New Orleans LHWCA Lawyer for Longshore and Harbor Worker Claims

The Young Firm is a New Orleans maritime injury law firm representing injured workers in Louisiana and across the Gulf Coast. You do not need to know whether the LHWCA, the Jones Act, or state workers' compensation applies before you call. That is one of the first things a review sorts out. If treatment has been delayed, checks have stopped or look too small, or your employer has told you the accident is not covered, those are exactly the problems this page addresses.

One point up front, because it matters: contacting a law firm does not file an LHWCA claim and does not stop a deadline. Filing is a separate act, described below, and it is time-sensitive. To request a review of your coverage, treatment, or payments, contact The Young Firm.

What Is an LHWCA Claim—and What Can a Lawyer Help With?

An LHWCA claim is a request for statutory compensation benefits after a work-related injury or occupational disease suffered by a covered maritime worker. The benefits are set by federal statute, 33 U.S.C. Chapter 18, and the rules for processing them are in 20 CFR Part 702.

Three features distinguish it from the lawsuits most people picture:

• It is generally a no-fault system. You do not have to prove your employer was negligent to receive benefits. Conversely, the employer's own negligence does not increase what the statute pays.
• The employer or its insurance carrier pays. The Department of Labor's Office of Workers' Compensation Programs (OWCP) administers the program, keeps the claim file, and can attempt to resolve disputes informally, but the money for your medical care and disability checks comes from your employer or the carrier that insures it.
• It is an administrative claim, not a jury case. Under 33 U.S.C. § 905(a), compensation is generally the exclusive remedy against a covered employer. A contested benefits dispute is decided by a federal administrative law judge—not by a jury. Separate negligence claims against a vessel or another third party can exist alongside benefits, and those are addressed later on this page.

Because the system is no-fault, people sometimes assume it runs itself. In practice, the carrier takes positions on whether your injury is covered, what your average weekly wage is, which doctor visits get authorized, whether you have reached maximum medical improvement, and when to reduce or stop payments. Each of those positions can be wrong, and each can be contested.

Concretely, an LHWCA lawyer's work in a benefits matter includes:

• Determining whether the LHWCA actually covers your duties and injury location, or whether a different law applies.
• Confirming that notice and claim deadlines have been met, and evaluating exceptions if they have not.
• Checking the carrier's average weekly wage calculation against your real earnings, including overtime and irregular work.
• Confirming that your disability is classified correctly (temporary or permanent, total or partial) and that payments match the classification.
• Pursuing authorization for treatment, surgery, therapy, or a doctor change that the carrier has refused or delayed.
• Developing medical and vocational evidence when the carrier contends you can return to work.
• Representing you at informal conferences, formal hearings, and appeals.
• Screening for a separate claim against a negligent vessel or another responsible party.
• Advising on whether any proposed settlement is worth the future rights you would give up.

For a detailed explanation of the benefits themselves, see LHWCA benefits and compensation.

Does the LHWCA Apply to My Work, or Does Another Maritime Law Apply?

Employers and carriers often assign a label to a claim early—"Longshore," "state comp," or "he's a Jones Act seaman"—and the worker takes the label as settled. It is not. Coverage is determined by what you actually did and where you were actually hurt, measured against the statute and the case law interpreting it, not by your job title, your paycheck's description, or how close you were to the water.

The two threshold LHWCA coverage requirements

The summaries below describe the starting point of the analysis. They do not capture every exclusion, every rule about navigable waters and adjoining areas, or the special coverage extensions, and coverage cannot be confirmed from them alone.

Maritime employment status. Under 33 U.S.C. § 902(3), a covered employee is one engaged in maritime employment, which expressly includes longshore workers, ship repairmen, shipbuilders, ship-breakers, and other harbor workers. Cargo handling, ship repair, and harbor construction are the core examples. The same section lists exclusions—among them certain office and clerical workers, some marina and recreational-vessel workers, and, importantly, "a master or member of a crew of any vessel," which is the group covered by the Jones Act instead. Several exclusions apply only if the worker is covered by a state workers' compensation law.

Covered situs. Under 33 U.S.C. § 903(a), the injury must occur on the navigable waters of the United States or on an adjoining pier, wharf, dry dock, terminal, building way, marine railway, or other adjoining area customarily used for loading, unloading, repairing, dismantling, or building a vessel. In Louisiana, disputes frequently arise over what counts as an "adjoining area," and the Fifth Circuit has developed specific rules on that question that a lawyer must apply to your facts.

