Who is Covered by the Jones Act?
After being injured on the job, you may think that you are legally entitled to workers’ compensation benefits. However, if your job involves working on a vessel at sea, along the Gulf Coast, in a river system, or on an offshore oil rig, you are not entitled to workers’ compensation. Instead, you are covered by federal admiralty law, also known as “maritime law” or the “Jones Act.”
In order to be covered under the Jones Act, you must be assigned to a “vessel” and your job must contribute to the mission of that vessel. Basically, any job on the vessel will fit the definition. The following is a list of the types of jobs often covered by the Jones Act:
- Captains and crew members
- Roughnecks, roustabouts, drillers, toolpushers, derrickmen, company men, OIMs (Offshore Installation Managers), mud engineers, deck engineers
- Ordinary seaman, able-bodied seaman, deckhands, engineers, mates
- Tankermen and Barge workers
- Cooks, galleyhands, and other supporting jobs
Maritime Injury Legal Help
Our job is to take all the stress, fear, and risk off your shoulders while you focus on healing. We have decades of experience winning cases against practically every company in the maritime and offshore industry. We get record-setting verdicts and settlements for our clients, including the well-known case of Captain Phillips and the Somali pirate incident.
Jones Act Attorneys
Federal maritime law and the Jones Act are extremely complicated. Only a handful of law firms employ Jones Act lawyers who can handle these types of complex cases. The average Jones Act settlement varies, but at VB Attorneys, we have a track record of success when it comes to helping injured mariners get the compensation they deserve for their Jones Act injury claims.
Brian Beckcom, one of VB Attorneys’ founding partners, is widely considered one of the nation’s leading Jones Act attorneys for cases involving maritime injuries. Contact us today to schedule a free consultation.
