Section 22.30 Disability or Death

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1. (§22.30) Disability or Death

LHWCA establishes a workers’ compensation system for those maritime workers whose injuries or death, arising in the course of their employment, come under the provisions of LHWCA. LHWCA is administered by the Secretary of Labor through the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs. 33 U.S.C. § 939; 20 C.F.R. § 1.2. Territorial jurisdiction is exercised by deputy commissioners presiding over the 13 compensation districts established by law. See20 C.F.R. §§ 1.1, 1.2.

Compensation for disability or death is payable under LHWCA only if the disability or death results from an injury occurring on the navigable waters of the United States. 33 U.S.C. § 903(a). Federal compensation jurisdiction is now considered to extend to all injuries on navigable waters, whether or not a particular injury might also have been within the constitutional reach of the state workers’ compensation law. See Calbeck v. Travelers Ins. Co., 370 U.S. 114 (1962). "Disability" is defined as an:

incapacity because of injury to earn the wages...