Two consequences follow that surprise many workers:

• Land-based work can qualify. A container handler who never sets foot on a ship may be covered if the work and location meet the statutory tests.
• Being injured aboard a vessel does not make you a seaman. A ship repair worker hurt inside a vessel at a shipyard is typically an LHWCA worker, not a Jones Act seaman. Seaman status turns on a substantial, ongoing connection to a vessel or fleet in navigation, which is a separate analysis. If your role is genuinely mixed—some vessel crew time, some dock time—see whether you qualify as a Jones Act seaman.

How the three main systems compare

This table is for orientation, not a coverage determination. State and federal coverage are not always mutually exclusive—the Supreme Court has recognized that some workers may fall within both systems, with credits preventing double recovery—so do not assume that a state claim your employer opened forecloses an LHWCA claim, or the reverse. And a worker cannot simply pick whichever column looks best; the facts decide.

Offshore work

If you were hurt on a fixed platform or in connection with oil and gas work on the Outer Continental Shelf, your benefits may arrive through the LHWCA as extended by the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, 43 U.S.C. § 1333(b), rather than through ordinary waterfront coverage. That extension has its own eligibility rules and requires separate analysis. For that context, see offshore injury claims.

Detailed eligibility questions—mixed duties, specific exclusions, the adjoining-area cases—are covered on workers covered by the LHWCA. If you are searching by where you were hurt rather than by which law applies, start with port, dock, and shipyard injuries. If you believe you are a crew member, start with Jones Act claims.

How Long Do I Have to Notify My Employer and File an LHWCA Claim?

Under the LHWCA, written notice of a traumatic injury is generally due to your employer within 30 days (33 U.S.C. § 912), and a claim for compensation is generally due within one year (33 U.S.C. § 913). Both periods can run from an "awareness" date rather than the accident date—and for a traumatic injury, that date can depend on when you knew or, with reasonable diligence or medical advice, should have known of the relationship among the injury, your employment, and a likely impairment of your earning capacity. Both periods are subject to exceptions, and occupational disease and hearing loss follow different rules. A claim for medical benefits is not subject to the same one-year compensation-filing limitation in § 913. Notice and claim filing are two separate acts—doing one does not accomplish the other.

The qualifications attached to that answer are not boilerplate. They routinely decide cases.

Notice and claim are different things

Three different documents are easy to confuse, and only one of them is your claim:

Form names and instructions should be confirmed against the Department of Labor's current Longshore forms before filing.

What does not count as filing your claim

• Telling your supervisor. Verbal reports matter as evidence, but the statute contemplates written notice, and notice is not a claim.
• Your employer's LS-202. The employer's report is the employer's obligation. It does not file your claim, and it does not establish that your injury is covered or that your benefits are calculated correctly.
• Receiving checks. Voluntary payment of compensation does not waive the filing requirement. When checks stop, a clock may already be running.
• Talking to the adjuster. Cooperation with the carrier is fine. It is not a filing.

Facts that can move a deadline

The 30-day and one-year periods are general rules, not the whole story. When you became aware that your condition was connected to your work, whether and when the carrier voluntarily paid compensation, whether your condition is an occupational disease or hearing loss, and whether your employer filed its own report can each change where a deadline actually falls—sometimes rescuing a late claim, sometimes shortening one that looked comfortable.

None of this should be self-diagnosed. If you think you may have missed a deadline, that is a reason for prompt review, not a reason to give up. The triggers, exceptions, recipients, and filing mechanics are set out in detail on LHWCA notice and filing deadlines.

What to Do Now—and What to Bring to an LHWCA Claim Review

You are injured. The list below is ordered by priority, and the last items should not delay the first. A review can begin with what you already have.

First priorities

1. Get medical care. Emergency treatment does not require the carrier's advance permission. Tell every provider that the injury happened at work and describe how it happened consistently.
2. Report the injury in writing to your employer, keep a copy, and note the date. If you are past 30 days, report anyway—late notice is excusable in defined circumstances, and silence only makes things worse.
3. Write down the basics while they are fresh: the date and time, exactly where you were (which berth, which vessel, which yard, which building), what you were doing, what equipment was involved, who saw it, and who you told.
4. Keep everything the carrier sends you. Denial letters, notices of controversion, wage statements, and check stubs are the raw material for spotting errors.

