The Jones Act: The Remedy for Workers Injured at Sea
A description of the Jones Act for injured seamen.

June 26, 2010 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Seamen are not covered by workers' compensation laws that ordinarily protect American employees who are injured at work. Those who suffer injury or wrongful death while working at sea are generally protected by the Jones Act. The Jones Act was amended in 1920 to provide seamen with the same remedies for injury that rail workers receive. The Jones Act continues to protect seamen uniquely, in an acknowledgment of the distinctive danger and risk of injury or death that maritime workers face in their jobs. The Jones Act protects seamen who, while working on a vessel upon a navigable waterway, are in fact injured or wrongfully killed during the course and scope of their employment.

Only Seamen are Protected by the Jones Act

Not every person who is injured while at sea is covered by the protections of the Jones Act. Not every person working at sea qualifies as a seaman. The courts have struggled to define "seaman."

In general, a seaman must be one who performs a substantial amount of work on a ship. The nature of the work is irrelevant but the employment must be substantial. Thus, the Jones Act applies to a wide variety of workers that include:
- Cooks, waitresses, bartenders and cleaning crews
- Captains and relief captains; first, second and third mates
- Deck hands, roustabouts, roughnecks, drillers, pilots, tanker men and anchor tenders

Generally, the workers must generally spend at least 30 percent of their time on the vessel. This percentage helps to confirm that the seaman's employment is substantial in both duration and nature. However, the Jones Act generally does not apply to seamen who are not permanently assigned to "an identifiable fleet of vessels." The assignment of a seaman is determined by the individual circumstances surrounding his or her employment.

The Seaman Must be Employed on a Vessel

The Jones Act applies to all manner of maritime ventures, including fishing, fishery, shrimping, oil field, canning, dredging, towboat, tugboat, barge, crew boat and supply boat ventures, as long as the seafaring objects that the seamen are employed upon are considered "vessels" under the Jones Act.

Courts have debated the definition of "vessel." Courts generally recognize vessels as objects that provide "transportation of passengers, cargo or equipment from place to place across navigable waters." However, the Jones Act does not apply to all structures; its focus is to protect those who face "regular exposure to the perils of the sea." Thus, seaworthy vessels such as casino boats that are always tethered to shore may not count as "vessels" under the Jones Act.

Maintenance, Cure and More

Seamen who are substantially employed on a vessel in a navigable waterway are absolutely entitled to maintenance and cure in the event of injury. These remedies are granted regardless of fault. These benefits consist of a small daily "maintenance" allowance (somewhere between $8 and $40 a day) to cover the room and board the seaman would have received on the ship had he not been injured and a "cure" of proper medical care and rehab services until the seaman achieves maximum medical improvement.

Under the Jones Act, a seaman may be entitled to a far more substantial remedy beyond maintenance and cure, if the seaman was injured due at least in part to negligence on behalf of the ship owner. The seaman must have been acting within the scope of employment at the time of the injury and the ship owner's negligence must have caused the seaman's injuries, at least in part. A ship owner can be held liable for such things as failing to provide adequate safety measures on the ship, failing to correct an "unseaworthy" condition on the vessel, failing to properly instruct a seaman on how to do a job, and failing to assign seamen to duties for which they are capable.

Seamen who are 100 percent at fault for their injuries are not eligible to recover damages from their employer under the Jones Act. However, if an injured seaman is only partially at fault for his injury, he may be eligible to recover. Compensation may address lost wages, mental anguish, physical impairment, vocational rehabilitation, and pain and suffering, among other damages.

It is important to note that a Jones Act lawsuit must usually be filed within three years of the date on which the injury occurred under the statute of limitations.

For Further Reference

If you or someone you care about was injured while employed as a seaman, please contact an experienced maritime attorney.

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