Longshore and Harbor Workers Compensation Act

The Longshore and Harbor Workers Compensation Act (LHWCA, often shortened to “the Longshore Act”) is the federal workers compensation statute that covers maritime employees who do not qualify as seamen. The Act is codified at 33 U.S.C. Chapter 18 and administered by the Department of Labor’s Office of Workers Compensation Programs through the Division of Longshore and Harbor Workers Compensation (DLHWC).

The Longshore Act sits in an uncomfortable middle ground. It is not state workers comp. It is not the Jones Act (which covers seamen and is a fault-based remedy with full tort damages). It is a federal no-fault workers comp system for the workers who load, unload, build, repair, or break up vessels, plus the workers who work on harbor adjacent terminals and piers. If that sounds narrow, it is. The narrowness is the point. The Act exists because Congress carved out a federal solution for the gap that state workers comp left open at the water’s edge.

Who is covered (the situs and status tests)

Two tests have to be met for Longshore Act coverage:

The situs test (where). The injury has to occur on navigable waters of the United States, or on certain adjoining areas customarily used for vessel loading, unloading, repairing, dismantling, or building. Adjoining areas include piers, wharves, drydocks, terminals, and certain marine railways.

The status test (what work). The worker has to be engaged in maritime employment. The definition covers longshore workers, harbor workers, ship repairers, ship builders, and ship breakers. Office workers, restaurant workers, and security guards working at a covered location but not doing maritime work are excluded.

If both tests are met, the Longshore Act applies. If either test fails, the worker falls back to state workers comp or, in some cases, the Jones Act for seamen.

Extensions of the Longshore Act

Several federal programs extend the Longshore Act’s benefits scheme to other workforces:

Defense Base Act (DBA). Civilian employees of U.S. government contractors performing work overseas on military bases are covered by the DBA, which adopts the Longshore Act benefit structure. This applies to contractors in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other overseas U.S. installations.

Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA). Workers on the outer continental shelf engaged in oil, gas, and mineral extraction are covered.

Nonappropriated Fund Instrumentalities Act (NFI). Employees of military post exchanges and similar federal non-appropriated fund agencies.

The benefit calculations and adjudication procedures are largely the same across the Longshore Act and its extensions, with some statutory variations.

What the Longshore Act pays

The Longshore Act has its own benefit menu, distinct from both FECA and state workers comp:

Temporary total disability. Two-thirds of the worker’s average weekly wage, subject to a national average weekly wage (NAWW) cap. The DLHWC publishes the NAWW annually. For fiscal year 2025, the NAWW-based maximum weekly benefit was approximately $1,738.34. The minimum is half the NAWW.

Permanent partial disability. A scheduled benefit for scheduled body-part injuries (similar in concept to state schedules but with the Longshore-specific number of weeks). For example, total loss of an arm is 312 weeks; total loss of a hand is 244 weeks. Partial loss is the percentage of the schedule.

Permanent total disability. Two-thirds of average weekly wage, for life, with annual cost-of-living adjustments tied to the NAWW.

Medical care. All necessary treatment, with the worker entitled to choose the treating physician (with notice to the employer). Care is paid directly by the carrier.

Death benefits. Surviving spouse receives 50 percent of the worker’s average weekly wage, plus 16.67 percent for each surviving child (capped at two-thirds of AWW total). Burial expenses up to $3,000.

The carrier is a private insurer, not the federal government

Unlike FECA (where the federal government is the self-insured payer), the Longshore Act is insured by private carriers (or by self-insured employers approved by the DLHWC). The worker deals with a private adjuster, files documents through the Longshore Act-specific case management system, and litigates in front of an Administrative Law Judge from the Office of Administrative Law Judges (OALJ) rather than OWCP staff.

The DLHWC is the regulator and the maintainer of the system. The adjudication happens at OALJ.

How a Longshore claim is filed

The forms are Longshore-specific. The key ones:

  • Form LS-201, Notice of Employee’s Injury or Death. Filed by the employer with the DLHWC district director within 10 days of knowledge of the injury.
  • Form LS-203, Employee’s Claim for Compensation. Filed by the worker with the DLHWC within one year of the injury (or two years for occupational diseases).
  • Form LS-202, Employer’s First Report of Injury. Used by employers.
  • Form LS-208, Notice of Final Payment or Suspension of Compensation Payments. Filed by the carrier when payments stop.

The claim is filed by mail or electronic submission to the appropriate DLHWC district office (San Francisco, Long Beach, Honolulu, New Orleans, Houston, Jacksonville, Norfolk, New York, Boston, etc.).

Adjudication and appeals

If the parties dispute any issue (compensability, average weekly wage, impairment rating, future medical, settlement), the case is referred to OALJ. An Administrative Law Judge hears evidence and issues a formal Decision and Order.

Appeals from the ALJ go to the Benefits Review Board, then to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the circuit where the injury occurred. The Longshore Act appellate path is a true federal civil litigation route, with the volume and procedural formality of federal court.

Settlement under the Longshore Act

Settlements are permitted under Section 8(i) of the Act. They have to be approved by the District Director or the ALJ, and the approval considers whether the settlement adequately protects the worker and any beneficiaries. Lump-sum settlements that close medical require the same MSA analysis as state workers comp settlements when Medicare exposure is in play.

A Longshore Act settlement is often called a “Section 8(i) settlement” by practitioners.

Why the Longshore Act matters even for non-maritime workers

The Longshore Act benefit rates set the floor for the Defense Base Act, which is increasingly relevant to civilian contractors working overseas for the Department of Defense or the State Department. A civilian contractor injured at a base in the Middle East files a Longshore Act/DBA claim with a U.S. DLHWC district office, not a state workers comp board.

This is one of the most overlooked statutes in U.S. workers comp practice. A contractor injured overseas often does not know that the DBA exists, and the first attorney they call is sometimes a state workers comp attorney who has never handled a DBA case. The right route is a DBA-specialist attorney, often the same firms that handle Longshore Act maritime cases.

State workers comp coverage as a fallback

Many states also cover the same Longshore Act-eligible workforce under state workers comp. The Longshore Act explicitly says state coverage is not preempted (33 U.S.C. 903(e)). A worker injured in a Longshore Act-covered zone in a state with comprehensive workers comp coverage may have a choice of forums, with different benefit rates, different impairment Guides editions, and different attorney fee structures.

The choice of forum is a tactical decision. Longshore Act benefit rates are higher than most state rates for high-wage maritime workers because the federal cap is higher. State systems may be faster for lower-wage workers with simple cases.

Sources

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