97 STAT. 580 PUBLIC LAW 98-89—AUG. 26, 1983 officer shall require the master to pay the wages due the seaman plus one months additional wages and shall discharge the seaman. The master shall provide the seaman with emplojntnent on another vessel or provide the seaman with passage on another vessel to the port of original engagement, to the most convenient port of the United States, or to some port agreeable to the seaman. (b) When a vessel does not have sufficient provisions for the intended voyage, and the seaman has been forced to accept a reduced ration or provisions that are bad in quality or unfit for use, the seaman is entitled to recover from the master or owner an allowance, as additional wages, that the court hearing the case considers reasonable. (c) Subsection (b) of this section does not apply when the reduction in rations was for a period during which the seaman willfully and without sufficient cause failed to perform duties or was lawfully under confinement on board or on shore for misconduct, unless that reduction can be shown to have been unreasonable. (d) Subsection (b) of this section does not apply to a fishing or whaling vessel or a yacht. § 11107. Unlawful engagements void An engagement of a seaman contrary to a law of the United States is void. A seaman so engaged may leave the service of the vessel at any time and is entitled to recover the highest rate of wages at the port from which the seaman was engaged or the amount agreed to be given the seaman at the time of engagement, whichever is higher. § 11108. Taxes Wages due or accruing to a master or seaman on a vessel in the foreign, coastwise, intercoastal, interstate, or noncontiguous trade or a fisherman employed on a fishing vessel may not be withheld under the tax laws of a State or a political subdivision of a State. However, this section does not prohibit withholding wages of a seaman on a vessel in the coastwise trade between ports in the same State if the withholding is under a voluntary agreement between the seaman and the employer of the seaman. §11109. Attachment of wages (a) Wages due or accruing to a master or seaman are not subject to attachment or arrestment from any court, except for an order of a court about the payment by a master or seaman of any part of the master's or seaman's wages for the support and maintenance of the spouse or minor children of the master or seaman, or both. A payment of wages to a master or seaman is valid, notwithstanding any prior sale or assignment of wages or any attachment, encum- brance, or arrestment of the wages. (b) An assignment or sale of wages or salvage made before the payment of wages does not bind the party making it, except allot- ments authorized by section 10315 of this title. (c) This section applies to a fisherman on a fishing vessel. § 11110. Seamen's clothing The clothing of a seaman is exempt from attachments and liens. A person detaining a seaman's clothing shall be fined not more than $500, imprisoned for not more than 6 months, or both.
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