The Defense Base Act applies to civilian employees under contract to the United States to perform “public works” outside the continental United States. This includes many civilians working in conjunction with the U.S. military or other government agencies in Afghanistan, Iraq, and on military, air, and naval bases outside the United States. An experienced Defense Base Act Lawyer understands your next moves.
Unfortunately, this work is often dangerous and employees can be injured, even killed. If this happens to you or a family member, you need to contact the Law Offices of Charles D. Naylor, a qualified Defense Base Act attorney.
The Defense Base Act, enacted in 1941, is an extension of the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (LHWCA). It provides disability compensation and medical benefits to employees and death benefits to eligible survivors of covered workers.
Examples of covered workers include, but are not limited to:
- Bomb disposal experts
- Private security
- PMC (private military contractor-former soldier/police officer)
- Engineers
- Medics and Medical Teams
- Truck drivers
- Translators and Interpretors
- Constructor workers
- Technicians
- Electricians
- Consultants
- Utility workers
- Project managers
- Carpenters
- Non-military support staff
The Defense Base Act also covers American civilian employees providing welfare or similar services outside the U.S. for the benefit of the military such as the United Service Organizations (USO).
Companies who employ non-military civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan include KBR, Halliburton, Blackwater Security, General Electric, Lockheed Martin, L-3 Communications, DynCorp International, Titan Security, and Environmental Chemical Corp., to name a few.
When to Hire a Defense Base Act Attorney
While one war is over for you in the Middle East, another war is beginning in your own backyard: The war of receiving benefits and treatment for the injuries suffered or the fight for loved ones to receive wrongful death compensation.
What should be straightforward is instead a maze of complex forms and bureaucratic red tape to stymie the uninitiated, the injured, the stressed, and the saddened non-military civilians and their next of kin.
Under the Defense Base Act, your employer or its insurance carrier is supposed to voluntarily provide you with the benefits you are entitled to. If they do not, you are generally entitled to have a Defense Base Act Lawyer represent you at the expense of your employer or its insurance carrier.
Contact a Defense Base Act Lawyer
The expertise you are looking for is uncommon. You need a Defense Base Act attorney. Most lawyers are not familiar with the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (LHWCA), and do not understand how it is applied through the Defense Base Act.
The Defense Base Act attorneys at the Law Offices of Charles D. Naylor can tell you your rights and your responsibilities under the Defense Base Act.
There is no cost and no obligation for this free information. If you do want one of our lawyers to represent you, there are no attorney fees unless you are awarded benefits under the Defense Base Act. The same applies to next of kin seeking wrongful death compensation.
You can live anywhere in the United States and contact our office; there are no geographical boundaries. To arrange a free initial consultation with a Defense Base Act Lawyer, please call us today toll-free at 1-888-440-5829.
You can also contact us by using our free and confidential case review form located on this page, and we will follow up with you directly. We are always happy to answer any questions that you may have about the Defense Base Act.
