The Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (LHWCA) provides for the payment of compensation, medical care, and vocational rehabilitation services to employees disabled from on the job injuries. The LHWCA covers longshoremen, harbor workers, and most other people who work on docks and in shipping terminals or shipyards.
Eligibility for LHWCA benefits is determined by “status” and “situs” test. either Some of the employees are almost always eligible for benefits under the LHWCA. These are longshoremen and other employees who assist in loading and unloading vessels, ship repairmen, shipbuilders, and ship-breakers. Key is that employee must be engaged in “maritime” work. For example employees who perform exclusively office or secretarial work will not qualify for the benefits as they are not actively engaged in a maritime work.
When the LHWCA was passed into law in 1927, it only applied to maritime employees who were injured while working upon the navigable waters of the United States. In practice this limited benefits eligibility to longshoremen who were aboard a vessel when they were injured on the job. For that reason, the Congress amended LHWCA to cover non-seaman marine workers on the water and for example piers, terminals, marine railways, oil rigs etc.
Damir Junicic has represented hundreds of employees before Office of Workers Compensation Program and Office of Administrative Law Judges, from the initial filing of the claim to the resolution either at OWCP or OALJ level. Damir’s specialize in litigation and administrative hearing and recently he tried several cases at OALJ level (2021-LDA-00585; 2021-LDA-00664; 2021-LDA-00812 and 2021-LDA-00778).