(310) 773-5207
Seamen who work on vessels that travel through dangerous areas may be at higher risk of injury. A California Jones Act lawyer at The Law Offices of Preston Easley, APC can evaluate whether you have a potential lawsuit against your employer.
Employers may try to escape liability for their actions in any way that they can. They may try to convince you that they gave you higher pay for a dangerous assignment, and as a result, you accepted the risks. Your rights under the Jones Act could not be clearer. If you qualify as a seaman, and you were injured by your employer’s negligence, you are entitled to financial compensation.
Do not let your employer escape liability for their careless actions or do anything else that can compromise your legal rights. Schedule a free initial consultation with a California Jones Act attorney at The Law Offices of Preston Easley, APC by calling us at 310-773-5207.
Shipping Companies May Be Offering Higher Wages Due to Global Dangers
It may be difficult for shipping companies to find seamen who are willing to serve on boats that travel through dangerous areas. For example, there have been recent tensions in both the Persian Gulf and Red Sea, which have raised the risks for crew members. To incentivize seamen to take the risk of traveling through these areas, employers may use extra bonuses and higher pay. If you are then injured in an incident in one of these zones, the employer may turn around and argue that you assumed the risk by accepting the higher pay.
To be clear, your rights under the Jones Act cannot be waived. These rights come from a statute that has been on the books for over 100 years, and there is nothing in the law that reads them out or allows for waiver.
Your Jones Act Rights Are Independent of Your Compensation
You maintain these rights during wartime conditions and regardless of the extra pay that you may have accepted. A bonus may compensate you for risk, and it may make you more likely to accept a certain position, but it does not serve to eliminate the employer’s liability. You still have rights when you are traveling through a high-conflict zone, and your employer still owes you the duty of care to act reasonably under the circumstances.
Paying more compensation does not protect your employer if they made an unreasonable routing decision, even if they were paying you more for a potentially dangerous voyage. To use an example from current events, even when your employer is paying you extra to sail in the Red Sea or Persian Gulf area, they may be acting unreasonably if they choose to attempt to pass through the Strait of Hormuz given the dangers. The same thing goes if your employer provided you a vessel that was unseaworthy in that it was not able to withstand attacks. These facts do not change, no matter how much your employer pays you.
Your Employer Cannot Disclaim Liability in a Contract
Your employer may try to assert a clause in your contract that disclaims liability because they have given you extra pay. Even if this clause exists in your agreement, it would be unenforceable. An employer cannot eliminate liability for their own negligence, and they cannot get you to waive liability prior to any injury for any reason, even if they are paying you more. They cannot insist on your waiving liability as a condition for any bonus or hazard pay.
The only way that you can waive your legal right to compensation is as part of a settlement agreement after you have already filed a claim. Then, you would be waiting for your right to Future compensation as consideration for the settlement check that you have received. It is not possible under the law to unknowingly waive your right to compensation solely because you accepted money before an injury.
Your employer may use a similar defense that argues that you accepted the risk by knowingly taking employment on a vessel that is sailing to a war zone. However, that defense would not get very far with the court because the Jones Act does not allow for it. In these cases, the strongest defenses that your employer would be able to use were the fact that they were not negligent or the fact that your actions contributed to your injury.
Contact a California Jones Act Law Firm Today
Take the first step to protecting your rights as an injured Seaman by contacting a California Jones Act lawyer at the Law Offices of Preston Easley, APC. You can schedule a free initial consultation by visiting our website or by calling us today at 310-773-5207.
Preston Easley is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD. He served five years of active duty as a Naval officer — three years as a deck officer on a fast frigate and two years as a patrol boat skipper. Mr. Easley also served aboard a tank landing ship in the reserves. Learn more here.
