A labor court in Italy has ruled that a former cruise director who worked on Costa Cruises ships for 18 years under temporary contracts must be rehired and compensated with approximately €130,000 after his final contract was not renewed, ANSA reported.

The decision was issued by the Bari Labour Court, which found that the repeated use of fixed-term contracts over nearly two decades violated labor laws.

The cruise director, from Taranto, Italy worked from 2003 to 2021 under 51 separate contracts linked to Cruise Ships Catering and Services International NV, a Curaçao-based company connected to Costa Cruises operations.

According to the ruling, the company continuously relied on the employee’s services for years while keeping him on temporary contracts instead of recognizing a permanent employment.

The court determined that the employment arrangement was irregular and ruled that the cruise director should be considered a permanent employee.

Judge Agnese Angiuli partially accepted the worker’s appeal, which was supported by lawyers Fabrizio Del Vecchio and Antonello Schinaia.

The court ruled the company to hire the cruise director back and pay compensation for financial damages calculated using his final salary and years of service, totaling around €130,000 plus interest.

Additional claims related to non-financial damages were rejected.

The case is expected to draw attention among cruise ship crew, many of whom spend years working consecutive contracts through foreign hiring companies. However, legal experts note that this situation is relatively unique because Costa Cruises ships sail under the Italian flag and the cruise director is an Italian citizen working within a framework connected to Italian and European labor laws. For many international crew members employed under foreign contracts and serving on ships registered outside their home countries, pursuing a similar legal challenge could be far more difficult and, in many cases, unlikely to lead to the same outcome.