The Longshore and Harbor Workers Compensation Act (LHWCA) is a federal law that gives coverage to workers whose occupation has a traditional relationship to maritime employment.

Originally passed in 1927 to cover workers in states which had no workers' compensation, it was amended in 1984 to be more uniformly applicable.

This law covers people who work at:

• Loading or unloading ships
• Maintaining or repairing longshore equipment
• Repairing ships
• Building docks or other structures at the water's edge
• Any job on an oil platform

Other workers may be covered also who provide support and related work, such as:

• Truck drivers
• Crane operators
• Forklift operators
• Checkers of cargo

What is provided by LHWCA?

The LHWCA covers all injuries, diseases or infections that happen in accidents while the person was employed, or that arose inevitably from their employment, including death itself.

The US Secretary of Labor directs the LHWCA, and provides a list of doctors and other health care providers for each compensation district, who are authorized to work under LHWCA. The injured employee can choose from this list, or if he or she is too injured to choose, the employer can do it.

A percentage of your earnings

If you are receiving medical care under LHWCA, you can also receive a two-thirds payment of your average weekly wage and there is a modified version of this if you are partly disabled temporarily.

There is also permanent partial disability, the amount being calculated according to a "scheduled" list of injuries, or differently if it does not appear on the scheduled list.

Time limit for filing

If you are hurt in an accident, you have 30 days to give notice to both your employer and the Compensation District Director. If you contract a disease as a result of your work conditions, you have one year to give that notice.

Have you been injured as a maritime worker? If your claim under LHWCA has been denied for any reason, you may hire an injury attorney to follow up. If you then win the claim, your attorney's fees will be added to the award amount. Contact Chicago personal injury lawyer Barry Doyle for your free legal consultation. No recovery, no fee.

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