Martin Lex is the pen name of the 7S1L safety desk: SOLAS, lifesaving and firefighting gear, muster drills, emergency signals and safe work on board. Portrait is illustrative.
Nobody reads a contract slower than a man who has already booked his flight. The ticket is issued, the agent is waiting, the ship sails Friday. That is exactly the moment bad clauses get signed. So the seafarer contract red flags below are meant for the week before the taxi, not the night before sign-on.
Our free contract checker reads seafarer employment agreements clause by clause against MLC 2006. The same ten problems keep coming back. Here they are, each with the typical wording, the provision it breaks, and the question you can put on the crewing office desk before you sign.
One note first: the quoted clauses below are generic patterns rebuilt from wording that recurs in bad agreements. Illustrations, not quotes from any real contract.
Check the flag first: the reading order before sign-on
A seafarer employment agreement (SEA) is not read front to back. It is read in order of damage. This is the sequence that finds the expensive problems fastest:
- The ship's flag. Before any clause, find out which flag the ship flies, because the flag state's law is what your SEA sits under. Panama, Liberia, Marshall Islands and the other open registries have all ratified MLC 2006, but enforcement culture differs. Our guide to flags of convenience and seafarer contracts explains what the flag on the stern means for the paper in your hand.
- Who the shipowner is. The SEA must name the shipowner or the party responsible as shipowner. If the only company named is the manning agency in your home country, ask who carries the MLC obligations. A contract against a mailbox is hard to enforce from a berth in Santos.
- Duration and end date. Flag 9 below. Read this before the wage, because a good rate on an open-ended contract is bait.
- The wage clause. Basic, overtime, leave pay, currency, payment date, allotment. Flags 1 and 7.
- Repatriation. Who pays the flight home, and when the entitlement starts. Flag 3.
- Rest hours and medical care. Flags 4 and 5.
- The CBA. If a collective bargaining agreement is named, ask for it. If none is named, note that too.
- Signature block and your copy. Flag 10. The last thing you check, and the first thing an honest company gets right.
New: a short video for every flag state. Twenty six registries, from Panama and Liberia to the Isle of Man and Croatia, each film naming the governing law, the sick pay cap, the claim deadline and whether a non-resident seafarer has any social security at all under that flag. The index sits at the foot of Flags of Convenience. Worth five minutes before you read the ten red flags below, because half of them read differently depending on which registry is on the stern.
Ten minutes in that order beats an hour of reading the contract like a novel. The walkthrough in how to use the MLC Contract Check runs the same sequence as a tool pass.
The 10 red flags in a seafarer employment agreement
1. The wage is one lump sum
"USD 1,400 all inclusive" tells you nothing about basic, overtime, or leave pay. The typical wording looks like this (generic example): "The seafarer shall receive a consolidated monthly wage of USD 1,400 inclusive of all overtime, leave pay, bonuses and allowances." MLC Standard A2.2 requires wages paid at least monthly, with a monthly account of what was paid, and Standard A2.1, paragraph 4 requires the agreement to state the wages or the formula used to calculate them. A lump sum hides the formula. It also hides whether your basic clears the ILO minimum for an AB, the floor unions negotiate from, covered in our article on the seafarer minimum wage.
Ask for the split in writing: basic wage, overtime rate, hours covered by the fixed overtime, leave pay per month. If the agent cannot write it down, that silence is your answer. Do not sign a wage clause you cannot recalculate yourself on the back of a boarding pass.
2. You paid to get the job
Placement fees are prohibited. MLC Standard A1.4, paragraph 5 puts the cost of recruitment on the shipowner and the agency, never on you. You pay only for your own statutory documents: medical certificate, seafarer's book, passport. Visas are explicitly the shipowner's cost under the same paragraph. A "processing fee" collected at the agency counter is a violation with a paragraph number.
The clause rarely says "placement fee". It says (generic example): "A one-time administrative and documentation charge of USD 350 is payable upon acceptance of employment." Or the fee never appears in writing at all, just a hand held out at the counter. Either way the rule is the same. Pay it and you start month one in debt to the people who control your next contract. How these schemes work and how cadets get targeted is covered in our guide to manning agency fees. If a fee is a condition of the job, walk. A company that starts by breaking A1.4 will not stop there.
3. Repatriation at your cost
The flight home is the shipowner's bill. Under MLC Standard A2.5 you cannot be required to pay an advance toward repatriation, and it cannot be deducted from your wages unless you were found, under national law or an applicable CBA, in serious default of your obligations. The wording to watch for (generic example): "Costs of repatriation shall be shared equally between the Company and the seafarer" or "The Company may deduct the cost of the joining ticket from the first three months' wages should the seafarer fail to complete the contract."
Check the service period too: your entitlement to repatriation must kick in at under 12 months on board. And since the 2014 amendments, ships must carry proof of financial security for repatriation and abandonment (Standard A2.5.2), a certificate posted where crew can see it. Do not sign a contract where going home is priced against you.
