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Ashcraft & Gerel
LLP
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DEFENSE BASE ACT WORKERS' COMPENSATION CLAIMS
[Although our offices are located in Maryland (MD), Virginia (VA) and Washington, D.C. (DC), our Defense Base Act practice is national in scope, and we are handling many cases around the country. Therefore, regardless of what state you're from, please complete our inquiry form on this web site or email us so that we can have a Defense Base Act lawyer contact you.]
Over the past ten years, many civilian workers have been hired by American companies to work on projects overseas. At present, thousands more are in Iraq or in neighboring countries in the Middle East working on reconstructing that war torn region or assisting the American military. Companies such as Halliburton, Kellogg, Brown & Root (KBR), Bechtel, Dyncorp and CACI, among others, are under contract to the U. S. Government, and their workers are frequently placed in harm's way because of the unsettled and dangerous conditions in Iraq. At the same time, other workers have continued to be hired to build embassies and other United States government buildings in foreign countries from London to Moscow and on to Kyrgyzstan. US military forces can be found around the world in Germany, Italy, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Turkey, Japan, Korea, Hungary, Spain, Iceland, Guam, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Panama and elsewhere, and wherever civilian contractors are brought in to aid in the mission of the United States government, whether associated with a military presence or not, their employees are at risk of on the job injuries.
Since Ashcraft & Gerel's lawyers were experienced in handling standard workmens' comp cases for over 50 years, it was natural that the demand for our services would extend our practice to the workers' comp cases of employees of American companies doing the business of the US Government overseas. Ashcraft & Gerel's lawyers currently represent numerous workers in pursuing their cases arising out of a variety of injuries, from head, shoulder, back, neck, arm, hand, knee, leg or foot injuries all the way to gunshot wounds producing catastrophic injury and death, and we are happy to assist these claimants or their families in filing a claim and securing proper workers' compensation benefits under the Defense Base Act, a federal workers' compensation law covering such injuries. Often, employers are reluctant or slow to report compensable injuries which, in turn, delays the processing of the claim and the payment to injured workers. Just as often, the prompt acceptance and payment of a case may lead the injured worker into thinking he or she does not neeed a lawyer, and often large sums of money to which the injured worker didn't know he or she was entitled, go unclaimed. The simple fact is that the insurance company has a lawyer available to provide it with a steady stream of legal advice on these claims, and unless the injured worker retains a lawyer to assist on the case, he or she is at the mercy of those who know the system and know how to minimize what they are required to pay. The way the Defense Base Act is set up in terms of attorneys fees (no up front attorney fee is required, all lawyer fees must be approved and an attorney fee is contingent and will only be owed if we are able to collect funds for you), any injured worker can afford to retain his or her own lawyer. Ashcraft & Gerel's attorneys stand ready to help.
Workers who take the risks associated with the Iraq rebuilding process or any other worker employed by a US government contractor working in a foreign country should be compensated in a timely and complete fashion under the Defense Base Act. Under that law, injured workers or the families of workers who are killed, who properly present a Defense Base Act case are eligible to receive weekly benefits for time lost from work or lost pay, dependent benefits to the families of workers who are killed, as well as complete coverage for medical bills and expenses. Further, in cases involving injuries to the extremities resulting in a permanent impairment, an experienced Defense Base Act lawyer may be successful in getting the injured worker compensated with what is sometimes a large award for permanent disability benefits. Even if the injury is not to the extremities, if it results in a later inability to perform the same or a similar job, the attorney may be able to show that the injured worker is entitled to receive an award for additional, substantial benefits for loss of wage earning capacity.
As in most workers' compensation laws, the Defense Base Act requires the employer to purchase a workers' compensation insurance policy covering Defense Base Act claims, and the insurance company issuing the policy will pay any benefits that your lawyer is able to obtain for you by virtue of a settlement or an award. The employer must purchase separate Defense Base Act insurance coverage and may not rely upon the workers' compensation policy purchased for work at home. The Defense Base Act also covers individuals hurt while working on a short term or temporary work assignment for a United States government contractor in a foreign country.
A cautionary note: the Defense Base Act requires notice of the injury to be given in writing to the employer within thirty days, and any actual claim for benfits must be filed within one year of the date of injury. Most employers simply do not inform or warn injured workers of these or other requirements or benefits under the law. Failure to follow these rules could result in a denial of the case, leaving the worker to bear the entire cost of the injury. Furthermore, there are additional time limits to claim some of the benefits alluded to in this article. All of this points to the urgency of injured workers obtaining experienced lawyers to represent them on their cases.
If you have a Defense Base Act case or think you may be eligible for these benefits as a result of an overseas (nonmilitary) injury and would like to speak to one of our lawyers, please e-mail us or complete the help inquiry form on this web site. Alternatively, you may call Ashcraft & Gerel on our toll free number at 1-800-725-6470, and ask for Mark Schaffer, the lawyer in our firm who is in charge of our Defense Base Act claims. We can help you to obtain benefits that are rightfully yours. All inquiries will be handled promptly.
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