If you work as a crew member on a ship at sea, standard workers’ compensation does not cover you. Instead, federal maritime law gives you different protections, and understanding them may help you protect your rights after an injury or illness.
Seaman status depends on your role aboard the vessel
The law calls crew members of any gender seamen. To qualify as a seaman, you need to meet two requirements:
- Your job must help the vessel do its work.
- You must have a substantial connection to a vessel in navigation, or to a group of vessels under common ownership or control.
That connection must be substantial both in how long you work aboard and in what you do there. Because federal compensation law excludes crew members, a seaman falls under the Jones Act and maritime law instead.
The Jones Act lets you sue your employer for negligence
If you suffer an injury on the job, you may bring a lawsuit against your employer with a jury trial. If a crew member dies from the injury, the personal representative of the estate may file a wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of the surviving family. Unlike workers’ comp, this claim turns on fault, so you generally need to show that your employer’s negligence played a part.
Maintenance and cure cover your living expenses and medical care
Until you reach maximum medical improvement, your employer generally owes you maintenance and cure, which covers food and lodging costs and medical care after an injury or illness that happens while you serve the ship. These benefits do not require you to prove fault, so they come closest to workers’ comp benefits.
An unseaworthy vessel can support a separate claim
A vessel owner must provide a vessel and equipment that are reasonably fit for their intended use. If unsafe conditions, such as defective equipment or poor work methods, contribute to your injury, you may have an unseaworthiness claim in addition to your other rights, even if no coworker or manager acted carelessly.
Every case depends on its own facts, and deadlines can apply. If you suffered an injury or illness while working as a crew member, it may help to speak with a New York maritime attorney soon about which rights apply to you.