Lawsuit over sexual assault aboard Navy transport ship dismissed as worker’s comp issue

A judge dismissed a lawsuit from a civilian engineer in the Military Sealift Command after it was determined that her report of being raped in her own bed aboard a Navy transport ship was within her duties and must be treated as a worker’s comp claim.

The order handed down this month closed a multiyear attempt by Elsie Dominguez to get justice for an assault she said threw her personal and professional lives into shambles. She eventually took an unpaid year away from work to recover, as her perpetrator continued to receive pay while being investigated, she said.  

“I’ve lost a lot of sleep, I’ve lost a lot of friends who didn’t agree with what I was doing in coming forward,” said Dominguez, 35. “I learned that I had to set a precedent legally so that this could be used in the future.”

She spoke from her current assignment in Croatia about the entire experience, which began in December 2021 while she worked as the first assistant engineer aboard the USNS Carson City, an expeditionary fast transport vessel. Dominguez said the ship’s captain used a master key code to access her private room overnight and rape her in her bed.

She sued the federal government in 2023 over the Navy’s failure to care for and protect her when she reported the attack the next morning using proper reporting procedures, according to the lawsuit.

The following year the court ordered the Labor Department to determine whether this rape should be handled as a Federal Employees’ Compensation Act claim since it occurred while she was working within a temporary travel status.

The Labor Department determined that, yes, it should be handled as a work injury claim.

“Things don’t change unless someone’s willing to fight, and, no, we didn’t ultimately have a success here, but I think every time someone like Elsie is brave enough to raise their hand and fight injustice, it makes a difference,” said Dominguez’s lawyer, Christine Dunn.

It also makes “a dent in the institutional indifference” to tolerate such behavior, she said.

Elsie Dominguez filed a lawsuit against the United States alleging the Navy failed to protect her from sexual assault while she worked as an engineer aboard transport vessel in the service’s Military Sealift Command. The case was dismissed and determined to be a workers’ compensation issue. (Photo provided by Sanford Heisler Sharp LLP.)

Dominguez, who is also a lieutenant commander in the Navy Reserve, described other injuries she has sustained at work, such as dislocating her shoulder or being slammed into a wall when the ship hit a roll. Dunn said these are the types of injuries workers’ compensation should handle.

“Those are injuries that happen in the course of performing your duties on a ship. That is very different from being raped in your sleep in your bed. That should not be workers’ comp,” Dunn said.

Dominguez lived in the room where the alleged rape occurred for nearly two years, though she was able to have a deadbolt installed on the door.

During that time, she struggled to obtain therapy sessions because of state licensing laws that limit the geographic locations of patients and providers. Military hotlines would refer her to different bases overseas but without being assigned there she could not receive care consistently from the same therapist.

“I wasn’t afforded the chance to be on land and to just walk into a therapist’s office,” Dominguez said.

She took a year of unpaid leave to take care of herself and the lawsuit without also juggling her work, but her health insurance paused, too, causing financial burdens.

“That year was also me trying to find myself and a way to keep moving forward,” Dominguez said.

Criminal investigations into Dominguez’s claims did occur and the captain was removed from the ship and returned to the U.S. on paid administrative leave. Coast Guard prosecutors in February 2025 issued a complaint of sexual misconduct against the ship’s captain, Yamil Sanchez Padilla.

However, the criminal case was withdrawn. Sanchez Padilla instead surrendered his merchant mariner credentials, Dunn said.

The Navy’s Military Sealift Command operates 130 civilian-crewed ships that replenish Navy ships, conduct special missions and strategically move and preposition cargo at sea around the world. The Coast Guard manages necessary licenses to work aboard the ships, which is why its investigative service got involved.

Naval Criminal Investigative Service was also involved in the investigation, Dunn said.

Now back at work, this time as the first assistant engineer aboard the USS Lewis B. Puller, Dominguez said the publicity tied to her lawsuit has affected interactions between her and coworkers, which were already challenging because she is one of few women in the industry. One man recently told her he had learned of the case on his own and wished he didn’t know these things about her, she said.

“There’s less opportunity for any type of bonding or camaraderie,” she said. “It’s a lonelier world than it already was.”