Offshore Injury Claims: Jones Act, LHWCA and Maritime Law

Workers hurt at sea or on the water are covered by a separate body of federal law, and the first question in any offshore injury case is which law applies. Seamen who work aboard vessels can sue their employer under the Jones Act and claim maintenance and cure. Longshore workers, shipyard workers and many dock and platform workers are covered instead by the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act (LHWCA). Deaths far offshore can fall under the Death on the High Seas Act. Getting this classification right decides what you can recover and how quickly you must act.

Key points

• The Jones Act lets a seaman sue the employer for negligence, and the causation standard is lighter than in ordinary injury cases.
• Every injured seaman is owed maintenance and cure (living expenses and medical care) regardless of fault, until maximum medical improvement.
• Vessel owners must provide a seaworthy vessel; an unsafe condition can create liability without proof of negligence.
• Non-seamen maritime workers are usually covered by the LHWCA, which pays benefits without proving fault but requires written notice to the employer within 30 days.
• Jones Act and general maritime injury claims generally carry a three-year filing deadline.
• Do not sign a statement, release or settlement offered by the employer or insurer before you understand which law covers you.

Which law covers you

Maritime injury law sorts workers into categories, and the category controls the remedy.

Offshore workers on oil rigs are a common source of confusion. Workers on drilling ships, jack-up rigs, semi-submersibles, supply boats, tugs, barges and lift boats are often seamen because those structures are generally treated as vessels. Workers on fixed production platforms usually are not seamen and fall under LHWCA-type benefits. The answer turns on the facts of each job.

The Jones Act

The Jones Act, now codified at 46 U.S.C. § 30104, gives a seaman injured in the course of employment the right to sue the employer for negligence. Without it, seamen would have no direct way to sue their employer, because they are not covered by state workers' compensation.

Seaman status

The Supreme Court set the modern test in Chandris, Inc. v. Latsis (1995). A worker is a seaman if:

1. The worker's duties contribute to the function of a vessel or the accomplishment of its mission, and
2. The worker has a connection to a vessel in navigation (or an identifiable fleet of vessels) that is substantial in both duration and nature.

The Court described a rule of thumb: a worker who spends less than about 30 percent of working time in the service of a vessel in navigation should generally not qualify. Courts treat that figure as a guideline, and the nature of the work (whether it exposes the worker to the perils of the sea) also counts. Deckhands, cooks, engineers, tankermen, fishermen, dredge workers and many offshore drilling crews often qualify. A land-based worker who occasionally goes aboard usually does not.

Negligence and causation

A Jones Act plaintiff must show the employer was negligent and that the negligence played a part in causing the injury. Federal courts describe the causation burden as "featherweight": the employer's negligence need only have contributed in some way, even slightly. Common examples include:

• Inadequate crew or training for the task
• Unsafe orders, such as working in severe weather
• Failure to provide proper equipment or protective gear
• Poor maintenance of decks, ladders, winches and lines
• Fatigue from excessive hours

Comparative fault applies, so a seaman's own carelessness can reduce, but generally does not bar, recovery.

Damages

A successful Jones Act claim can recover past and future lost wages, loss of earning capacity, medical expenses not covered by cure, and pain and suffering. These are tort damages, which is why classification matters so much: they can be far broader than a compensation schedule.

Maintenance and cure

Maintenance and cure is one of the oldest rules in maritime law. When a seaman is injured or falls ill while in the service of the vessel, the employer owes:

• Maintenance: a daily allowance for food and lodging comparable to what the seaman received aboard ship
• Cure: reasonable medical expenses

The obligation does not depend on fault. It continues until the seaman reaches maximum medical improvement, meaning the condition has stabilized or further treatment will not improve it. An employer that unreasonably refuses to pay can face additional liability. Employers sometimes set the daily maintenance rate low or cut off cure early, and those decisions can be challenged.

Unseaworthiness

Vessel owners owe crew members a vessel that is reasonably fit for its intended use. A vessel can be unseaworthy because of defective equipment, a slippery deck, an inadequate or poorly trained crew, missing safety gear, or an unsafe method of work. The owner is liable for injuries caused by an unseaworthy condition even without proof that the owner was negligent, though the condition must be a substantial cause of the injury. Unseaworthiness claims are usually brought alongside Jones Act claims.

The LHWCA

The Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act is a federal workers' compensation program run by the U.S. Department of Labor. It covers longshore workers, ship repairers, shipbuilders, harbor construction workers and others injured on navigable waters or adjoining areas such as piers, docks, terminals and shipyards. Masters and crew members of vessels are excluded because they are covered by the Jones Act.

