Who Is a Seaman Under the Jones Act

Who Is a Seaman Under the Jones Act 

A federal statute known as the Jones Act allows employees to file negligence-based lawsuits against their maritime employers. However, in order to qualify under the Jones Act an injured maritime employee must meet the definition of a "seaman". The technical definition of a seaman states that the employee will be "more or less permanently assigned to a vessel or fleet of vessels in navigation." Each of the three main elements of this definition must be met in order for an injured maritime worker to qualify as a seaman under the Jones Act.

The initial requirement is that the injured employee be "more or less permanently" assigned to vessels or fleets of vessels. The more or less permanently has generally been interpreted to mean that the employee spends at least 30% of his working time aboard a vessel or fleet of vessels. This has come to be known as the "30% Rule". Usually this initial requirement is one of the easier requirements for the employee to satisfy since most maritime workers either spend a great deal of their time aboard vessels or they work land-based or fixed-platform jobs.

The second requirement in order to satisfy the definition of a "seaman" is that the employee must be assigned to work aboard a "vessel". Any type of traditional vessel such as a tug boat, crew boat, supply boat or other clearly defined United States Coast Guard vessels certainly satisfy this second requirement. However, in the Gulf of Mexico very many special purpose structures such as jack-up drilling rigs, semi-submersible drilling rigs and drill ships also have been defined as a vessel under the Jones Act. The United States Supreme Court has stated that any structure that is "practically capable of navigation" can meet the definition of a vessel under the Jones Act.


One other issue that is often addressed in regard to whether or not an employee is assigned to a "vessel" relates to whether the employee is assigned to multiple vessels. In other words, a maritime employee can also meet the definition of a seaman if he is assigned to a fleet of vessels (as opposed to one specific vessel) provided that the fleet of vessels are under common ownership or control. Very often a maritime employee will be assigned to work on various, multiple vessels but these vessels together will qualify as a "fleet of vessels" under the definition of a seaman under the Jones Act.

The last requirement necessary for a maritime worker to satisfy the definition of a seaman under the Jones Act is for the maritime worker to be assigned to a vessel "in navigation". This requirement has been broadly defined and as long as the maritime worker generally contributes to the mission of the vessel the courts have held that the vessel is "in navigation". Even if the vessel is temporarily moored or even stationary in the Gulf of Mexico as is common with special purpose vessels such as jack-up drilling rigs and lift boats, these structures will still be deemed "in navigation" even though they are not technically moving.

The federal Jones Act statute applies only to maritime workers who meet the technical definition of a "seaman" under the Act. Many maritime workers will simply allow their employers to determine the type of compensation scheme that the worker may fall under if he suffers an injury. However, the Jones Act is generally much more beneficial for the employee than other statutes such as the 

Longshore Act. It is very important for an injured maritime worker to learn the definition of a seaman and immediately determine if they satisfy that definition if they suffer an injury while working. If they are able to qualify under the Jones Act it is very likely that they will receive the largest possible recovery for their injury.


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Article Written By: Timothy Young