Title 33 › CHAPTER 18 — LONGSHORE AND HARBOR WORKERS’ COMPENSATION › § 902
Gives simple meanings for words used in this chapter. Person means an individual, partnership, corporation, or association. Injury means an accidental injury or death that happens while working, and job-related diseases or infections that naturally follow from the work or from such an accident, and it also covers harm done by a third person because of the employee’s job. Employee means someone doing maritime work (for example longshoremen, ship repairers, shipbuilders, ship‑breakers, or other harbor workers), but it does not include certain office, retail, marina, supplier/vendor, aquaculture, or recreational‑vessel workers, or a vessel’s master or crew, or people hired to work on small vessels under eighteen tons; the exclusions for the office/retail/marina/supplier/aquaculture/recreational‑vessel categories apply only if those workers are covered by a State workers’ compensation law. Employer means one whose workers do maritime jobs on U.S. navigable waters or on adjoining piers, wharves, dry docks, terminals, building ways, marine railways, or other nearby areas used to load, unload, repair, or build vessels. Carrier means an insurer allowed under section 932 to cover claims, and includes self‑insurers. Secretary means the Secretary of Labor. Deputy commissioner means the deputy commissioner who has jurisdiction over the injury or death. State includes Territories and the District of Columbia. United States (geographic) includes the States, Territories, and the District of Columbia, and their territorial waters. Disability means being unable to earn the same wages because of an injury; for claims described in section 910(d)(2) it means permanent impairment measured by the American Medical Association guides. Death as a basis for compensation means only death caused by an injury. Compensation means the money paid to an injured worker or their dependents under this chapter, and includes funeral benefits. Wages means the pay rate under the hiring contract at the time of injury, including any employer‑provided advantages counted for tax withholding under subtitle C of title 26, but does not include fringe benefits like employer payments to retirement, health, or similar benefit plans. Child, grandchild, brother, sister, parent, widow/widower, and adoption are defined to cover posthumous and adopted children, step and half relations, dependency rules, and parental standing after more than three years; married children or siblings are excluded unless wholly dependent. Student means a person in full‑time study at a U.S. or state‑supported school, an accredited school, a school whose credits transfer to at least three accredited schools, or another school type defined by the Secretary; student status ends at age twenty‑three or after four years beyond high school, with limited exceptions for semester continuation and interim gaps up to five months, and not while serving in the Armed Forces. National average weekly wage means average weekly earnings of production or nonsupervisory workers on private nonagricultural payrolls. Board means the Benefits Review Board. Vessel means any vessel tied to an injury or death and also refers to the vessel’s owner, agent, operator, charterer, master, officer, or crew member. Words in the singular include the plural, and masculine terms include feminine and neuter.
Full Legal Text
Navigation and Navigable Waters, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
Legislative History
Reference
Citation
33 U.S.C. § 902
Title 33, Navigation and Navigable Waters
Last Updated
Sep 22, 2026
Release point: 119-110