Benefits

LHWCA benefits are paid without proving fault:

• Medical care for the work injury
• Disability compensation, generally two-thirds of the worker's average weekly wage, subject to a maximum tied to the national average weekly wage
• Death benefits for eligible survivors

Related federal laws extend LHWCA benefits to other groups, including workers injured in operations on the outer continental shelf and civilian contractors working overseas under the Defense Base Act.

Deadlines

The LHWCA has short deadlines. The Department of Labor tells workers to give the employer written notice of the injury within 30 days, and a claim must generally be filed within one year after the injury or the last payment of compensation, whichever is later. Occupational disease claims follow different timing rules. Missing these windows can jeopardize benefits.

Claims against the vessel

LHWCA benefits are generally the exclusive remedy against the employer. A covered worker can still sue a negligent vessel owner under Section 905(b), and can sue other third parties, such as equipment makers or contractors, whose negligence caused the injury.

Death claims and DOHSA

When a maritime worker is killed, several laws can apply:

• The Jones Act allows the personal representative of a deceased seaman to bring a wrongful death claim against the employer.
• The Death on the High Seas Act (DOHSA) covers deaths caused by wrongful acts on the high seas more than three nautical miles from the U.S. shore. Recovery is generally limited to pecuniary losses, such as lost financial support and services. Special rules apply to commercial aviation accidents.
• Deaths in state territorial waters may involve general maritime law and state wrongful death statutes, depending on whether the person was a seaman.

These rules control who may file and what can be recovered, and they differ from ordinary state law. Our wrongful death guide explains the general concepts, and our drowning accidents guide covers deaths in pools, lakes and recreational waters, which follow different rules.

Passengers and recreational boaters

People who are not maritime workers can also be hurt on the water: cruise passengers, ferry riders, fishing charter customers, and guests on someone else's boat. These claims generally fall under federal maritime law when the injury happens on navigable waters, and the vessel owner or operator owes passengers reasonable care under the circumstances. Jones Act remedies and maintenance and cure do not apply to passengers.

Two practical points matter. First, cruise and charter tickets often include contract terms that require written notice of a claim within months and a lawsuit within about a year, and that require the case to be filed in a particular court. Read the ticket. Second, many recreational boating deaths and injuries involve falls overboard and drownings, which overlap with the issues discussed in our drowning accidents guide. For how injury claims are valued and negotiated in general, our personal injury guide is a useful starting point.

Common offshore injuries

Offshore and maritime work produces a wide range of serious injuries:

• Crush and amputation injuries from cranes, winches, anchors and pipe handling
• Falls from heights, ladders and gangways, and slips on wet decks
• Man-overboard events and near-drownings
• Burns and explosions on rigs and in engine rooms
• Back, neck and shoulder injuries from heavy lifting
• Hearing loss and toxic exposures

Long-term exposure illnesses also show up years later. Many former shipyard workers and Navy sailors developed asbestos disease, covered in our mesothelioma and asbestos claims guide.

What to do after an offshore injury

• Report the injury to the captain or supervisor in writing as soon as you can, and keep a copy.
• Get medical care and keep every record.
• Write down names of witnesses, the vessel, the location, the weather and what happened.
• Photograph the scene and equipment if it is safe to do so.
• Be careful with recorded statements and paperwork offered by the employer or insurer. Signing a release can end your claim.
• Keep pay records showing your wages, overtime and hitch schedule, since lost earnings are central to most claims.

A lawyer who handles maritime cases can sort out which law covers you and which deadlines apply. For more on how seaman injury claims proceed, see this overview of maritime and Jones Act injury claims.

Deadlines

Federal law generally gives injured seamen and other maritime plaintiffs three years from the injury to file a personal injury or death claim under general maritime law and the Jones Act. LHWCA claims run on the 30-day notice and one-year claim deadlines described above. Claims involving government-owned vessels fall under separate federal statutes with a two-year deadline, and contracts such as cruise passenger tickets often shorten the time to give notice and sue.

Laws change, and courts decide these questions on the facts. A lawyer licensed in your state, with maritime experience, should confirm the deadlines that apply.

Related guides

Maritime claims sit inside the broader framework of injury law covered in our personal injury guide. Workers hurt building piers, bridges and waterfront structures may also want to read our construction accidents guide, since harbor construction can fall under either state law or the LHWCA depending on where the work happens.