Useful for a review, when you can get them

• Injury and awareness dates (they may differ for a repetitive-stress injury or an occupational disease).
• A plain description of your actual duties, not just your title, and where you spent your working time.
• Employer name, the insurance carrier's name, any claim number, and any adjuster correspondence.
• Wage records: pay stubs or W-2s covering roughly the year before the injury, including overtime, and information about any second employer.
• Medical records you have, work restrictions or off-duty slips, and any treatment requests the carrier has denied or ignored.
• Payment history: when checks started, the weekly amount, and when they changed or stopped.
• Photographs you already took and the names and contact information of coworkers who saw what happened.

What not to do

Do not return to a hazardous area to take pictures, and do not try to access company records you are not authorized to see. A lawyer can request records through proper channels, and the employer's report and the carrier's file are obtainable. Preserve what you lawfully have; do not create new problems collecting more.

How you were hurt—a crane load, a forklift, a container, a fall between vessel and dock—points to the evidence that matters most. Accident-specific guidance is on longshore accident and injury scenarios, and deadline questions are on LHWCA notice and filing deadlines.

LHWCA Benefits Can Address Medical Care and Lost Earning Capacity

For a worker the Act covers, two categories of benefit matter most.

Medical benefits

Under 33 U.S.C. § 907, the employer must furnish medical, surgical, and other treatment reasonably necessary for the work injury, for as long as the nature of the injury requires. That includes hospital care, prescriptions, therapy, prosthetics, and related travel. You generally have the right to choose your initial treating physician; changing doctors afterward usually requires approval. Disputes over who chose the doctor, whether a procedure was "necessary," and whether the carrier's examining physician's opinion controls are common, and each is handled differently.

A frequent misconception: reaching maximum medical improvement (MMI) ends medical care. It does not. MMI is the point at which your condition has stabilized; it shifts your disability classification from temporary to permanent. Ongoing, injury-related medical treatment remains compensable after MMI when it is reasonable and necessary.

Disability compensation

Compensation under 33 U.S.C. § 908 depends on two things: your average weekly wage under § 910 and your disability category—temporary or permanent, total or partial. For certain body parts, permanent partial disability follows a statutory schedule; for other injuries, such as the back or neck, it is based on loss of wage-earning capacity.

Compensation for total disability is generally two-thirds of the average weekly wage, but that figure is subject to statutory maximum and minimum rates that change each October, and partial-disability payments use different measures. So "two-thirds of my paycheck" is a starting point, not an entitlement. The average weekly wage itself is where many errors hide: a carrier that ignores overtime, seasonal patterns, or a second job can understate the figure for the life of the claim.

Two things LHWCA benefits are not

They are not maintenance and cure. That is the seaman's remedy, with its own rules, covered at maintenance and cure claims. And they do not include damages for pain and suffering. The statute compensates lost earning capacity and pays for treatment; it does not compensate the experience of being injured. That is why the third-party claims discussed below can matter so much.

Survivor benefits

When a covered injury causes death, 33 U.S.C. § 909 provides benefits to eligible survivors—principally a surviving spouse and dependent children—calculated as percentages of the worker's average weekly wage, plus funeral expenses within a statutory limit. Families facing a fatal accident often have additional questions about vessel or third-party liability; those are addressed on maritime wrongful death claims.

Rates, schedules, wage-calculation methods, disability categories, and MMI disputes are covered in depth on LHWCA benefits and compensation.

If Benefits Are Denied or Stopped, How Can the Dispute Move Forward?

A carrier's denial—often delivered as a "notice of controversion"—is the carrier's position. It is not a ruling. Nothing in the statute makes the insurer the final decision-maker on your claim.

First, identify which problem you actually have

Different denials call for different responses:

• Coverage denied outright ("not a Longshore employee," "not a covered location," "not work-related") requires evidence about your duties, the location, and medical causation.
• Treatment denied or delayed turns on medical necessity, physician choice, and the carrier's grounds for refusal.
• Payments reduced usually means a dispute over the average weekly wage or a reclassification from total to partial disability.
• Payments stopped after a medical examination often means the carrier claims MMI, a release to work, or suitable alternative employment—each of which can be contested with treating-physician opinions and vocational evidence.

