Did the United States withdrawal from Afghanistan somehow end the Defense Base Act disability of employees injured in Afghanistan? No–of course not. A new published Defense Base Act case from the Benefits Review Board (“BRB”) puts to rest a particularly misguided idea pushed by insurance carriers: that disability compensation under the DBA somehow disappeared when the U.S. withdrew from Afghanistan. It did not. A brief write-up of the BRB’s decision in Woolum v. ARMA Aviation follows. The Simple Point the Board Got Right The Defense Base Act is an extension of the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act. The DBA borrows many of the Longshore Act’s definitions. The Longshore Act defines “disability” as a loss of earning capacity due to “injury.” That inquiry doesn’t turn on whether a particular job site still exists—it turns on what the injured worker can earn. The employer tried to pivot the analysis away fromRead more