You cannot agree to give up your rights as a crew member on a ship. You keep your right to get paid and to claim a share of anything valuable you help recover. Any agreement that tries to take away these rights is not valid. You can agree to different pay for helping to salvage something, but only if the ship is being used for salvage work. This rule does not change that. You are protected by law to ensure you get a fair deal as a crew member.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM335676.

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Part 3Duties in relation to maritime activity
Liens on ships by crew and masters

28Members of crew not to contract out of rights

A member of the crew of a ship shall not by any agreement forfeit his or her lien on the ship, or be deprived of any remedy for the recovery of his or her wages, or abandon his or her right to wages in case of the loss of the ship, or abandon any right that he or she may have or obtain in the nature of salvage; and every stipulation in any agreement inconsistent with this subsection shall be void.
Nothing in this section shall apply to a stipulation made by a member of the crew of any ship with respect to the remuneration to be paid to that member of the crew for salvage services to be rendered by that ship if, according to the terms of the agreement, the ship is to be employed on salvage service.

Compare

1952 No 49 s 91