§905 Exclusiveness of liability

Summary

An employer’s duty under section 904 is the only legal responsibility the employer has for a worker’s injury or death for the worker, the worker’s family, and anyone who could sue for those losses. If the employer does not secure the required workers’ compensation payments under this chapter, the injured worker (or the worker’s legal representative if the worker dies) can choose either the compensation system or to sue the employer in court. If the worker sues, the employer cannot defend the case by saying a co-worker was at fault, that the worker accepted the risk, or that the worker was partly to blame. A contractor is treated as the employer of a subcontractor’s workers only if the subcontractor failed to secure payment under section 904. If a vessel’s negligence causes the injury, the injured person or their representatives can sue the vessel as a third party under section 933. The employer may not recover those damages from the vessel, and contracts saying otherwise are void. Special limits bar such suits when the injured person was working as a stevedore for the vessel, or when doing shipbuilding, repair, or breaking and the employer is the vessel’s owner, agent, operator, or charterer. Vessel liability cannot be based on a claim the vessel wasn’t seaworthy. The rules in subsection (b) also apply when benefits come under section 1333 of title 43, and they do not stop enforceable agreements where employer and vessel agree to defend and indemnify each other.