Maritime Employment Contracts

Working as a seaman or maritime employee isn’t like most 9 to five jobs. Sailors, seamen, commercial fishermen, and other at-sea employees may go voyage-to-voyage for various employers on a contractual basis. Even long-term employees may have employment contracts.

Contractual obligations can sometime pose unique issues, including where a lawsuit must be filed. However, the terms within the contract don’t eliminate your rights once you are injured on the work.

Independent Contractors and New Orleans On-the-Job Injuries

The Jones Act protects seamen’s rights to recover after being injured on the work thanks to employer negligence. However, many employers will argue that folks working for them aren’t employees, but rather independent contractors.

An independent contractor may be a freelance who is hired to perform a selected service. within the shipping and maritime industry, seamen could also be hired to figure on a specific vessel on a specific voyage. Workers service to the corporate could end when the voyage ends. He or she may go for a completely different company on a special ship subsequent week.

After an injury, the employer may plan to use those argument to say that you simply aren’t an employee and thus , don’t qualify for protections under the Jones Act. However, albeit you’re on contract for a specific job and not a permanent employee, you continue to may qualify as an employee under the Act.

If you, as an employee, are under contract, the court may check out a spread of things to work out whether you qualify as an employee rather than an independent contractor, including:

The amount of supervision placed on you;
The control over the small print of your work;
How you were paid;
The power of the employer to rent and fire workers; and
The nature of your relationship with the employer.
If you were on contract, but were under direct supervision, your supervisor had day-to-day control over what you were doing, you were paid by direct deposit and will not hire somebody else to try to to the work you were contracted to try to to , as an example , there’s an honest chance you’re an employee for the needs of the Act.

A similar analysis applies for contract workers under the Longshore and Harbor Workers Compensation Act if you’re a land-based maritime employee under contract. Contract maritime employees, under many circumstances, can even recover under maintenance and cure provisions, which permit for workers compensation-like payments and coverage of medical expenses.

Maritime Attorney for Contract Employees
Your contract does not have to stand in the way of you recovering for an on-the-job injury.
New Orleans maritime contract lawyers will fight for you. Contact Us Today