Who Is Covered: LHWCA or Jones Act?
Coverage turns on two tests:
- Status: Your work must be maritime in nature.
- Situs: Your injury must occur on navigable waters or an adjoining area like a pier, wharf, terminal, or shipyard.
Crew members of vessels are excluded; they are seamen with Jones Act rights instead. The line between the two is one of the most litigated questions in maritime law, and companies push workers toward whichever classification costs less. If you're not sure which side you're on, that is exactly the question our Houston maritime lawyers answer.
Benefits Are the Floor, Not the Ceiling
The claims most injured longshoremen never hear about are the ones worth the most.
LHWCA Benefits
No fault required. Medical care, two-thirds of your average weekly wage during disability, rehabilitation, and death benefits. No pain and suffering. No recovery of the last third of your wages.
905(b) & Third-Party Lawsuits
Fault-based claims against vessel owners, equipment manufacturers, and contractors. Full lost wages, future earning capacity, medical costs, and pain and suffering. This is where serious longshore cases are won.
The LHWCA Claims Process: What to Expect
Our longshore claims lawyers guide workers through every stage below, from the first report to the hearing room.
The Five Stages of an LHWCA Claim
1
Report the injury within 30 days
Notify your employer in writing within 30 days of the accident, or of learning your illness is work-related.
2
File with the Department of Labor within 1 year
Claims go to the Division of Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation with medical records, witness statements, and employment history.
3
Disputes go before a judge
If the employer or insurer disputes the claim, it moves to an informal conference and then a formal hearing before the Department of Labor’s Office of Administrative Law Judges. Their side arrives with lawyers. Yours should too.
4
Benefits get paid
Successful claims typically pay every two weeks: two-thirds of your average weekly wage plus medical care. Families of workers killed on the job receive survivor benefits.
5
Pursue what benefits don’t cover
Section 905(b) vessel negligence claims and third-party lawsuits recover full damages: the rest of your wages, future earning capacity, and pain and suffering.
Third-Party & 905(b) Claims: Where Serious Cases Are Won
The LHWCA restricts suing your employer, but it does not protect anyone else. Injured longshoremen and harbor workers can sue the vessel owner or operator whose negligence created dangerous conditions under Section 905(b), the manufacturers of defective cranes, winches, and loading equipment, and the contractors or vendors responsible for unsafe cargo or faulty work. These claims recover what benefits never will: full lost wages, future earning capacity, and pain and suffering.
Port accidents almost always involve multiple companies working side by side: stevedoring companies, vessel crews, equipment vendors, and terminal operators. That is exactly the environment where responsibility gets pointed in circles and injured workers get shortchanged. We investigate every company in the chain and hold each one accountable for its share. It is the difference between two-thirds of your wages and a recovery that covers a lifetime.
Injuries & Accidents We See at Ports & Shipyards
Longshore work is heavy, fast, and unforgiving.
Our Houston longshore and harbor worker accident attorneys handle cases involving:
The injuries that follow are catastrophic:
Occupational illness counts too. Shipyard workers face exposure to asbestos, welding fumes, chemical vapors, and dust that cause lung disease years after the exposure. If you develop a persistent cough or shortness of breath, see a doctor immediately: your health comes first, and the medical record linking your illness to the job is what makes the claim. Occupational disease claims get 2 years to file, running from when you knew or should have known the illness was work-related.
Why Houston Longshore Workers Call Us
The Port of Houston is the busiest port in the country by total tonnage, and the longshoremen, crane operators, and riggers who run it work beside one of the densest concentrations of petrochemical infrastructure in the world. Employers are still obligated to minimize those hazards through training, equipment maintenance, spotters, machine guarding, and lockout/tagout procedures. OSHA and the National Maritime Safety Association publish the standards; too many companies treat them as suggestions. When a lapse injures a worker, our Houston longshoreman lawyers know these terminals, these employers, and the courts where these cases are decided. And because the LHWCA is federal law, we handle longshore cases nationwide, from Dallas to Baton Rouge, Corpus Christi to Lafayette.
Arnold & Itkin’s maritime attorneys have won more than $25 billion for our clients, including record-setting results for maritime workers in Texas and across the United States. See our victories.
You Cannot Be Punished for Filing
Federal law prohibits employers from firing, demoting, or discriminating against workers for claiming LHWCA benefits or testifying in a claim (33 U.S.C. § 948a). That protection matters in a tight-knit port community where crews work together for years. If anything changes about your job after you report an injury, document it: dates, conversations, schedule changes, and write-ups. We help clients assert these protections and act fast when employers cross the line.
Call Our Longshore Injury Lawyers for a Free Case Review: (888) 493-1629
The insurer handling your LHWCA claim processes thousands of them. You get one. Call Arnold & Itkin at (888) 493-1629 to talk to a Houston longshoreman injury attorney about your accident, your benefits, and the claims nobody has told you about. Our LHWCA law firm fights for the workers who keep America’s ports running. No Matter What.
