---
kind: "section"
citation: "46 U.S.C. § 10315"
title: "46"
title_heading: "Shipping"
number: "10315"
heading: "Allotments"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/46/10315"
units:
  - "Subtitle II — Vessels and Seamen"
  - "Part G — Merchant Seamen Protection and Relief"
  - "Chapter 103 — Foreign and Intercoastal Voyages"
---

# §10315. Allotments

- (a) Under prescribed regulations, a [seaman](/usc/46/10101.md?p=3) may stipulate as follows in the agreement required by [section 10302 of this title](/usc/46/10302.md) for an allotment of any part of the wages the [seaman](/usc/46/10101.md?p=3) may earn:
  - (1) to the [seaman](/usc/46/10101.md?p=3)’s grandparents, parents, spouse, sister, brother, or children;
  - (2) to an agency designated by the [Secretary](/usc/46/2101.md?p=46) of the Treasury to handle applications for United States savings bonds, to purchase bonds for the [seaman](/usc/46/10101.md?p=3); and
  - (3) for deposits to be made in an account for savings or investment opened by the [seaman](/usc/46/10101.md?p=3) and maintained in the [seaman](/usc/46/10101.md?p=3)’s name at a savings bank or a savings institution in which the accounts are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation.
- (b) An allotment is valid only if made in writing and signed by and approved by a shipping commissioner. The shipping commissioner shall examine allotments and the parties to them to enforce compliance with the law. Stipulations for allotments made at the beginning of a voyage shall be included in the agreement and shall state the amounts and times of payment and the [person](/usc/46/3701.md?p=3) to whom payments are to be made.
- (c) Only an allotment complying with this section is lawful. A [person](/usc/46/3701.md?p=3) falsely claiming qualification as an allottee under this section is liable to the United States Government for a civil penalty of not more than $500.
- (d) The [owner](/usc/46/10101.md?p=2), charterer, managing operator, agent, or [master](/usc/46/10101.md?p=1) of a vessel seeking clearance from a port of the United States shall present the agreement at the office of clearance. Clearance may be granted to a vessel only if this section has been complied with.
- (e) This section applies to a foreign vessel when in waters of the United States. An [owner](/usc/46/10101.md?p=2), charterer, managing operator, agent, or [master](/usc/46/10101.md?p=1) of a foreign vessel violating this section is liable to the Government for the same penalty as an [owner](/usc/46/10101.md?p=2), charterer, managing operator, agent, or [master](/usc/46/10101.md?p=1) of a vessel of the United States for the same violation.
- (f) **Deposits in Seaman Account.—** By written request signed by the [seaman](/usc/46/10101.md?p=3), a [seaman](/usc/46/10101.md?p=3) employed on a [passenger vessel](/usc/46/2101.md?p=33) capable of carrying more than 500 passengers may authorize the [master](/usc/46/10101.md?p=1), [owner](/usc/46/10101.md?p=2), or operator of the vessel, or the employer of the [seaman](/usc/46/10101.md?p=3), to make deposits of wages of the [seaman](/usc/46/10101.md?p=3) into a checking, savings, investment, or retirement account, or other account to secure a payroll or debit card for the [seaman](/usc/46/10101.md?p=3) if—
  - (1) the wages designated by the [seaman](/usc/46/10101.md?p=3) for such deposit are deposited in a United States or international financial institution designated by the [seaman](/usc/46/10101.md?p=3);
  - (2) such deposits in the financial institution are fully guaranteed under commonly accepted international standards by the government of the country in which the financial institution is licensed;
  - (3) a written wage statement or pay stub, including an accounting of any direct deposit, is delivered to the [seaman](/usc/46/10101.md?p=3) no less often than monthly; and
  - (4) while on board the vessel on which the [seaman](/usc/46/10101.md?p=3) is employed, the [seaman](/usc/46/10101.md?p=3) is able to arrange for withdrawal of all funds on deposit in the account in which the wages are deposited.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 98–89, Aug. 26, 1983, 97 Stat. 567; Pub. L. 111–281, title IX, § 902(a)(2), Oct. 15, 2010, 124 Stat. 3009.)

## Notes

| Historical and Revision Notes |  |
| --- | --- |
| Revised section | Source section (U.S. Code) |
| 10315 | 46:599 |

Section 10315 lists the persons to whom a seaman may allot wages, specifies the conditions which make an allotment valid, and provides a civil penalty of $500 for falsely claiming qualification as an allottee. It also requires that this section be complied with before a vessel can be cleared from a United States port. This section applies to foreign vessels.

### Editorial Notes

### Amendments

2010—Subsec. (f). Pub. L. 111–281 added subsec. (f).

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Transfer of Functions

Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation abolished and functions transferred, see sections 401 to 406 of Pub. L. 101–73, set out as a note under section 1437 of Title 12, Banks and Banking.