Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act (LHWCA)

The LHWCA is a federal workers' compensation law that pays medical care, disability benefits, and survivor benefits to maritime workers (such as longshoremen, shipbuilders, ship repairers, and harbor workers) who are injured or develop occupational diseases like asbestosis or mesothelioma from their work. Like other workers' compensation systems, it is a no-fault program: you do not need to prove your employer was negligent, but in exchange, you generally cannot sue your employer in court.

Origin

Congress enacted the LHWCA in 1927 to fill a gap left by state workers' compensation laws, which the Supreme Court had ruled could not cover injuries occurring on navigable waters. It was significantly amended in 1972 to extend coverage landward to adjoining piers, wharves, and shipyards, and to increase benefit levels.

Significance in Asbestos Context

Many people with asbestos diseases worked in shipyards or on docks during the era of heavy Navy and merchant ship construction and repair (1940s–1970s), where asbestos insulation was used throughout vessels. The LHWCA is often the route to lifetime medical coverage and disability benefits from the employer where the exposure occurred, but it also limits your ability to sue that same employer directly. Importantly, the LHWCA does NOT block claims against third parties (the asbestos product manufacturers, insulation suppliers, and contractors whose materials caused the exposure), and most asbestos recoveries for shipyard workers come from those third-party lawsuits and asbestos trust funds, not from the LHWCA itself.

Example Sentence

After her husband, a former Newport News shipyard pipefitter, was diagnosed with mesothelioma, the family filed an LHWCA claim for his medical bills and disability while their attorney separately pursued the asbestos product manufacturers.

Related Terms

Jones Act, Shipyard Worker Exposure, Workers' Compensation, Third-Party Claim, Occupational Disease, Asbestos Trust Fund

Notes

• Gather employment records (W-2s, union records, DD-214 if Navy-civilian, shipyard badge records) showing dates and locations of maritime work. These are essential for both the LHWCA claim and any third-party asbestos lawsuit.
• File the LHWCA claim within one year of when you knew (or should have known) the disease was work-related; for survivors, within one year of death. Asbestos diseases have long latency, so the clock typically starts at diagnosis, not at exposure.
• Ask your attorney whether you fall under the LHWCA, the Jones Act (for seamen on vessels in navigation), the Defense Base Act (overseas military contractors), or state workers' comp. Coverage determines which benefits and which lawsuits are available.
• An LHWCA claim against your employer does not prevent you from suing asbestos product manufacturers or filing against asbestos bankruptcy trusts; pursue both tracks in parallel.
• Claims are administered by the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Workers' Compensation Programs (OWCP); disputes go before an Administrative Law Judge, not a regular court.