Maritime Law for Oil and Gas Workers in Louisiana

Maritime law applies to an oil-and-gas worker only when the injury is tied to a vessel or navigable water; the Jones Act, 46 U.S.C. § 30104, is the primary statute for an injured seaman and uses pure comparative fault, not Louisiana’s 51% bar. Trey Morris Injury Lawyers starts that maritime file from where the worker was and what structure they were on before Art. 2323 is applied to a seaman.

Does Maritime Law Apply to Oil and Gas Workers?

seaman

A maritime worker who spends at least 30% of working time contributing to the function of a vessel in navigation. Seaman status unlocks Jones Act rights including the right to sue an employer for negligence.

Maritime law applies to some oil and gas workers, but not all. The determining factor is your connection to a vessel in navigation. Under the test established in Chandris, Inc. v. Latsis, a worker qualifies as a seaman if two conditions are met. First, the worker’s duties must contribute to the function of the vessel or the accomplishment of its mission. Second, the worker must have a substantial connection to a vessel in navigation, generally meaning 30% or more of working time aboard.

OCSLA

Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act. A federal statute covering workers on fixed structures beyond state territorial waters on the continental shelf. It adopts the adjacent state’s law as surrogate federal law.

LHWCA

Longshore and Harbor Workers Compensation Act. A federal no-fault workers compensation program for maritime workers who are not seamen. Covers dock workers, shipyard employees, and harbor construction workers.

Workers on fixed platforms, docks, and shore facilities fall under different federal statutes. The OCSLA covers platform workers on the outer continental shelf. The LHWCA covers dock and harbor workers. Louisiana state workers compensation covers onshore refinery and pipeline employees.

Louisiana’s oil and gas industry supports 65,000 direct jobs and 270,000 indirect jobs. That workforce spans Gulf of Mexico deepwater operations, OCS platforms, inland waterways, port facilities, refineries, and onshore fields. Multiple federal laws can overlap for a single worker depending on job duties and location.

Federal admiralty jurisdiction is exclusively federal. State courts cannot hear admiralty cases. But state law can supplement federal maritime law where no federal statute addresses the issue. Federal agencies including the U.S. Coast Guard, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), and the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP) each regulate different aspects of maritime worker safety and compensation.

The Jones Act: Seamen on Vessels in Navigation

The Jones Act (46 U.S.C. 30104) is the primary federal statute protecting injured seamen. It allows qualified maritime workers to sue their employers for negligence. Oil and gas workers who qualify include crew boat operators, supply vessel deckhands, derrick barge crew, pipe-lay barge workers, and dive support vessel crew. Each must meet the seaman status test to bring a Jones Act claim.

The Chandris two-part test controls eligibility. Your duties must contribute to the vessel’s function or mission. And you must spend a substantial portion of your working time aboard a vessel in navigation. Courts generally apply the 30% threshold. A worker who splits time between a vessel and a shore office would need to show that vessel time constitutes at least 30% of total work time.

Jones Act claims use pure comparative fault. This is a critical distinction from Louisiana state law. Louisiana enacted a 51% bar under La. C.C. Art. 2323, meaning a plaintiff who is 51% or more at fault recovers nothing in state court. The Jones Act has no such bar. A Jones Act seaman who is 70% at fault can still recover 30% of damages.

Damages under the Jones Act include medical expenses, lost wages, future earning capacity, and pain and suffering. The statute also provides for maintenance and cure, an unconditional obligation requiring the employer to pay daily living expenses and medical treatment until the injured seaman reaches maximum medical improvement. Maintenance and cure does not require proving employer negligence. It exists independently of the negligence claim.

Jones Act seamen can also bring unseaworthiness claims under general maritime law. Unseaworthiness is a strict liability standard. If the vessel was not reasonably fit for its intended use, the vessel owner is liable regardless of negligence. This covers defective equipment, inadequate crew training, and unsafe working conditions aboard the vessel.

prescriptive period

Louisiana’s term for statute of limitations. The legal deadline to file a lawsuit. For personal injury, it is two years from the date of injury under La. C.C. Art. 3493.1 (effective July 1, 2024).

