 296]) In that case the court held that California state law applies to the entire channel. The employer also maintained that federal labor laws and general maritime law preempted the state wage laws. Again citing the Tidewater opinion, the court concluded that the neither the seaman’s exemption in the Fair Labor Standards Act nor the general maritime law preempt California wage standards for seamen. 

At first glance it would appear this is at odds with the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in Parker Drilling Mgmnt. Co. v. Newton, 139 S.Ct. 1881 (2019) in which the Supreme Court interpreting the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act stated that state law only applies if federal law does not address the relevant issue. While the Court was confronted with the question whether state law applied to platforms on the OCS when not inconsistent with federal law, OCSLA does not apply in this case. Nonetheless, under federal law, the area in the channel where the seamen worked is considered federal waters outside the boundaries on the state of California.