What is  The Jones Act? The Jones Act governs transportation of merchandise between U.S. ports. To participate, a vessel must be built in the United States, flagged (or registered in the United States), be owned by a company with 75% U.S. ownership, and crewed by 75% American sailors. How Does The Jones Act Benefit Southeast Louisiana? Southeast Louisiana’s First Congressional District is number one for Jones Act jobs. • The district supports 33,590 jobs that generate an $8.97 billion economic impact for the state. • Between 2011 and 2016, 8,540 new Jones Act jobs were created in LA-01. • Louisiana overall has 70,780 Jones Act jobs with an $18.2 billion economic impact. • Nationally, the maritime industry supports 648,220 jobs and generates a $154.8 billion economic impact. How Does The Jones Act Benefit Injured Workers? The Jones Act is also helpful to injured Jones Act Seamen insofar as it allows an injured Jones Act Seaman to recover full compensation for his injuries. Most workers compensation systems such as the Louisiana Workers Compensation Act and Longshore & Harbor Workers Compensation Act only provide for a limited recovery, including weekly or biweekly wage loss benefits and medical benefits and limited death benefits for certain people. However, the Jones Act permits the Jones Act Seaman to recover for the seaman’s related past and future loss of income, expenses of medical care, pain and suffering and disability (loss of enjoyment of activities of normal life). For death, the seaman’s representative can recover for certain […]

If you are injured on the job and your job injury is covered by the Louisiana Workers Compensation Act, your healthcare providers will probably be paid according to the amounts set forth in the Louisiana Workers’ Compensation Fee Schedule. The Fee Schedule sets forth rates for reimbursement according to Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes. In the event there is no procedure code because of the procedure is relatively new, the reimbursement is made by report (“BR”). In this situation, it may be best for the healthcare provider to negotiate the fee before the procedure is performed otherwise the provider may be faced with negotiating the fee after the procedure is done.   If you are an injured worker or know of an injured worker who has questions about his or her weekly workers compensation payments or medical treatment, have him or her call workers compensation attorney Charles E Lavis  Jr at 1-866-558-9151 for a FREE  TELEPHONE CONSULTATION or contact him online.   For a copy of the Fee Schedule, see Maximum Reimbursement Allowances-Schedule Louisiana Office of Workers’s Comp_Title-40v01-(April-2014) at Page 407   If you are a medical provider or billing company and have questions about the Fee Schedule and updates and revision to it,  contact Medical Services Section Office of Workers’ Compensation P.O. Box 94040 Baton Rouge, LA 70804-9040 Telephone: (225) 342-7555 Fax: (225) 342-5665 owca@lwc.la.gov     READ WHAT OUR CLIENTS HAVE TO SAY “Charles Lavis Jr helped me out a couple of times with job injury cases. The insurance company tried to mess me over a couple of […]

Louisiana Workers Compensation Death Benefits provide payment to the deceased employee’s family, including a $8,500 funeral benefit. WHO RECEIVES BENEFITS AND IN WHAT ORDER? Dependents are paid according to this schedule: Widow/Widower (“Widow”): 32 ½ % of employee’s average weekly wage Widow and One Child: 46 ¼ % of employee’s average weekly wage Widow and Two or More Children: 65% of employee’s average weekly wage If no Widow & One child alone: 32 ½ % of employee’s average weekly wage If no Widow & Two Children alone: 46 ¼ % of employee’s average weekly wage If no Widow & Three or more Children alone: 65% of employee’s average weekly wage If no Widow or Children, then to dependent father or mother: 32 ½ % of employee’s average weekly wage If no Widow or Children, then to dependent father and mother: 65% of employee’s average weekly wage If there are neither widow, widower, nor child, nor dependent parent entitled to compensation, then to one brother or sister, 32 ½ % of employee’s average weekly wage with 11% additional for each brother or sister in excess of one. If other dependents than those enumerated, 32 ½ % of employee’s average weekly wage for one, and 11% additional for each such dependent in excess of one, subject to a maximum of 65% of employee’s average weekly wage for all, regardless of the number of dependents If the employee leaves no legal dependents, whether biological or adopted, entitled to benefits under any state or […]

It will not be long before the cold days of winter are far behind and the warm days of summer are on the way. When the winter season finally comes to an end, the thoughts of pool owners turn to the back yard, where that vast expanse of crystal clear water awaits. Whether you open your pool on the first warm day of spring or wait until later in the season, safety should be your number one consideration for all age groups. A lot can happen to your pool over the winter months, and even the best-prepared pool will need a basic safety checklist before it can be opened for the season. Here are some essential elements that belong on your spring pool safety checklist. Drowning is the leading cause of unintentional death among children ages 1 to 4, so never leave a child unattended or near water, teach children how to swim and to stay away from pool or spa drains, ensure pools and spas have complaint drain covers, install proper barriers, covers and alarms on and around your pool and spa. learn how to perform CPR on children and adults; Grab a sample of pool water and have it professionally tested. Imbalances or impurities in the water will harm the filter and other components, but poor-quality water could also make you or your family members sick.  Change the filter before you open your pool for the season. The filter has an important job to do: filtering out impurities […]