If you work in the maritime industry, you have probably heard the terms maintenance and cure at some point. These two terms refer to maritime workers’ compensation benefits people are entitled to receive if they are injured while performing their prescribed job duties.
However, not all maritime workers are entitled to receive maritime maintenance and cure compensation. Fortunately, other maritime acts and laws provide protections for maritime workers not covered by maintenance and cure when they are injured.
What is maintenance and cure law?
Maintenance and cure are workers’ compensation payments that injured maritime workers are entitled to receive until they can be released to return to their normal work schedule. Maintenance and cure benefits are considered no-fault and cover medical expenses and basic living expenses.
Who is protected under maintenance and cure?
The Jone Act contains many different sections that cover a wide range of maritime regulations and requirements, including a section on Jones Act maintenance and cure coverage for maritime workers that fit specific criteria:
1. The injured seaman must be employed or contracted to work on a vessel operating on navigable waters.
2. The injury must have occurred on the vessel or fall within the scope of job responsibilities.
So, in other words, you must work on a ship and be doing something related to your job to be covered by maintenance and cure.
For example, there have been cases where the seaman was injured while on land. However, since they were performing job duties related to their employment, they were allowed to file a maritime maintenance and cure claim.
What is maintenance?
The maintenance part of maintenance and cure was established based on the employer’s responsibility to provide basic living conditions for the seaman while onboard a vessel. The maritime maintenance benefit covers all basic living expenses while the seaman recovers at home, including:
- Rent or Mortgage Payments
- Food
- Property Taxes
- Basic Utilities
- Renter’s or Homeowner’s Insurance Premiums
Maintenance does not cover other non-essential living expenses like cable, internet, or telephone bills. Nor does it cover car payments or car insurance premiums. These types of expenses are not considered essential living expenses. One does not need a phone, a car, cable, or internet to survive.
How is maritime maintenance paid?
How you receive maritime maintenance payments depends on your employer. Some employers have their insurance company issue payments to the injured seaman on their behalf. Other employers issue payments directly to the injured seaman. The payments can be weekly or bi-weekly, depending on the employer’s preference, regardless of your current payroll schedule.
What is the rate of payment?
For numerous years, maintenance payments were capped at a very low daily rate of $8 to $12 a day. It did not matter what the injured seaman’s basic living expenses were, either. They would receive whatever their daily rate was, and that was it.
However, in more recent times, maritime courts have realized that a seaman’s basic living expenses are much more than $240 to $360 a month and they should be entitled to receive fair maintenance payments related to their real-world basic living expenses.
Today, maintenance payments amount to whatever an injured seaman’s basic living expenses are for the month. However, since basic utilities, insurance premiums, and property taxes can fluctuate, maintenance payments can also fluctuate.
For example, your basic living expenses each month are $2,500. So, your monthly maintenance payments would amount to $2,500 per month. On the other hand, if your basic monthly living expenses were $2,000, you would only receive $2,000 per month for maintenance payments.
Are there any exceptions to the rate of payment?
Yes, there can be exceptions to the maritime maintenance payment rate. One of the more common ones is if you belong to a maritime union. Your union may have established the rate of maintenance payments with your employer. If that is the case, you would only receive the established rate, even if it were less than your basic living expenses.
To illustrate, let’s assume that your union has in their contract with your employer that union members will receive $1,000 for monthly maintenance payments. So, if your basic monthly living expenses are $2,000, you will only get $1,000 per month.
However, there is an exception to the union contract exception as well. The contract may only be applicable in certain circumstances and locations. As a result, maritime courts have interpreted union contracts differently.
In some cases, the courts awarded the injured seaman the full amount of their basic monthly living expenses. So, even if you are part of a maritime union that has a maintenance payment agreement with your employer, it is worth your time to speak to maintenance and cure lawyers for advice about how your union contract applies to your injury claim.
What are the limitations of maintenance and cure?
Maritime maintenance and cure payments only last until the seaman has recovered from their injuries or reaches a point referred to as MMI (maximum medical improvement). Typically, your doctor will determine when you will be discharged and you have made a full recovery or reached MMI.
For instance, if you broke your spine and are paralyzed, you would eventually reach MMI after undergoing physical therapy. Even though you may never walk again, you have recovered to a point that is as good as it will get.
Can I claim maintenance and cure if I get sick?
In light of the global pandemic, maintenance and cure claims now include illnesses. So, if you get sick with a debilitating illness, like pneumonia, COVID, etc., where you are not able to work, you can claim maintenance and cure until you recover or reach MMI.
To file a claim for an illness, the illness does not have to have been caused while working or while in service of the vessel. You just need to be employed or contracted to work on a vessel that is operating on navigable waters to file an illness-related maintenance and cure claim.
How can maintenance and cure lawyers help?
In a perfect world, your employer would pay maintenance and cure payments promptly and in the right amounts. However, this does not always occur. Some employers are slow to file their injury claims with their insurance companies.
Other employers attempt to claim they are not responsible for your injuries by trying to get you to admit you were at fault for causing your injuries, or claiming that they did not occur while you were working. Even worse is when employers flat-out refuse to pay maintenance and cure payments.
Even if your injury claim seems fairly easy, it doesn’t hurt to speak to a maintenance and cure lawyer. During your free consultation, your lawyer provides valuable information, including:
- Helping you negotiate a higher maintenance payment for basic living expenses you might have overlooked
- Expediting the filing of your claim to receive your benefits faster
- Reviewing your medical expenses and helping ensure that anything related to your injury is covered under cure benefits
- Taking the appropriate legal action when your employer attempts to delay, underpay, or refuse to pay maintenance and cure payments
- Informing you when you could be entitled to additional monetary compensation from your employer for your injuries
- Offering advice if it would be in your best interest to initiate a Jones Act lawsuit against your employer
It is worth mentioning that most maintenance and cure lawyers provide free consultations. So, it costs you nothing to find out your legal rights to find out if it would be beneficial to have a maritime lawyer assist with your maintenance and cure claim.
Free Maintenance and Cure Case Review
For a free consultation and maintenance and cure case review, please feel free to contact Maintenance and Cure at 800-836-5830 today! We are part of the law firm Schecheter, Shaffer & Harris, L.L.P.
Our maritime lawyers provide representation worldwide for injury and illness claims covered by Jones Act maintenance and cure, as well as other maritime acts and laws. Our lawyers are available 24/7 to answer your call.
