Court orders Labor Department to review woman’s claim of rape on board naval vessel as compensation claim

The USNS Carson City, an expeditionary fast transport ship, in 2016. (Haley Nace/US Navy)

A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit filed by a civilian engineer who claims she was raped aboard a naval vessel. The Labor Department will now decide whether the incident should be treated as a workplace accident.

Elsie Dominguez filed the lawsuit against the U.S. government in November, alleging that the captain of the Navy’s Military Sealift Command ship raped her in December 2021. The lawsuit also alleges that the Navy’s inadequate security measures allowed the attack to occur and that the Navy failed to care for and protect her when she reported the attack the next morning according to proper reporting procedures.

Dominguez, a 2014 graduate of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, is a mariner who worked as the first assistant engineer aboard the USNS Carson City, an expedition transport ship, according to court documents. During a stopover in Brindisi, Italy, Dominguez left the ship and said she felt excessively intoxicated after drinking a beer and a shot of liquor. She returned to the ship and passed out in her room. She claims the captain entered her room at night using a master key code and assaulted her while she was unconscious.

The Justice Department argues that Dominguez was covered by temporary voyage status while she was working on the ship and that anything that occurred on her employer’s property during that time – even outside of work hours – was covered by the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act (FECA), court documents show.

The Department of Labor processes claims under FECA, a federal law that covers medical expenses and compensation benefits to workers for injuries sustained while performing their jobs.

Dominguez’s lawyer argued that this was her permanent duty station because she had no other job and her time on board the ship was indefinite.

Judge Edward Kiel of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, where the lawsuit was filed, concluded that there was substantial doubt on the merits and that the Department of Labor needed to get involved, court documents show.

Until then, the case will be stayed and each side will be required to submit a status report every three months, said Christine Dunn, a lawyer for Dominguez.

“It’s very frustrating because even in their own documents, the government says sexual harassment should never be part of a seafarer’s job,” Dunn said Wednesday. “But basically they have to come to that conclusion to conclude that this is workers’ compensation.”

If the Labor Department determines that FECA does not apply to Dominguez, the litigation will proceed in court, Dunn said.

According to court documents, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service is currently investigating these allegations.