Cruise ship employee told to 'get over it' and 'smile more' by supervisors after co-worker sexual assault: lawsuit

A former Royal Caribbean cruise liner employee is suing the company for mistreatment from supervisors after she was raped by a coworker aboard the Majesty of the Seas in late 2015.

According to the Miami New-Times, the woman (who was not named in the lawsuit due to the nature of her attack) was subjected to a brutal assault that lasted nearly an hour around Christmas 2015 that resulted in bite marks and bruises. She then reported her rape to the ship's captain, security officer and doctor — all of whom reacted negatively.

According to the lawsuit, which was filed in the Miami-Dade Circuit Court, Jane Doe's supervisor discouraged her from pressing charges, the ship doctor told her to "get over it" and she was forced back onto the job soon after.

Despite reporting the assault to Bahamian police the day after when the boat docked on the island, the woman, who was "traumatized and at her weakest," followed her boss' advice and did not press charges.

While being treated for the assault, Doe was forced to undergo daily examinations from the ship doctor, even after she reported his comments about "getting over" the assault to human resources. The suit claimed that the doctor's "comments, interrogations, and daily examinations left [her] feeling humiliated and belittled."

Although she "was not in a mental state to work" and would often burst into tears on the job, Doe was put back to work "almost immediately," the New-Times' report noted. Nevertheless, she was criticized by supervisors for "not smiling as much as she did before" and performing poorly after the attack, and was fired soon after.

"RCCL (Royal Caribbean Cruise Line) subjected Jane Doe to repeated and unnecessary interrogations in the presence of men for the dual purposes of trying to intimidate Jane Doe to dissuade her from taking legal action and to attempt to create inconsistencies in the facts which could be used against her by the company’s lawyers in the event that she chose to bring a legal action against RCCL," the lawsuit claimed.