Maritime Questions

Many people who work at sea have a wide variety of maritime questions relating to the laws that protect them while they are working. The primary law that protects people working at sea is the Jones Act, which is a federal law that protects those who work on all sea craft as well as those who work on off shore drilling rigs that are able to be relocated and are not anchored permanently to the seabed. This law is all encompassing for those who work on boats, and all officers, crewmen, deckhands and everyone else on all kinds of vessels are covered under its protection.

A frequent maritime question is “Are the Jones Act and Worker's Compensation the same thing?” The answer is no. Because the dangers of working at sea are much higher on a regular basis than those of working on land, there is a separate law entirely that covers this area of employment injury.  While workers comp claims are received, governed, and awarded by the individual states, the Jones Act is a federal law covering all who work aboard American vessels.  This law entitles workers to very high settlement values in cases of worker injury where the employer is found to be at fault. This is because of the increased dangers of working at sea. While a negligent employer will often be the cause of injury on land, a negligent employer at sea can often cause death due to the dangerous nature of working at sea in the first place. Workplace safety must be held to a very rigorous standard and, when it is not, the Jones Act is the law that ensures employers must be accountable for being lax in that regard.

Maritime questions also include people asking what kinds of payments are made under the Jones Act. Maintenance and Cure are the two types of payments. Maintenance is the amount for covering basic food and shelter and is always the smaller of the two amounts. Cure, on the other hand, can be inclusive of all medical treatments and associated costs spanning from the injury and can reach vast amounts depending on the extent of the injury and the amount of rehabilitation needed to repair it.

Another Maritime question is in regards to how fast a claim should be made. The statute of limitations on maritime injury is three years; however, in order to protect yourself from accidentally waiving any of your rights or potential to claim, a lawyer should be consulted as soon as possible after any injury at sea.

The final Maritime question is in regards to the usefulness of hiring a maritime lawyer. The fact is, it is almost invaluable, as the laws that are detailed by the Jones Act are very specific and very complicated. It can be absolutely vital to have someone who is familiar with all of their intricacies in order to ensure that you are adequately protected and receive the compensation you deserve if you have been injured while working at sea