Ryan Melogy's Client Ashley Codrington Alleges She Was Sexually Harassed By Maersk Captain

Ashley Codrington—a member of the Seafarer’s International Union (SIU)—was serving as the Chief Cook aboard the M/V Maersk Michigan when she was subjected to outrageous sexual harassment by the Captain of the vessel.

After reporting the sexual harassment to Maersk and escaping the vessel in Singapore, Ashley returned home to New York where she began to process the terrible ordeal she had been through.

She felt powerless and angry, and she wanted to take some kind of legal action, but didn’t know where to start. Soon she began searching for employment lawyers on google, visiting their web pages, and then sending them messages or calling them up.

By the time Ashley reached Attorney Ryan Melogy of Maritime Legal Solutions, PLLC, she had already spoken with more nearly 20 different employment lawyers in multiple states. Every lawyer she spoke with eventually declined to take her case.

The problem was the employment lawyers Ashley spoke with knew nothing about working on ships, nothing about the peculiarities of maritime employment law, and nothing about the devastating psychological impact of being sexually harassed in a dangerous, isolated environment surrounded by water with no way to escape from your tormentor. 

But as a maritime employment and sexual abuse lawyer, as well as a former mariner who had personally experienced sexual harassment and bullying at sea, Ryan not only understood the seriousness of what Ashley had endured while working for Maersk, but he also saw a legal path forward.

Ryan took Ashley’s case on a contingency fee basis, which meant that Ashley was not required to pay Ryan any money up front. Instead, Ryan’s fee would be paid at the end out of any monetary recovery. And if there were no monetary recovery, then Ashley would not owe anything.

This is the standard fee arrangement used by Maritime Legal Solutions, PLLC in all of our cases. We only take cases we believe we can win, and we believed in Ashley.

After Ryan took Ashley’s case, the first thing they did was file a charge of sex discrimination with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Victims of maritime sexual harassment have a very short window of time to file with the EEOC in order to preserve their rights under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VII is a federal law that prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin. 

In many cases victims have only 180 days from the time they sign off the vessel to file with the EEOC, or 180 days from the last discriminatory act, which could be less than 180 days after sign off depending on how long the mariner was at sea and when the harassment occurred.

In some cases victims may have up to 300 days or even one year to file with the EEOC, but time is always of the essence.

If a victim of maritime sexual harassment waits more than 180 to file with the EEOC they may lose important legal rights. However, even if a victim of maritime sexual harassment misses their EEOC deadline, they may still have viable legal claims under maritime law, and they should contact an attorney experienced in handling maritime sexual harassment cases as soon as possible. In some cases of extreme sexual harassment, a victim may have up to 3 years from the last act of harassment to file a claim.

For Ashley Codrington, what she wanted above all else was to hold Maersk and the Captain who sexually harassed her accountable for their actions. And she wanted to help prevent what happened to her from happening to other female mariners. 

After our firm timely filed Ashley’s sex discrimination charge with the EEOC, Ashley decided that she wanted to go public with her story and decided she willing to speak with the media about what she had endured at sea.

Her attorney Ryan Melogy arranged for Ashley to tell her story to the National Broadcasting Corporation of Denmark (aka DR.DK), the largest and most influential media outlet in Maersk’s home country.

On June 12, 2022 DR.DK published a story in Danish titled, “Ashley received inappropriate messages from her Maersk captain. Now she is trying to call out the company.”

The story was a bombshell.

The next day, on June 13, 2022, DR.DK published a follow up story titled, “Maersk After Several MeToo Cases: ‘We Have a Problem’” in which the largest shipping company in the world for the first time admitted to having a problem with sexual harassment within their global fleet and admitted that its own handling of sexual harassment cases “has not been good enough.”

Things had escalated quickly.

As a result of Ashley’s bravery, DR ran a story stating that “AP Møller-Mærsk has started interviewing its more than 350 female seafarers. The descriptions and scope of the sexual harassment cases have surprised the shipping company.”

Palle Laursen, Maersk’s global fleet manager, stated that the extent of the sexual harassment problem he discovered because of Ashley’s bravery “surprised him.”

Ashley had gone from being a powerless victim of shipboard sexual harassment to a global change agent who was disrupting the culture of Maersk’s entire worldwide fleet.

But Ashley was far from finished.

Ashley next appeared on “the 60 Minutes of Denmark,” a national investigative news program seen throughout Denmark on television and online.

Here is a clip of Ashley from the program:

American Merchant Mariner Ashley Codrington Appearing on “the 60 Minutes of Denmark”

While we waited for the EEOC to investigate Ashley’s charge of sex discrimination, Ryan then helped Ashley file a complaint with the U.S. Coast Guard against the Captain who subjected Ashley to shipboard sexual harassment aboard the M/V Maersk Michigan.

The U.S. Coast Guard investigated, and in November of 2022 the Coast Guard filed a Suspension & Revocation (S&R) complaint against the Captain and is seeking to permanently revoke his Coast Guard license through the S&R process.  

The case was written about in ShippingWatch.com in an article titled, “Former Maersk captain accused of sexual harassment against chief cook.”

US Coast Guard accuses former Maersk captain of sexual harassment committed against a chief cook in 2021. The captain denies allegations but can lose his license, show legal documents.

In October of 2022 the EEOC issued Ashley what is known as a “Right to Sue Letter,” which gives her the legal right to bring a civil lawsuit against Maersk for the sexual harassment she endured.

With the Right to Sue Letter in hand, Maritime Legal Solutions is preparing to file suit against both Maersk and the Captain who sexually harassed Ashley in his personal capacity. We don’t think it’s fair that harassers, assaulters, and abusers are not held personally accountable for their shipboard misconduct.

But we are also prepared to negotiate a pre-suit settlement with the parties. Time will tell how Ashley’s civil case plays out, but regardless of the outcome, she has made an enormous impact on the maritime industry and forced the company that fostered a culture that tolerated sexual harassment to finally change course.

All mariners should be grateful to Ashley Codrington.