The Benefits Review Board (“BRB”) recently addressed the interplay between a hearing loss claim and the 2009 revision to the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (“LHWCA”) provision dealing with the recreational vessel exclusion.  In Czikowsky v. Ocean Performance, Inc., BRB No. 13-0108, 2013 WL 5437444 (2013), Claimant had worked as a marine mechanic for 19 years.  Claimant acknowledged that he mostly worked on recreational vessels, but that some of those vessels should be considered charter fishing boats due to the number of hours logged on the vessel’s engines.  He alleged a hearing loss due to his employment, and audiograms dated April 10 and August 14, 2009 confirmed the loss. In 2009, Congress amended Section 2(3)(F) of the LHWCA.  Before the amendment, Section 2(3)(F) excluded “individuals employed to build, repair, or dismantle any recreational vessel under sixty-five feet in length” from the “employee” definition.  In the 2009 amendment, Congress fleshed out theRead more