How Does the Jones Act Protect Offshore Workers?

For offshore workers, the Jones Act dates back many decades. It was a law that was passed to protect workers who basically were in an environment where they couldn’t walk off the job. So when we talk about a Jones Act seaman, we’re talking about somebody who’s out there on a moving vessel. It can’t be a fixed platform, it would have to be like a jack-up rig or some other type of movable vessel, but if they’re on that movable vessel, they can have the benefits of the Jones Act to protect them. The idea again was that if you’re on land and you see something unsafe occurring or you don’t like what they’re asking you to do, you can literally go get in your car and drive off, but when you’re out offshore in the Gulf of Mexico, you can’t walk off the job, you can’t go grab your canoe and head in. You are stuck there, you are there. So the Jones Act basically was something that allows workers, unlike shore-based workers, to actually sue their employer, and they can sue their employer for all of the typical remedies that would be available in a lawsuit against somebody who was not your employer. And so for the Jones Act, you’re able to get a lawsuit against your employer and other companies, but the Jones Act is specifically dealing with your employer. The other thing that you have as a Jones Act seaman is you would have the benefits of a thing called maintenance and cure, and so if you’re injured, again, this is similar to workers’ compensation, if you’re injured, regardless of who’s fault it is, you would be able to get money on a weekly basis to pay for your maintenance, that is your sustenance, your surviving, and then your cure, that is your medical treatment. As a practical matter, the maintenance and cure is usually an extremely small amount of money. It seems often times it would be hard for anybody to survive on that, but unlike shore-based workers with workers’ compensation, getting maintenance and cure does not prevent you from suing your employer, and the Jones Act allows you to continue to do that.