The LHWCA (Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act) is the lifeline of many maritime workers injured on the job. Most injured individuals will find they fit the LHWCA requirements, although qualifications for coverage are strict. The protections and policy ins-and-outs of the act mean the injured worker needs to do a little digging to get the information. However, the longshoremen lawyers at Schechter, Shaffer, & Harris, L.L.P., know where to look. To save you time, we’ve assembled a complete breakdown of the LHWCA and how it affects you.
How Does the LHWCA Work?
The LHWCA is a federal law and as such it provides protection for employees injured and permanently or temporarily disabled as a result. To qualify, the injury must have happened in specific occupations and locations defined in the LHWCA. The protections extended to the injured employee include medical treatment and compensation of a percentage of regular pay. There is even compensation for job retraining—or vocational rehabilitation—should the resulting disability preclude the individual from returning to his or her original occupation. For those killed on the job, a death benefit is available to the spouse or other specified beneficiaries. To get these protections, the injury must occur on navigable waters or in locations adjacent to these waters. Adjacent locations would include docks, loading and unloading, shipbuilding, and ship repairing areas.
Who’s Covered Under the LHWCA? Who’s Not?
Many maritime workers are under the protection of the LHWCA. These include such occupations as longshore workers and harbor workers, such as shipbuilders, ship repairers, and ship-breakers. Excluded under the act are United States government employees, individuals who caused their injuries through intoxication, and those who caused their injuries through deeds of purposeful self-harm. Interestingly, also excluded are seamen, both shipmasters and crew members, who are covered under a different provision, i.e. the Jones Act or Merchant Marine Act of 1920.
When state workers’ compensation is a viable alternative, the LHWCA also excludes a number of other occupations. These include those workers who perform administrative assistant tasks, the duties associated with a camp, club, or recreational facility, and those working in restaurants and retail establishments and the like.
What the LHWCA Covers, In Detail
- Medical: The LHWCA covers the costs of all services performed by those in the medical profession as a result of the injury. Your medical care, surgery, hospital stay, and accompanying supplies are most of what the act covers. Another benefit is the payment of travel costs and mileage associated with the treatment of the injury.
- Compensation of Pay: Not only are your medical needs covered but the LHWCA also gives you some percentage of original pay or salary. The act judges between the national average of weekly pay and your own weekly average. The numbers work out to your receiving no more than either your full average weekly pay or twice the national average of weekly pay. You will receive the lesser of the two. These averages are each taken from the time of your injury.
- Disability: The LHWCA demarcates between four types of disability. Here is a quick breakdown of the pay you can expect under each of them.
- Temporary and Permanent Total Disability:The injured will receive a total of 2/3 of his or her weekly average pay. The amount changes every year. It’s based on different iterations of the weekly national average pay. Temporary disability is subject to the current national weekly average applied to the time period of your injury. Permanent disability rates come from the previous year’s national weekly average pay.
- Temporary and Permanent Partial Disability:The compensation for a temporary partial disability is also 2/3 of the weekly average pay. It is slightly more complicated for those with a permanent partial disability. The LHWCA provides a listing of temporary disabilities and the number of weeks the injured individual will receive the 2/3 average pay.
- Vocational Rehabilitation: If you can’t return to work, the LHWCA provides for vocational rehabilitation, which is basically job retraining. You can get evaluated and tested, counseled and placed, and even possibly return to school. In fact, if schooling is your selected option, the act may pay for tuition, books, and other necessary supplies. There is also the possibility of a maintenance allowance of no more than $25 per week.
- Death Benefit: If the employee is deceased because of an injury under the LHWCA, the surviving spouse is due 50% of his or her average weekly pay. This payment will last for the life of the spouse or until remarriage. If the deceased and spouse have children, the spouse is also due 16-and-2/3% for each child on top of the 50% payment. Surviving children, if no surviving spouse, get 50% of the average weekly wage for the first child and 66-and-2/3% for all other children. This sum is shared among the surviving children. Other surviving beneficiaries can include any grandparents, parents, siblings, or grandchildren that are dependent upon the deceased employee’s income.
Maintenance and Cure
Are you a longshore, harbor, shipbuilder, or ship repairer who’s affected by a work-related injury? It may fall under the LHWCA. If your injury has left you with few options and little hope, we would like to help you resolve your situation. We’ve solved many cases identical or similar to your own. Please feel free to drop us a line at 1 (800) 836-5830, so we can help you get your life back.
