The company that chartered the cargo ship that destroyed the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore was recently sanctioned by regulators for blocking its employees from directly reporting safety concerns to the U.S. Coast Guard — in violation of a seaman whistleblower protection law, according to regulatory filings reviewed by The Lever.

Eight months before a Maersk Line Limited-chartered cargo ship crashed into the Baltimore bridge, likely killing six people and injuring others, the Labor Department sanctioned the shipping conglomerate for retaliating against an employee who reported unsafe working conditions aboard a Maersk-operated boat. In its order, the department found that Maersk had “a policy that requires employees to first report their concerns to [Maersk]… prior to reporting it to the [Coast Guard] or other authorities.”

  • Aniki 🌱🌿
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    3 months ago

    The “bailout” will come when the bill for the bridge needs to be paid. Mark my words, I’ll consume a shoe if taxpayers pay nothing.

    • protist@mander.xyz
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      3 months ago

      Maersk is not going to literally pay the bill for rebuilding this bridge because that’s not how this works. The government will recoup the money through fines and lawsuits. Maersk isn’t even a US company; while it’s an important company in global trade, there’s not going to be an appetite to not hold them accountable for this, and they have plenty money to pay whatever fines or damages may be coming down the pipe.

      Bailouts have only happened when a company is nearing insolvency, and Maersk is nowhere near insolvency. If it were to at some point in the future, which is unlikely, the EU would be responsible for any intervention, not the US

      • sadreality@kbin.social
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        3 months ago

        Maersk has major presence within US and they drive major revenue from within US.

        If feds want to punish them, they have the ability.

        They won’t though because corporations are not people unless it is for purposes of “free” speach

        • protist@mander.xyz
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          3 months ago

          The investigation hasn’t even begun yet, this happened yesterday. None of us know what happened on that ship. Why do you think they need to be punished so severely with absolutely no information to go on?

      • Aniki 🌱🌿
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        3 months ago

        The government will recoup the money through fines and lawsuits.

        doubt