Maritime Worker Injuries and Claim Options

From commercial fishing vessels and giant container ships to bustling ports and recreational boating, the maritime industry offers a wide variety of (sometimes dangerous) jobs. While most land-bound employees can turn to workers' compensation when they're hurt on the job, specific laws and procedures typically apply to workplace injury claims by maritime employees.

"Seaman" and "Non-Seaman" Status

In the eyes of the law, there are two basic types of maritime workers:

• those workers who qualify as "seamen" for purposes of maritime law, and
• basically everyone else who works on or near the water.

The injury claim-filing options and the type of compensation an injured maritime worker can receive depends on which group they're in. Let's take a closer look at both of these groups in the context of work-related injuries in the maritime industry.

Who Is a "Seaman" Maritime Worker?

In general, a seaman is a person who spends a significant amount of their time working as a crewmember or a captain on a vessel (almost any kind of ship or boat) that is considered "in navigation." There are lots of sub-issues at play here when it comes to "seaman" status. Learn who qualifies as a "seaman" under the Jones Act?.

What Compensation Is an Injured Seaman Entitled to?

Unlike almost all other employees, injured seamen aren't entitled to workers' compensation benefits under either state law. Instead, an injured seaman is usually entitled to three separate types of compensation (or "damages") under federal law:

• they can sue their employer for negligence under a federal law called the Jones Act
• they can sue the owner of the vessel on which they were injured under an age-old maritime legal concept known as "unseaworthiness," and
• they can receive what's called "maintenance and cure," regardless of who was at fault for the injury.

Let's take a brief look at each of these three types of avenues for compensation for an injured seaman.

Making an Injury Claim Under The Jones Act

The Jones Act is a federal law that gives seamen who were injured in the course of their employment the right to sue their employer. Under the Jones Act, a maritime employer must:

• provide the seaman with a reasonably safe place to work, and
• use ordinary care under the circumstances to keep the vessel in a reasonably safe condition.

Almost any unsafe condition on a vessel, however small, can lead to liability under the Jones Act.

In standard negligence cases (such as clams after a car accident), the plaintiff must prove that the defendant's negligence was the cause of the plaintiff's injury. But under the Jones Act, the injured seaman need only prove that the employer's negligence played any part— however small—in the plaintiff's injuries. This means that the plaintiff would still be entitled to recover damages against a Jones Act employer as long as the employer's negligence was even a 1% cause of the injury.

Learn more about making a Jones Act claim.

Making an "Unseaworthiness" Claim

Under maritime law, a seaworthy vessel is a ship whose hull, equipment and crew are reasonably adequate in design, maintenance and character to perform their intended functions in the operation of the ship.

Unseaworthiness doesn't necessarily mean that the vessel can't sail or be navigated. A vessel is unseaworthy if it doesn't provide a seaman with safe and suitable equipment with which to work.

An important aspect of the law of seaworthiness is that it has nothing to do with negligence. The vessel owner will be liable for injuries resulting from an unseaworthy vessel even if the owner acted reasonably. If the vessel or any part of it wasn't fit for its intended function, it's unseaworthy, period.

What Is "Maintenance and Cure"?

Maintenance and cure is a very old aspect of maritime law that requires a maritime employer to provide care for injured seamen regardless of how they were injured.

"Maintenance" means the room and board of the injured seaman while they're recovering from an injury. Maintenance includes such expenses as the seaman's rent or mortgage, utilities, property taxes, homeowner's insurance, and food, but it doesn't usually cover things like telephone, internet, or car payments.

"Cure" is the injured seaman's medical expenses resulting from their injuries.

The employer must usually pay the injured seaman maintenance and cure until the seaman reaches a point of "maximum medical improvement," which usually means they've recovered from their injuries as much as they're going to.

Non-Seamen Maritime Workers Are Usually Covered by the Longshore Act

The Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act is a federal workers' compensation system that covers the majority of employees who work on or near the water, but aren't considered seamen.

The types of employees who are covered by the LHWCA include:

• longshoremen
• stevedores
• ship repairers
• ship builders
• ship breakers
• harbor/port construction workers
• port/dock crane operators
• truck drivers, and
• many other kinds of maritime industry employees who work on docks and in shipping terminals or shipyards.

What Types of Benefits Does the Longshore Act Provide?

The Longshore Act is a standard workers' compensation act, not unlike state workers' compensation acts. There are a number of very important benefits-related differences between the LHWCA and most state workers' compensation systems, including:

• Temporary total disability benefits under many state workers' compensation laws are only 60% of the employee's average weekly wage, while they're two-thirds of the employee's wage under the LHWCA.
• Many state workers' compensation acts don't provide compensation for permanent partial disabilities, while the Longshore Act does provide coverage for this class of disability.

Learn more about making a claim under the LHWCA.

If you're a maritime industry worker who's been injured on the job, it might make sense to discuss your situation with a personal injury lawyer.