The Jones Act statute of limitations is three years from the date of injury (46 U.S.C. 30106). This is longer than Louisiana’s two-year prescriptive period under La. C.C. Art. 3493.1. However, the three-year period is a firm deadline. Missing it extinguishes the claim unless a narrow exception applies, such as when the employer misled you into waiting or a timely suit was filed in the wrong court. Trey Morris Injury Lawyers begins investigating Jones Act claims immediately because evidence from maritime accidents degrades quickly. Vessels change crews. Maintenance logs get overwritten. Witness memory fades.

OCSLA: Platform Workers on the Outer Continental Shelf

The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331 et seq.) covers oil and gas workers on fixed platforms, jack-up rigs, and other OCS installations beyond state territorial waters. OCSLA applies when the Jones Act does not because the worker is stationed on a fixed structure rather than a vessel in navigation.

comparative fault

A legal rule that reduces your recovery by your percentage of fault.

The critical legal feature of OCSLA is that it adopts the adjacent state’s law as surrogate federal law where no federal statute directly addresses the issue. For Louisiana OCS workers, this means Louisiana tort reform changes apply to OCSLA claims. The 51% comparative fault bar under La. C.C. Art. 2323 applies. The two-year prescriptive period under La. C.C. Art. 3493.1 applies. These are significant differences from Jones Act claims where federal maritime law controls exclusively.

Oil and gas workers covered under OCSLA include platform roughnecks, roustabouts, derrickmen, crane operators, wireline technicians, mudloggers, and production operators on fixed platforms. OCSLA claims are filed in federal court. The oil rig accident page covers rig-specific accident scenarios in detail.

The distinction between OCSLA and the Jones Act determines your deadline, your comparative fault exposure, and the range of damages available. Trey Morris Injury Lawyers evaluates every offshore injury case against both frameworks to determine which provides the strongest path to recovery.

LHWCA: Dock Workers, Shipyard Workers, and Harbor Employees

The Longshore and Harbor Workers Compensation Act (33 U.S.C. 901 et seq.) is a federal no-fault workers compensation program for maritime workers who do not qualify as seamen. It covers injuries occurring on navigable waters or adjoining areas such as docks, terminals, piers, and shipyards.

Eligibility requires meeting two tests. The status test requires that the worker’s duties involve maritime employment. The situs test requires that the injury occurred on navigable waters or an adjacent area used for loading, unloading, repairing, or building vessels. Oil and gas workers covered under LHWCA include dock loaders at Port Fourchon, pipe yard workers, fabrication yard employees, and shipyard repair crews along the Intracoastal Waterway.

LHWCA benefits include disability compensation at two-thirds of the worker’s average weekly wage, medical care, and vocational rehabilitation. The program does not require proving employer negligence. Benefits are paid through the employer’s insurance carrier, administered by the OWCP.

Section 33 of the LHWCA allows injured workers to file third-party negligence suits against non-employer tortfeasors. If a contractor’s defective equipment injured you at a port facility, you can collect LHWCA benefits from your employer and sue the equipment manufacturer or negligent contractor separately. The Longshore and Harbor Workers Act page explains eligibility and benefits in detail.

The LHWCA filing deadline is one year from the date of injury for the Form LS-203 administrative claim. This is shorter than the Jones Act’s three-year deadline or Louisiana’s two-year prescriptive period. Missing this deadline can forfeit benefits entirely. Trey Morris Injury Lawyers files the administrative claim first and evaluates Section 33 options in parallel.

How to Determine Which Law Applies to Your Situation

MODUs

Mobile Offshore Drilling Units. Drilling rigs that can be moved between locations. A MODU may qualify as a vessel when in transit and as a fixed platform when jacked up and stationary, changing which law applies to injured workers.

