Who We Represent Under the Jones Act: Injured Seamen and Vessel Crew

If you were hurt working aboard a vessel, you do not need to decide whether you legally qualify as a "seaman" before you talk to us. That question turns on what you actually did, which vessels you were assigned to and who employed you, not on the word printed on your pay stub. You should not have to sort it out alone before asking for help.

This page describes the kinds of vessel workers whose situations we review, explains why job titles matter less than duties and assignments, and tells you what to have ready when you contact us. It does not decide anyone's coverage. An invitation to review your situation is not a confirmation that the Jones Act applies to you, and it is not an agreement to represent you. For an overview of how Jones Act claims work generally, see our page on Jones Act claims and legal representation.

Deckhands, Captains, Engineers and Catering Crew: Your Duties Matter More Than Your Title

Deckhands, captains, mates, engineers, cooks and stewards are all recognizable examples of vessel crew whose injuries may warrant a Jones Act review. None of these titles establishes coverage by itself, and none is required. What the law looks at is whether your work contributed to the function of the vessel or the accomplishment of its mission, and whether you had a connection to a vessel in navigation (or an identifiable group of vessels) that was substantial in both duration and nature. That framework comes from the Supreme Court's decision in Chandris, Inc. v. Latsis, 515 U.S. 347 (1995), and how it applies to any particular worker depends on the facts.

One point matters especially for crew who do not steer or navigate: you do not have to aid in navigation to be a seaman. The Supreme Court settled that in McDermott International, Inc. v. Wilander, 498 U.S. 337 (1991). A cook who feeds the crew on a 28-day hitch or an engineer who keeps the mains running can be as much a member of the crew as the person at the wheel, so long as the rest of the connection is there.

The table below shows how common crew roles are approached at the start of a review. Treat each row as an example of a situation worth asking about, not a category that automatically qualifies.

For each of these groups, the caveat is the same: the title tells us where to start, and the assignment facts tell us where the review actually goes. The full status test, including how courts measure the duration of a vessel connection, is explained on our Jones Act seaman status page. Here, the point is simpler. If you did this kind of work and you were hurt, it is reasonable to ask a seaman injury lawyer to look at your situation.

Offshore Workers: The Assignment Matters, Not Just Working Offshore

Working offshore does not, by itself, make you a Jones Act seaman. Some offshore workers are vessel crew; some are not; and many fall into gray areas that require a careful look at their actual duties and assignments. Any honest review of an offshore worker's Jones Act claim has to start with the assignment rather than let the word "offshore" stand in for a legal conclusion.

Here is how the assignment question tends to break down:

• Crew of offshore supply vessels, crewboats and liftboats. Deckhands, captains, engineers and galley crew on these vessels do recognizable vessel work. Their inquiries typically start with the same questions as any other crew member: which vessels, how long, under whose control. Our offshore vessel injury claims page covers the vessel-specific issues.
• Drilling crew on jack-up rigs, semi-submersibles and drillships. Many mobile offshore drilling units are treated as vessels, and roustabouts, roughnecks, floorhands, derrickhands and drillers who are assigned to them may be seamen depending on the nature and duration of the connection. See offshore rig and drillship injuries for how those units differ.
• Workers on fixed production platforms. A fixed platform attached to the seabed is generally not a vessel. Workers whose jobs are platform-based usually have to look to other remedies, discussed below and on our offshore platform injuries page. Riding a crewboat to and from the platform does not by itself make a platform worker a seaman.
• Service hands, welders, technicians and contractors on rotating assignments. This is the hardest group. In Sanchez v. Smart Fabricators of Texas, L.L.C., 997 F.3d 564 (5th Cir. 2021) (en banc), the Fifth Circuit looked closely at the nature of a worker's vessel connection, including whether the assignment was a discrete job that ended when the task was done or involved sailing with the vessel. A welder sent to a rig for a defined repair job is in a different position from a crew member who lives aboard and moves with the vessel. Which side of that line a given worker falls on is exactly what a review is for.

If your offshore job does not fit neatly into one of these descriptions, that is a reason to ask, not a reason to rule yourself out. Occupation-specific hazards for injured offshore workers are covered on their own page; this section is only about who should request a review.

Mixed Assignments, Staffing Companies and Dockside Injuries: Should I Still Ask?

Unusual circumstances are common in maritime work. None of the situations below decides your claim on its own, and each is a reason to have the facts reviewed rather than to assume you are excluded. Detailed eligibility analysis stays on our seaman status page.

I split my time between shore work and vessel work. Should I still ask?

