Offshore Injury Help
1. What the LHWCA covers, in brief
Under the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act, what you can recover falls into four buckets: medical care, wage-replacement while you cannot work, disability compensation, and death benefits for survivors. It is a no-fault system, so you do not have to prove blame.
The LHWCA is a federal no-fault benefit system for many maritime workers who are not seamen, such as longshore workers, harbor workers, and shipbuilders. Because it is no-fault, what you can recover does not depend on proving your employer did anything wrong. For background on the law itself, see what the LHWCA is, and to see whether you are covered, see who qualifies for LHWCA benefits.
The four categories below are the heart of LHWCA claims. Each has its own rules, but together they cover your treatment, a portion of your lost wages, lasting impairment, and support for your family if the worst happens.
Bottom line: The LHWCA is a no-fault system that pays medical, wage-replacement, disability, and death benefits. You do not have to prove fault, but the benefits are defined by statute, not by a jury.
2. Medical benefits
The LHWCA covers all reasonable and necessary medical care for your work injury, for as long as the injury requires it, with no deductible or copay. You also have the right to choose your own treating doctor.
Medical coverage under the LHWCA is broad. The employer must pay for the treatment your injury reasonably requires, and there is no arbitrary cap on duration. Just as important, you generally get to choose your own physician rather than being forced to use a company doctor.
33 U.S.C. Section 907(a): Medical services and supplies
The employer shall furnish such medical, surgical, and other attendance or treatment, nurse and hospital service, medicine, crutches, and apparatus, for such period as the nature of the injury or the process of recovery may require.
The Act gives you the right to choose an attending physician authorized to provide care. That matters, because the doctor who treats you also documents your injury, which affects every other benefit you may receive. No attorney-client relationship is formed by reading this.
Bottom line: Medical benefits cover all reasonable and necessary treatment for as long as the injury requires, with no copay, and you have the right to choose your treating doctor.
3. Disability compensation
For lost earning power, what you can recover is generally two-thirds of your average weekly wage. There are four categories, temporary total, permanent total, temporary partial, and permanent partial, depending on how severe and how lasting your disability is.
Wage-replacement is the core cash benefit. The statute pays a set fraction of your average weekly wage rather than your full wages, and the category depends on whether your disability is total or partial, and temporary or permanent.
- Temporary total: two-thirds of your average weekly wage while you cannot work at all, but are expected to recover
- Permanent total: two-thirds of your average weekly wage for life, for a disability found permanent and total
- Temporary partial: two-thirds of your lost earning capacity while you work in a reduced capacity during recovery
- Permanent partial: compensation for lasting partial impairment, often set by a fixed schedule (see below)
33 U.S.C. Section 908(b): Temporary total disability
In case of disability total in character but temporary in quality 66 2/3 per centum of the average weekly wages shall be paid to the employee during the continuance thereof.
Bottom line: Disability compensation replaces two-thirds of your average weekly wage, in one of four categories set by how total and how permanent your disability is.
4. Scheduled awards for permanent partial disability
For permanent loss or loss of use of certain body parts, the LHWCA pays a fixed number of weeks of compensation set by a statutory schedule, regardless of whether you actually lost income.
When a permanent injury is to a body part on the statutory schedule, you receive two-thirds of your average weekly wage for a set number of weeks. These are examples from the schedule in Section 908(c):
- Arm: 312 weeks of compensation
- Leg: 288 weeks of compensation
- Hand: 244 weeks of compensation
- Foot: 205 weeks of compensation
- Eye: 160 weeks of compensation
- Thumb: 75 weeks of compensation
For a scheduled body part, you get the set weeks whether or not your earnings dropped. For injuries not on the schedule, such as a back or the whole body, compensation is instead based on your lost wage-earning capacity.
Bottom line: Permanent loss of a scheduled body part pays a fixed number of weeks of compensation, such as 312 weeks for an arm, regardless of whether your income actually fell.
