Recently, I received a request that one of my clients complete the Report of Earnings, Form LS-200. This is a form developed by the Department of Labor’s Division of Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation. The form itself is completely legit. But, in my case there was a problem. The employer and carrier were not paying compensation to my client. Consequently, the issue was whether my client may refuse to complete the requested form because the employer and carrier were not paying Defense Base Act benefits. Statutory Basis for the Report of Earnings: The Defense Base Act is an extension of the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (“LHWCA”). Section 8(j) of the LHWCA contains the provision for reporting earnings. See 33 U.S.C. § 908(j). It states: (j)(1) The employer may inform a disabled employee of his obligation to report to the employer not less than semiannually any earnings from employment or self-employment,Read more

The administrative hearing process is foreign to most Longshore or Defense Base Act claimants. They have never been to an administrative hearing. They do not know how long it will take to get a hearing or a decision. They do not know what actually happens at the hearing. The good news is that there are online resources that can demystify the process. To get started, let’s have a quick rundown of the process that takes a case from the Division of Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation (DLHWC) to the Office of Administrative Law Judges (OALJ). All Longshore and Defense Base Act cases start at the DLHWC. As the case develops, a dispute may arise. The dispute could be anything from a denied medical benefit to a complete and total claim denial. If the parties cannot resolve the dispute at the administrative level, then a party may request referral to the OALJRead more

A new Defense Base Act / Longshore decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia discusses penalties available to contractors injured overseas. Importantly, the decision also addresses the remedies that are not available to aggrieved contractors and longshore workers. The decision is Brink v. Continental Insurance Company. To start with, I am going to quote from the court’s syllabus, but keep reading: Appellant Daniel Brink, joined by thirty-one other individuals, brought a class action lawsuit stemming from the workers’ compensation benefits owed to class members under the Defense Base Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1651 et seq., for injuries suffered while working for United States government contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan. In connection with their Base Act claims, appellants alleged that several government contractors, insurance companies, and third parties (collectively “contractors”) committed torts and violated the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act, the Racketeer Influenced and CorruptRead more

The Fourth Circuit issued a new Longshore and Harbor Workers Compensation Act decision discussing the various types of disability benefits paid under the Act. The new case is Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. v. Eason, and it is sure to garner a lot of attention for a fairly routine knee injury claim. Explaining the Longshore Act and Disability: Disability is an economic concept. An injured worker’s disability is not measured solely by the severity or duration of their medical condition. Instead, the effect on an injured worker’s wage-earning capacity must be considered, too. There are four types of Longshore indemnity benefits: temporary total, temporary partial, permanent total, and permanent partial benefits. The difference between temporary and permanent disability is whether the injured worker has reached maximum medical improvement (i.e., medical permanency). And, the difference between total and partial disability is whether the injured worker can return to their pre-injury job, orRead more