Supreme Court to hear case determining LHWCA wage time frame

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Supreme Court said Tuesday that it will hear a case to determine the amount of weekly disability benefits employers are liable for under the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act.

Under the federal law, compensation for disabled maritime workers is capped at twice the fiscal year's national average weekly wage as determined by the U.S. Labor Department secretary.

The secretary's determination applies to permanent total disability cases and to survivor benefits, court records in Dana Roberts vs. Sea-Land Services Inc. et al. show.

Slipped on ice

The case involves Mr. Roberts, who slipped on ice, injuring his neck and shoulder in 2002, while working as a gatehouse dispatcher for Sea-Land Services in Dutch Harbor, Alaska.

He ceased work shortly afterward and sought compensation under the LHWCA.

In 2006, an administrative law judge determined that because the claimant was entitled to receive compensation for a permanent total disability during 2005, he was eligible for that year's national average weekly wage of $1,073.64, rather than the weekly wage of $966.08 applicable in 2002, the year the injury occurred.

In 2010, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed.

The appeals court also found that Mr. Roberts was not entitled to the maximum compensation rate for fiscal year 2007, when the administrative law judge issued his order.

The Supreme Court now will determine whether the national average wage provision applies for the year during which an employee suffers a disabling injury or the year during which a formal compensation order is issued.