Before choosing a response, a lawyer reviews the stated reason, the payment history, the medical evidence on both sides, the wage basis, and any work restrictions. The right argument depends on which dispute you actually have.

The dispute path

1. OWCP district office. Disputes begin with the Department of Labor's Longshore district office, which can hold an informal conference and issue a written recommendation. Recommendations are not binding, though a carrier's refusal to follow one can affect who pays attorney fees later.
2. Formal hearing. If informal resolution fails, either party may request a hearing before the Department of Labor's Office of Administrative Law Judges (33 U.S.C. § 919). This is a trial-type proceeding with testimony, exhibits, and a written decision and order.
3. Appeal. A party dissatisfied with the judge's decision may appeal to the Benefits Review Board within the time set by 33 U.S.C. § 921, and from there to the federal court of appeals—for Louisiana claims, the Fifth Circuit.

A hearing is not a goal in itself; it is leverage and, when necessary, a decision. The Act also includes protections against discharging or discriminating against a worker for claiming compensation (33 U.S.C. § 948a). That is a real legal prohibition, but a statute is not a guarantee of your employer's behavior, and workers who fear retaliation should raise that concern early.

What counsel adds at each stage is evidence development (independent medical opinions, vocational assessments, wage documentation), controlled communication with the carrier, hearing preparation, and honest evaluation of any settlement offer against the benefits at stake. Detailed treatment-rights and payment questions are on LHWCA benefits and compensation.

Can I Receive LHWCA Benefits and Also Bring a Vessel or Third-Party Claim?

Sometimes, yes. The Act makes compensation the exclusive remedy against your employer (33 U.S.C. § 905(a)), but it preserves negligence claims against others.

Vessel negligence under Section 905(b)

If your injury was caused by the negligence of a vessel—its owner, operator, or crew—33 U.S.C. § 905(b) allows a covered worker to sue the vessel for damages even while receiving compensation from the employer. Examples include a ship's crew failing to warn stevedores of a hazard the crew knew about, or a vessel turning over cargo gear in a dangerous condition.

Section 905(b) is a negligence claim; it does not give longshore workers the unseaworthiness remedy available to seamen. The statute also places restrictions on who may bring the claim and against what conduct—especially where the employer also owns, operates, or charters the vessel. Whether those restrictions reach your situation is a fact question that requires individualized review, not assumption. Vessel-duty standards, the employer-as-vessel rules, and how these claims are proven are on Section 905(b) vessel claims.

Other third parties under Section 933

33 U.S.C. § 933 preserves claims against persons or entities other than your employer—and other than coworkers protected by the Act's fellow-employee immunity—whose negligence contributed to the injury: a terminal operator, another contractor, an equipment manufacturer, a trucking company. Whether any of them is actually liable depends on the applicable law and the facts. These are full damages claims, including pain and suffering, and they are pursued in court rather than before OWCP. Broader third-party representation is discussed at third-party maritime injury claims.

Why coordination matters before anything is signed

Compensation and third-party claims interact:

• The employer or carrier that paid benefits is generally entitled to a credit or reimbursement out of a third-party recovery under § 933.
• Under § 933(g), settling a third-party claim for less than your compensation entitlement without the employer's and carrier's written approval can forfeit your right to further LHWCA benefits, including medical care.
• Settlement timing on one claim can change the value of the other.

Additional liability is never automatic. Many longshore injuries involve no negligent third party at all, and a lawyer's job is to screen honestly rather than to promise a lawsuit. Coordination details are on third-party claims alongside LHWCA benefits.

LHWCA Attorney Fees and Settlements Require Their Own Rules

The Longshore Act regulates attorney fees more tightly than ordinary personal-injury practice, and workers deserve a straight explanation.

Fees must be approved

Under 33 U.S.C. § 928 and 20 CFR Part 702, no attorney may collect a fee for LHWCA work unless the fee is approved by the deciding official—the district director, the administrative law judge, the Benefits Review Board, or the court, depending on where the work was performed. The approving official considers the complexity of the case, the time spent, and the result.

Who pays

The statute shifts the approved fee to the employer or carrier in defined situations: broadly, under § 928(a), when the employer or carrier declines to pay any compensation within 30 days of receiving notice of the claim from OWCP and the worker later succeeds with a lawyer's help; and under § 928(b), when the employer pays or tenders some compensation, rejects a written recommendation after an informal conference, and the worker then obtains more than the employer was willing to pay. Where the statutory conditions are not met, an approved fee may become a lien against the worker's compensation. Costs and expenses—medical records, expert reports, depositions—are handled separately from the attorney fee.

