What Is the Jones Act?

Who the Jones Act Protects

The Jones Act covers workers who spend more than 30% of their time in service of a vessel on navigable waters: the ocean, the Gulf, and rivers. For those seamen, it provides rights no land-based worker has, including claims for an unseaworthy vessel or a negligent employer, and the automatic benefit of maintenance and cure. Our Houston Jones Act lawyers use those rights to recover what injured seamen are actually owed, not what the company offers first.

“They also provide the workers with the right to something called maintenance and cure, which is a fancy legal way of saying that you get your medical bills paid for if you’ve been hurt, and you should get some wage relief if you’re off of work.”

Why Injured Seamen Shouldn’t Trust the Company’s Process

The moment a seaman is hurt, an incident report goes to corporate, the insurance carrier, and a claims handling group, and the pressure starts: take the low offer, skip the lawyer, don’t investigate. As Jason explains, that process exists to protect the company’s bottom line, not the injured worker. It is also why the choice between the Jones Act and workers’ comp, and the choice of lawyer, matters so much. Our maritime injury attorneys have won the largest results in maritime history for workers who refused to take the company’s word for it.

“Corporate doesn’t have your back. Corporate is looking out for one thing and one thing only, and that’s the company’s bottom line.”

Full Transcript

Workers who spend more than 30% of their time working on a vessel that is on navigable waters, you know, in the ocean, in the Gulf, on rivers, are covered by the Jones Act.

The Jones Act provides those workers certain rights and protections if the vessel they work on is not seaworthy or their employer is negligent, their employer doesn’t act reasonably in how they conduct its operations, and they also provide the workers with the right to something called maintenance and cure, which is a fancy legal way of saying that you get your medical bills paid for if you’ve been hurt, and you should get some wage relief if you’re off of work and can’t get your paycheck.

What the company’s not telling the injured worker is that after somebody gets hurt, an incident report is filled out, and it goes to corporate, and it goes to the insurance company, and it goes to a claims handling group. And then they start this song and dance about, “We got you covered. We’re gonna give you this low-ball deal. Don’t go hire a lawyer. Don’t go do any investigation. It’ll be bad for you. It’ll look bad on your record.” They do everything they can to intimidate you, to deter you and deny your ability to really get what you would be entitled to under the law.

Corporate doesn’t have your back. Corporate is looking out for one thing and one thing only, and that’s the company’s bottom line, and so they’re trying to avoid having to do the right thing because the right thing can sometimes be very expensive.

And unfortunately, a lot of lawyers don’t know the difference between the Jones Act and workers’ comp, and they end up filing a Jones Act claim as a workers’ comp claim, and it ends up really hurting the injured person. Workers’ comp claims are, generally speaking, governed by state statutory frameworks. They’re the lowest form of insurance. Doctors don’t wanna treat workers’ comp patients. The protections for the workers are terrible, and the system is filled with red tape.

The Jones Act provides access to the court system, access, in a lot of cases, to priority to get a speedy trial and better rights for someone who’s hurt to make sure they get the medical care they deserve. It also gives the worker the right to hold someone accountable.

And the reality is that if you hire the right lawyer, someone who’s a real expert in it, someone who’s got the track record of recoveries, the chances of really achieving your goals through bringing a claim under maritime law are really high. We can figure out what went wrong and why. We can make sure you get your medical bills paid. We can make sure your family’s taken care of and make sure that then you have the choice about when to go back to work or whether to go back to work because you have the freedom significant recovery gives you and your family.

Call us, email us, text us. 

We’ll respond and hold the people who did it accountable and make sure that your family’s taken care of.