4. Medical costs shifted to you
Free medical care on board and ashore is the standard, and the shipowner carries sickness and injury costs the way MLC Standard A4.2 describes: medical care at no cost to you, wages while you are sick on board, and continued wages, in whole or in part as national law or the CBA provides, for at least 16 weeks after repatriation if you are still unfit. A clause that makes you pay the doctor in a foreign port, or docks your wages while you are sick, belongs in the red column. Every time.
The generic version reads: "Medical expenses incurred ashore shall be borne by the seafarer unless the illness is proven to be work-related." That word "proven" is the trap. You are an oiler with a crushed finger in a foreign port, and the burden of proof just landed on you. National law may exclude injuries from wilful misconduct, but a blanket "prove it" clause reverses the convention. Ask what the shipowner's P&I cover includes. An agent who does not know what P&I is answers a question you did not ask.
5. Silence on rest hours
MLC Standard A2.3: at least 10 hours of rest in any 24, at least 77 in any 7 days, divided into no more than two periods, one of them at least 6 hours long. A contract that says nothing about rest, or lets the company waive it "as operations require", removes the one protection that keeps a watchkeeper functional in week nine.
Waiver language looks harmless (generic example): "Working hours shall be as required by the operational needs of the vessel." Exceptions to the rest hour limits exist, but only through a CBA registered with the flag state, not through a sentence the company wrote for itself. Ask which watch schedule the ship runs and whether the table of shipboard working arrangements is posted, because A2.3 requires that table on board. A chief officer who answers in ten seconds runs a real ship.
6. A clause that waives your right to complain
Some agreements try to sign away union contact, ITF assistance, or the right to use complaint procedures. The wording is usually dressed as confidentiality (generic example): "The seafarer shall not disclose terms of employment to any third party, including labor organizations, and shall raise employment matters exclusively with the Company." MLC Regulation 5.1.5 guarantees an on-board complaint procedure and protects you from victimization for using it. Any waiver of that is void where the MLC applies, and it tells you how the company thinks about its crew.
You do not need to argue the clause at the desk. Just note it, sign nothing yet, and ask yourself why a company would pre-load a gag into a deckhand's contract. The answer is always the same.
7. Your money stays with the company until sign-off
The ITF warns against arrangements where the salary accrues on the company's books and you receive only small advances until the contract ends. In writing it looks like this (generic example): "Wages shall accrue monthly and become payable in full upon satisfactory completion of the employment period." That single sentence converts your wage into a hostage. Complete the contract on the company's terms, quietly, or lose the balance.
MLC Standard A2.2 requires payment at least monthly and gives you the right to an allotment, so part of the wage goes directly to your family while you are on board, at a fair exchange rate. Insist on monthly payment and a working allotment, so your family sees the money while you are still at sea. A company that pays monthly has nothing to hide. Ask one question at the desk: "What date each month does the money arrive, and can the previous crew confirm it?" Watch the face, not the words.
8. What is missing
A contract can fail you by silence. Standard A2.1, paragraph 4 lists what a SEA must contain: your full name and birth date, the shipowner's name and address, the wages or wage formula, paid annual leave, the termination conditions and notice periods, health and social security protection, and your repatriation entitlement. No repatriation clause, no overtime rate, no CBA named: each gap is a decision someone made. Our checker marks those clauses as missing rather than guessing, because at the bargaining table an absent clause is as dangerous as a bad one. Run your own SEA through the free MLC Contract Check before you sign. It takes about a minute and you can ask the agent better questions the same afternoon.
9. No end date, or a service period over 12 months
The MLC requires a maximum service period of less than 12 months before you are entitled to repatriation (Standard A2.5, paragraph 2), and the agreement must state its duration and the conditions for ending it (Standard A2.1, paragraph 4). "Ten months, extendable for operational reasons" is not a duration. It is the company deciding when you go home.
Two patterns to separate here. "Nine months plus or minus one month at mutual agreement" is normal industry practice and survives the check. "For the duration of the voyage or until a suitable reliever is available" (generic example) does not, because nothing in it is under your control. A bosun on month thirteen, still waiting for a reliever that never gets booked, has no clause to point at. Do the math before signing: start date plus duration plus extension. If the total can reach 12 months, ask for the number to change. A company that refuses a hard end date has told you its plan.
10. No time to read it, and no copy for you
Standard A2.1, paragraph 1 gives you the opportunity to examine the agreement and seek advice before you sign, and a signed original to keep. An agent who wants your signature at the check-in counter, with the only copy staying in his folder, has a reason. Ask for the PDF by email before the flight.
Language belongs in this flag too. On ships trading internationally, the SEA and any referenced CBA must be available in English (Standard A2.1, paragraph 2). A contract in a language you cannot read, with the assurance that the English version "says the same thing", is a signature on the version you cannot check. Take the night. A legitimate company loses nothing by giving a cadet 24 hours with a PDF. A rushed signature is the cheapest thing a bad company ever buys.
