SUMMARY OF ARTICLE: Hostilities in Eastern Europe, Afghanistan, and most recently Iraq and other countries in the Middle East have caused many employers concern and uncertainty over workers’ compensation exposures to employees working in those parts of the world. Many consultants, technical representatives, advisors and all variety of workers have been sent overseas to assist directly or indirectly with the war effort. Many construction workers have already been sent to assist in the rebuilding of war-torn Iraq. Those whose memories do not date back to the Vietnam era may not be familiar with the two primary federal statutes which address these matters – the Defense Base Act (“DBA”) [42 U.S.C.S. § 1651 et seq.] and the War Hazards Compensation Act (“WHCA”) [42 U.S.C.S. § 1701 et seq.] – although all one has to do is pick up a newspaper, magazine or turn on the nightly news to read or hear the latest. A brief synopsis of the DBA may be useful both as to events that may have happened or that may happen, as our military involvement hopefully winds down and the rebuilding effort gears up.

 

The DBA was enacted in 1941, at least partially in anticipation of the United States' imminent involvement in World War II. Its purpose was to protect American citizens who travel abroad to work on foreign U.S. military bases by affording them a uniform scheme of workers' compensation benefits delivered in an expeditious manner. Today, many of those covered are non-citizens or resident aliens in the United States because they fall into coverage as employees of U.S. contractors or their sub-contractors unless specifically waived pursuant to the DBA.

 

Coverage under the Act was later amended to extend coverage to employees who are employed in “public work” as defined by the Act. Overall, the DBA has served its purposes well by affording a workers' compensation remedy based on the benefits afforded under the LHWCA to non-military and non-government civilian employees when they are injured at work under one or more of the six circumstances outlined in Sec.1(a)(1)-(6) of the Act [See 42 U.S.C.S. § 1651(a)(1)-(6)].

 

This expert commentary written by Roger A. Levy, who is Of Counsel to Laughlin, Falbo, Levy & Moresi, San Francisco, and specializes in the defense of cases brought under the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act, examines the purpose of the DBA, benefits and administration of the DBA, the Office of Administrative Law Judges’ Fast Track policy, discovery issues, foreign national claimants, earnings spike for workers overseas, and zone of special danger. As explained by Mr. Levy, “Over the past 66 years, though, the playing field has changed. American activity overseas has escalated and has taken on a more pervasive persona. In response to this change, the DBA is being applied under circumstances which were probably never contemplated by its authors.”

 

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