Maritime professionals work in an inhospitable environment. Cruise ship employees, professional fishermen and others who spend hours on vessels are at constant risk. A slip might be all it takes to put them in the water. They could make accidental contact with equipment or end up injured by intoxicated patrons on the vessel.
If similar incidents occur when workers do their jobs on land, they are eligible for standard workers’ compensation benefits. Maritime employees may have to take legal action. The Jones Act, or Section 27 of the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, extends the right for injured maritime professionals to hold their employers accountable.
What forms of compensation does the law allow them to request?
Workers can seek maintenance and cure
The Jones Act establishes the legal right of injured employees to seek financial compensation from their employers for their maritime injuries. Typically, they have the right to request compensation for medical expenses. The law refers to this as cure. Injured Maritime employees can request compensation for the cost of their necessary medical treatment.
Maintenance claims are also an option. The term maintenance refers to the financial support required by those who can no longer work. Injured maritime employees can seek maintenance for the time that they are unable to work because of their job-acquired injuries.
They can also potentially seek compensation for a permanent reduction in earning potential caused by permanent injuries. Amputations, traumatic brain injuries and spinal cord injuries are among the catastrophic injuries that could forever reduce a person’s earning capacity.
Discussing a maritime work injury and the losses it generated with a skilled legal team can help workers understand their options. Jones Act claims can protect employees who are not eligible for standard workers’ compensation due to their maritime jobs.