Yes. Many crew members spend part of their employment on the dock, in the yard or in the office. The question is whether your overall connection to a vessel or fleet was substantial in duration and nature, looked at across your employment rather than frozen at the moment of injury. Chandris rejected the idea that status is a "snapshot" of what you were doing when you got hurt. You do not need to calculate any percentage before contacting us; we will work through your assignment history with you.

I worked on several different vessels. Does that count?

It can, but it depends on the relationship among the vessels. Time aboard vessels under common ownership or control may be considered together as an identifiable fleet; the Supreme Court confined the fleet concept to vessels under common ownership or control in Harbor Tug and Barge Co. v. Papai, 520 U.S. 548 (1997). Time aboard unrelated vessels for unrelated employers generally cannot simply be added up. That is why we ask who owned and operated each vessel you worked on. The fleet rules are explained on our seaman status page.

A staffing company pays me, or my employer calls me a contractor. Am I excluded?

Not automatically, and not automatically included either. The Jones Act gives an injured seaman a claim against the employer, so who your employer was for legal purposes matters. Payroll labels, "1099" designations and staffing arrangements are relevant facts, but they are the start of the employment-relationship review, not the end of it. Bring us whatever you have about who hired you, who paid you, who assigned your work and who supervised it.

I was hurt while the vessel was tied up, or while working ashore. Does that end my claim?

Not by itself. The Jones Act covers a seaman injured in the course of employment, and seaman status looks at your overall connection to the vessel rather than the spot where the injury happened. A crew member who is otherwise a seaman and is injured on the dock while doing the vessel's work may still have a claim. Whether the injury actually occurred in the course of employment is a separate fact question, and there are limits, so this too calls for review rather than assumption.

My employer or its insurer told me I am not covered by the Jones Act. Are they wrong?

Not necessarily, but you should not take that statement as the last word either. Employers and insurers have an obvious interest in how the status question is answered, and status is a legal conclusion that depends on facts they may not have examined closely. Sometimes they are right. Sometimes the analysis points the other way. A lawyer who handles vessel worker injury claims can look at your actual assignments and tell you which situation you are likely in.

Not Vessel Crew? Other Maritime Injury Rights May Still Be Relevant

Not qualifying as a Jones Act seaman does not necessarily mean you have no remedy. It means you may be looking in a different place. The Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act (LHWCA) is a separate federal system that covers many maritime workers who are not crew members. Its definition of "employee" in 33 U.S.C. § 902(3) excludes a master or member of a crew of any vessel, which is one reason the two systems are usually treated as alternatives rather than options a worker can freely choose between. LHWCA coverage has its own requirements about the nature of the work and where it is performed; it is not automatic.

A brief routing guide:

Benefits, damages and full coverage tests are handled on the pages linked above. What matters here is that your actual duties, your worksite and your employment circumstances guide which review path fits, and that a worker whose job does not match the vessel-crew examples on this page has not reached a dead end.

What to Tell Us About Your Job, Vessels and Injury

You do not need complete records, a legal theory or a definite answer to the status question to contact us. A plain-language account of your work and your injury is enough to start. If you can, be ready to tell us about the following. "I don't know" is an acceptable answer to any of it.

Your work

• What you actually did day to day, not just your job title
• The names of the vessels you worked on, if you know them, and who owned or operated them
• Your hitch pattern or schedule (for example, 14 on and 14 off, or day-trip work), and roughly how long you had been doing it
• Any shore-based duties, and roughly how your time divided between shore and vessel work
• Recent changes in job, employer, vessel or assignment

Your employer

• Who hired you, who paid you, who assigned your work and who supervised you (these may be different companies; you do not need to decide which one is legally your employer)
• Whether a staffing company, crewing agency or contractor was involved

Your injury

• When and where it happened, and what you were doing at the time
• Whether an incident report or accident report was made, and whether you have a copy
• Your current medical situation and any immediate concerns about treatment or getting paid while you are off work

Records that may help, if you already have them

• Pay stubs or payroll records
• Text messages, emails or crew-change notices about assignments
• A hitch calendar or personal log
• Any incident report, witness names or photographs

Please do not try to calculate a vessel-time percentage before calling, and do not attempt to obtain company records you are not authorized to access. Use what is lawfully already yours.

Two issues often need attention before the status question is resolved. If your employer has stopped or refused to pay for your medical care and daily living expenses, see maintenance and cure. If you are worried about time limits, see Jones Act filing deadlines.