The central question is whether you are a seaman on a vessel in navigation or a land-based maritime worker. The answer is not always obvious. MODUs complicate this analysis. A jack-up rig is a vessel when it is being towed to a new location. It is a fixed platform when jacked up and stationary on the ocean floor. The law that covers your injury can change depending on what the rig was doing when you were hurt.

Workers who split time between vessels and platforms may qualify under different laws for different injuries. A worker injured while riding a crew boat is potentially a Jones Act seaman for that incident. The same worker injured on a fixed platform the following week may fall under OCSLA.

Here are common scenarios for Louisiana oil and gas workers:

• Crew boat worker transporting personnel to platforms: Jones Act.
• Roughneck on a jack-up rig while jacked up and stationary: OCSLA.
• Pipe-lay barge crew member: Jones Act. The barge is a vessel.
• Dock worker loading supplies at Port Fourchon: LHWCA.
• Onshore refinery worker at a Lake Charles facility: Louisiana state workers compensation, not maritime law.

Employer misclassification is common in the oil and gas industry. Companies sometimes classify workers as independent contractors or land-based employees when they actually qualify as seamen. This matters because seaman status unlocks Jones Act protections that are broader than OCSLA or LHWCA coverage. Trey Morris Injury Lawyers reviews employment records, vessel logs, and daily time reports to establish the actual percentage of time spent on vessels in navigation.

Death on the High Seas Act

The Death on the High Seas Act (DOHSA, 46 U.S.C. 30301 et seq.) provides wrongful death remedies for fatalities occurring beyond 12 nautical miles from the U.S. shore. For oil and gas workers, this covers deaths on deepwater platforms, supply vessels, and drilling ships in international waters.

DOHSA claims are available to the personal representative of the deceased on behalf of surviving family members. Compensatory damages include lost financial support, lost services, and funeral expenses. Congress has expanded DOHSA damages for commercial aviation accidents to include loss of care, comfort, and companionship. That expansion does not currently apply to all maritime deaths, though courts continue to address this distinction.

DOHSA can apply even when the Jones Act or OCSLA also covers the worker. The statutes overlap in deepwater settings. A family that loses a seaman on a supply vessel 50 miles offshore may have claims under both the Jones Act’s wrongful death provisions and DOHSA.

Louisiana’s Oil and Gas Industry and Maritime Law

Louisiana is one of the largest oil and gas producing states in the country. The state produces approximately 2% of total U.S. crude oil output along with significant natural gas production. Port Fourchon services roughly 90% of Gulf of Mexico deepwater oil production. The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP) is the only U.S. deepwater oil port.

Major oil and gas corridors in the state include the Gulf of Mexico OCS, the Intracoastal Waterway, the Calcasieu Ship Channel, and the Mississippi River industrial corridor. Parishes with concentrated offshore workforces include Terrebonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, Cameron, Calcasieu, Plaquemines, and Jefferson. Workers commute by helicopter and crew boat from shore bases in these parishes to offshore installations.

Active rig counts reflect the ongoing scale of operations. North Louisiana hosts approximately 30 rigs concentrated in the Haynesville Shale across Caddo and DeSoto parishes. South Louisiana has approximately 6 rigs operating in Lafourche, Calcasieu, Iberia, and St. Martin parishes. LNG terminal expansion in Cameron Parish is creating additional maritime vessel traffic and construction activity, introducing new injury risks for workers in that corridor.

New Gulf of Mexico deepwater fields are expected to begin production in 2025 and 2026, using subsea tiebacks and floating production units. These operations require maritime support vessels to transport crews, equipment, drilling fluids, and supplies. Every vessel in that supply chain creates Jones Act exposure for its crew members and LHWCA exposure for workers loading and unloading at port facilities.

The overlap of federal maritime law, OCSLA, LHWCA, and Louisiana state law across these operations makes legal representation essential for injured oil and gas workers. Trey Morris Injury Lawyers handles maritime injury claims across all of these jurisdictions. Our attorneys are admitted to practice in Louisiana federal courts covering the Eastern, Western, and Middle Districts.