Free crew appSeafarer Contract CheckCheck your contract clause by clause against MLC 2006 and flag state regulations. The check is free. On iPhone, Android or in the browser.
Watch: 10 red flags in a seafarer contract
Three minutes, all ten flags, the standard to quote for each. The free MLC Contract Check finds them in your own contract in about a minute.
Already signed? You still have moves
A signature does not delete the MLC. The convention sets a floor through the flag state's maritime law, and a clause below that floor can be challenged after signing, a point Seafarers Rights International makes in its guidance on employment agreements. What changes is the route: you stop negotiating and start documenting.
The routes, in the order most crew use them:
- On board. Every ship must have an on-board complaint procedure, and you must have been given a copy of it (MLC Regulation 5.1.5). Start there, in writing, dated. Victimization for filing is itself a breach.
- In port. You can take a complaint to a port State control officer at any port the ship calls (MLC Regulation 5.2.2). The officer can inspect and, for serious breaches, detain the ship. Your name is treated as confidential.
- The ITF. An ITF inspector in port can board, check the wage accounts against the SEA, and recover unpaid wages. The contact list is on the ITF seafarers site, and it works from a phone in the mess room.
- The flag state. Every MLC flag must operate an onshore complaint channel. For the biggest registry we have written the procedure out step by step in our guide to filing an MLC complaint with the Panama flag, and the same series covers Liberia, the Marshall Islands and Malta.
None of this requires a lawyer to start. All of it requires paper, which is the next section.
Evidence: what to keep from day one
The AB who wins a wage claim is rarely the one with the best case. He is the one with the best folder. Build it from the first day, on your own phone, backed up off the ship:
- Your signed SEA original, and a photo of every page including the signature block. Standard A2.1 entitles you to that original.
- Every monthly wage account. Standard A2.2 requires the shipowner to give you one each month. No slip, no proof of what was promised versus paid.
- Your rest hour records. Under Standard A2.3 the daily records are signed by you and by the master or an authorized officer, and you receive a copy. Keep them all, even the boring months.
- Receipts, transfer slips or chat messages for any fee you paid to get the job. An A1.4 violation is easiest to prove with the agent's own message naming the amount.
- Names, dates and photos when things go wrong: the posted watch schedule, the notice board, the wage slip that does not match the SEA.
Store copies where the company cannot reach them: personal email, cloud storage, a relative at home. A folder on the ship's computer belongs to the ship.
Before the flight
- Check the manning agent is registered and not flagged by the ITF at ITF Ship BeSure.
- Ask whether the previous crew was paid on time. Crew talk. Use that.
- Keep a signed original of the SEA. MLC Standard A2.1 gives you that right, along with the chance to review the agreement and take advice before signing.
Then pack. The signed SEA and the certificates ride in the hand luggage, never the checked bag. The rest of sign-on day is routine you can control: the sign-on set on top of the bag, a seafarer hoodie against the terminal air conditioning and the first cold night on board. Paper first. Everything else second.
Source note
The legal statements in this article rest on the convention text and the organizations that enforce it: the ILO: Maritime Labour Convention, 2006, as amended (Standards A1.4, A2.1, A2.2, A2.3, A2.5 and A4.2, Regulations 5.1.5 and 5.2.2), ITF: wages, ITF: non-payment of wages and Seafarers Rights International: employment agreement. The clause examples are generic illustrations, not quotes from real contracts. This article is editorial context for crew, not legal advice. For a live dispute, contact an ITF inspector, a maritime lawyer, or the welfare organizations in your port, such as the Mission to Seafarers or Stella Maris.
FAQ
What are the biggest red flags in a seafarer employment agreement?
An all-inclusive lump sum wage, any fee charged for getting the job, repatriation costs shifted to you, no stated end date, wages held back until sign-off, and no signed copy for you. Each one breaks a specific MLC 2006 provision you can quote.
Can the agency charge me "documentation costs"?
Only for your own statutory documents, such as the medical certificate, seafarer's book and passport. Anything billed for recruitment or placement itself breaches MLC Standard A1.4, paragraph 5, and visa costs belong to the shipowner.
The agent promised a higher wage verbally. Does that count?
What you can enforce later is what is written in the SEA and the CBA it names. If the promise is real, the agent can put it on paper. If he will not, you have your answer before the airport.
What must a seafarer employment agreement contain under MLC 2006?
Standard A2.1, paragraph 4 requires your name and birth date, the shipowner's name and address, the wages or the formula for them, paid annual leave, the termination conditions, the shipowner's health and social security protection, and your repatriation entitlement.
Can I still complain after I have signed the contract?
Yes. Use the on-board complaint procedure (MLC Regulation 5.1.5), complain to a port State control officer in any port (Regulation 5.2.2), contact an ITF inspector, or file with the flag state. Keep your SEA, wage accounts and rest hour records as evidence.
What happens to my contract when I use the checker?
The document is analyzed and you get a color-coded clause by clause report. How the check works and which sources it uses is documented on the methodology page.
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