Maintenance and Cure

Ship owners are required to provide certain benefits to injured or sick maritime workers. However, only those injuries or illnesses sustained as a result of or manifesting themselves during service to a maritime employee’s ship are subject to maintenance and cure. Additionally, in order to be eligible for benefits associated with maintenance and cure, seamen or maritime worker must be employed in service to the ship on which the injuries or illnesses occur.

Maintenance

Maintenance refers to the money paid to a crewmember to cover food and lodging while they are off work recovering from their injuries or illness. Maintenance is usually equal to the value of the food and lodging a seaman would have received while serving aboard the vessel. While each case is different, daily maintenance rates may or may not be set by an employment contract. If there is no agreed to rate, the court will decide how much an injured worker should be paid or reimbursed.

Cure

Cure refers to the right of a crewmember to receive medical care and treatment for injuries and illnesses sustained while working on a vessel. Cure includes hospitalization, care by a doctor or nurse, and other needed medical services for the treatment of their condition. Cure requires that an injury or condition be caused by, or related to, a crewmember’s service to a vessel. As such, pre-existing conditions or injuries that result from activities unrelated to one’s service aboard a vessel are usually not covered. A seaman’s right to cure does not end after the mission of their vessel has been accomplished. The right to cure continues until an injured or sick maritime worker has been restored to health or the medical limit of the benefit has run out.

Wages: Maintenance and Cure

An injured seaman is entitled to lost wages as a component of maintenance and cure. Lost wages are guaranteed until the end of a voyage and are not dependent upon whether a ship owner or an employer is at fault.

Maintenance and Cure: When an Employer is Liable

Recovering under maintenance and cure increases when it can be demonstrated that a ship’s owner or an employer was negligent. Unsafe working conditions, disrepair of a ship, or an improperly prepared crew comprise what is referred to as the “unseaworthiness” of a vessel. When employer or owner negligence causes injuries and illness, seamen may recover costs associated with future medical expenses, lost wages and lost earnings, and loss in quality of life.

Evaluating Your Case

Employers don’t always tell injured employees what their rights are and what benefits they are entitled to under the law. If you’ve been injured in an accident at sea, contact Bailey & Galyen. Our maritime lawyers will protect your job and help you recover the benefits owed you under the law.