Why a Typical Hitch Tells More Than a Job Title

The most useful thing an injured vessel worker can describe is what a typical hitch looked like. Where did you sleep? Who told you where to go each day? Did you move with the vessel, or did the vessel come to you? When you were not aboard, were you on the payroll doing shore work, or were you off? These are not idle questions. They are the facts the seaman-status framework in Chandris and Sanchez turns on, and they are the facts employers and insurers will scrutinize if a claim is disputed.

Two workers can share the same title and land in very different legal positions. The following are illustrations, not case descriptions. A deckhand who lives aboard a towboat for 28 days at a time and rotates among boats owned by the same company presents one set of facts. A worker also called a deckhand who is dispatched by a labor contractor to whatever vessel needs a hand that day, for different owners, presents another. A rig welder who sails with a drillship from location to location is different from one who boards a jacked-up rig alongside a dock to complete a specified repair and leaves when it is finished. The title does not tell you which is which. The hitch does.

The answer shapes everything else: which laws apply, which employer or vessel owner may be responsible, what benefits should already be flowing, and how the claim is valued.

It also helps to keep two questions apart. Whether you are a seaman is one question. Whether your employer was negligent is a second, separate question, and the Jones Act requires proof of both. A worker can qualify as a seaman and still have to establish that the employer failed to provide a reasonably safe place to work, adequate crew, proper equipment or proper training. That side of the case is covered on our Jones Act employer negligence page and in the broader overview of Jones Act claims.

Legal Basis and Limits of These Worker Examples

The examples on this page identify situations worth reviewing. They are not eligibility determinations, and no role listed here qualifies a worker automatically. Two kinds of authority support what is said above, and they do different jobs.

The statute creates the right of action. The Jones Act, 46 U.S.C. § 30104, allows a seaman injured in the course of employment to bring a civil action against the employer, with the right to a jury trial. The statute does not define "seaman." The courts have done that work:

• McDermott International, Inc. v. Wilander, 498 U.S. 337 (1991): a worker need not aid in navigation to be a seaman.
• Chandris, Inc. v. Latsis, 515 U.S. 347 (1995): the two-part test requiring duties that contribute to the vessel's function or mission and a connection to a vessel in navigation, or an identifiable group of vessels, that is substantial in both duration and nature.
• Harbor Tug and Barge Co. v. Papai, 520 U.S. 548 (1997): the "identifiable group of vessels" means vessels under common ownership or control, so time aboard unrelated vessels for unrelated employers is not simply combined.
• Sanchez v. Smart Fabricators of Texas, L.L.C., 997 F.3d 564 (5th Cir. 2021) (en banc): the Fifth Circuit's closer look at the nature of the vessel connection, particularly for discrete offshore assignments.
• 33 U.S.C. § 902(3): the LHWCA definition of "employee," including the exclusion of a master or member of a crew of any vessel.

The summaries here are deliberately brief. Full treatment of the status test, the fleet rules, vessel-in-navigation questions and the developing case law belongs on our page explaining how Jones Act seaman status is evaluated. Federal maritime law governs the core coverage question. Federal courts in Louisiana sit within the Fifth Circuit, so its decisions on seaman status, together with Supreme Court authority, shape how the question is analyzed in cases filed there; because that law continues to develop, how it applies to any particular worker should be confirmed by a lawyer who has reviewed the actual facts. Nothing on this page is legal advice about your own case.

Ask The Young Firm to Review Your Vessel Work and Injury

If you were hurt working aboard a vessel in Louisiana, on the Mississippi River, along the Gulf Coast or in the Gulf of Mexico, you can ask us to review your situation whether or not your job appears in the examples above. The absence of your title from this page means nothing about whether we can help; the examples are illustrations, not a roster.

Call us or send a message through the contact form on this site. Describe your work, your vessels, your employer and your injury in your own words, using the checklist above as far as you are able. We will listen to what you did and where, ask the assignment questions described on this page, and tell you honestly whether your situation is one we can review further and where the review is likely to lead. If the Jones Act is not the right framework for you, we will say so and point you toward the path that may be, as we do on this page for longshore, shipyard and platform workers.

We are based in New Orleans and handle Jones Act and maritime injury matters for workers throughout Louisiana and the Gulf Coast. You do not need to live in New Orleans to ask. Before you commit to anything, we will explain how the initial consultation works, what it costs, if anything, and how fees and expenses would be handled if we agree to take your case. Contacting us does not obligate you to hire us, does not create an attorney-client relationship on its own, and does not mean a claim has been filed.

We cannot promise that your employer will never learn you consulted a lawyer, that your job is protected, or that any claim will succeed. We can promise a straight answer about your work, your vessel connection and your options. For the broader picture of what a Jones Act claim involves, start with Jones Act claims and legal representation.