Because of these rules, a generic "no fee unless we win" slogan does not accurately describe LHWCA representation. Before signing with any lawyer, ask how the fee will be approved, who is expected to pay it, what happens if fee-shifting does not apply, and how expenses are handled—and get the answers in writing.

Settlements

Under 33 U.S.C. § 908(i), an LHWCA settlement must be submitted in writing and approved, with the reviewing official considering whether it is adequate and whether it was procured by duress; the statute sets its own approval procedures and timelines. An approved settlement discharges the employer's liability for the rights it resolves. Some settlements close disability compensation but leave medical benefits open; others close both. Which rights you are giving up should be stated plainly in the agreement, not assumed.

Before agreeing to any settlement, get clear answers to these questions:

• What future treatment does my treating physician anticipate, and is medical care included in this settlement or excluded from it?
• What is my realistic work capacity, and how does the offer compare to the compensation I would receive if the claim stayed open?
• Who is paying the attorney fee, and has it been submitted for approval?
• What expenses will be deducted?
• Do I have a pending or potential third-party claim, and has § 933(g) consent been addressed?

Benefit valuation is discussed on LHWCA benefits and compensation, and settlement coordination with other claims on third-party claims alongside LHWCA benefits.

Longshore Representation in New Orleans and Along the Gulf Coast

Hiring a maritime lawyer for a Longshore claim should turn on what that lawyer will actually examine: whether the employer's label is right, where the deadlines stand, whether treatment is moving, whether the wage basis and disability classification match your pay history and your medicine, whether anyone other than your employer is responsible, and whether any settlement offer is worth the rights it closes. Those are the questions this page has walked through, and they are the questions a review of your matter should answer.

The Young Firm is based in New Orleans and represents injured workers throughout Louisiana and the Gulf Coast. The firm's broader maritime practice—Jones Act, offshore, barge, and towboat work—is described on the homepage; this page is limited to Longshore representation.

Legal Sources for This LHWCA Guidance

The statements on this page are general explanations of federal law, not a determination of any individual worker's rights. The authorities referenced are:

• 33 U.S.C. Chapter 18, the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act, in particular § 902 (definitions and exclusions), § 903 (coverage and situs), § 905 (exclusive employer liability and vessel negligence), § 907 (medical benefits), § 908 (disability compensation and settlements), § 909 (death benefits), § 910 (average weekly wage), § 912 (notice), § 913 (claim filing), § 919 and § 921 (proceedings and review), § 928 (attorney fees), § 930 (employer reports), § 933 (third-party claims), and § 948a (discrimination).
• 20 CFR Part 702, the Department of Labor regulations governing claims administration, medical care, informal conferences, hearings, settlements, and fee approval.
• 43 U.S.C. § 1333(b), the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act provision extending LHWCA benefits to certain offshore injuries.
• U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Workers' Compensation Programs, Division of Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation, published guidance and forms. Agency guidance explains how the program is administered; it does not override the statute or the courts.

The coverage, seaman-status, and vessel-negligence tests summarized above have been shaped by decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Those decisions control how the statute applies to Louisiana workers, they turn on individual facts, and they are not summarized case-by-case on this page. Statutory maximum and minimum compensation rates change annually, and case law develops. The current text of the statute, the regulations, and the Department of Labor's forms should be consulted for any filing.

Request a Review of Your LHWCA Coverage, Treatment, or Payments

You do not need a complete file, a correct legal label, or a clear picture of your rights to ask for help. You need to describe the problem.

To begin, The Young Firm needs only:

• Your name and how to reach you.
• What you were doing for work and roughly where you were hurt.
• When the injury happened, or when you first connected your condition to your work.
• What is wrong right now: treatment not authorized, checks stopped or reduced, a denial letter, a settlement offer, or a coverage question.

Hold medical records and other identifying documents until you have been told how to send them; do not attach them to an initial email.

Two things an inquiry does not do: it does not by itself make the firm your lawyer—representation begins only when the firm agrees to take your case—and it does not file an LHWCA claim or stop any deadline under §§ 912 or 913. If your one-year window may be close, say so at the start so that filing can be addressed first.