Does your businesses do construction or service work on or near navigable waterways?

If so, you need USL&H coverage on your workers compensation policy.  

USL&H stands for United State Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act. Which is a federal law requiring specific workers compensation coverage for employees working near, on and under navigable waterways. Navigable water ways are anywhere boats or ships travel.

Many businesses that have a standard Workers’ Compensation policy and THINK they have USL&H coverage (or worse, don’t even know that they need it).  Even some of the best insurance underwriters miss it!

Before I dive into the importance of having USL&H coverage, let’s define a few important terms.  The United States Longshore and Harbor Workers Compensation Act (USL&H) is a federal coverage that applies to maritime employees who work on or over navigable waters – in or adjacent to the United States (sailors, seamen, masters and crews of any ship/vessel/watercraft are exempt).

Navigable water is defined as water that provides a channel for commerce and transportation of people and goods.  Jurisdiction over navigable waters belongs to the federal government rather than states or municipalities, which is why USL&H is very different than Workers’ Compensation and not an automatic coverage.  There are only a handful carriers that can write USL&H coverage as an endorsement to the Workers’ Compensation policy, since it must be approved by the federal government. 

Workers’ Comp carriers that offer USL&H coverage as an endorsement will apply an additional percentage charge on top of the class code’s state rate.  It’s often twice the price since there are no set benefit schedules.  Every single claim goes to court with USL&H which is very expensive.

The “situs and status” test is your key to determining what jobs or tasks are eligible to receive USL&H coverage in the event of a claim.  Where is the work being done (is it on or near navigable waters) and what is the employee doing – you must qualify for both. 

If your business builds docks and files a claim on their Workers’ Comp policy and it is deemed the claim should have been covered under USL&H and there isn’t coverage, it does NOT fall to the standard Workers’ Comp policy – there is no coverage at all. What’s worse is that because there are no standard scheduled benefits with USL&H, the claims are much more expensive.

Here are some common jobs that require USL&H coverage:  dock builders, marine contractors, boat builders, bridge builders, freight handlers, vendors delivering products to cruise ships – just to name a few. 

Even if your business is working in/on two feet of navigable water (or less), they legally must have USL&H coverage. Failure to have coverage is against the law and carries serious fines.  If that isn’t enough to scare you, it poses a huge Errors & Omissions exposure for insurance agents.  Your client is counting on you to advise them on all coverages they need; but when your cabinet contractor failed to mention they occasionally go on boats to fix their cabinets, you are both exposed.

Alta Vista Insurance Agency is standing by to help.  When we say we are Workers’ Compensation experts, we mean it.  The second water comes up in conversation with your commercial clients, give Alta Vista Insurance a call.  We know the questions to ask and the coverage that is needed to properly protect you and your business.

We were at it again! Back to the North County San Diego Food Bank Vista branch location to volunteer as a group. Afterwards we took a little “R-&-R” at Belching Beaver PUB 980 – Where I highly recommend the BBQ chicken flat bread. Also, everyone really liked the “Nitro Stout Peanut Butter Ale,” Sounds Yummy!

Our Alta Vista Insurance Agency team were joined by Diane Nagle from Mercury Insurance and Nancy Trejo from Safeco. Two of our favorite carrier partners! It’s great to see the people behind the policies at our carrier relationships out in the community making a difference for the kids that need it. THANK YOU BOTH NANCY FROM SAFECO and DIANE FROM MERCURY!

In the 2 hours we were there, we were able to complete 477 bags to go out to various middle schools around North San Diego County for kids with food insecurity to be able to take home over the weekend when they don’t have access to free and reduced lunch service at their school. We were “Group 1” and completed 214 of the bags, and “Group 2” completed 263. But really the kids are the winners!

Did I mention it was also my 50th birthday? Thank you everyone on our team for the happy birthday wishes! You all make working together a lot of fun! I appreciate each and every one one of you!

Back in the day, while taking an auto insurance application by phone, I asked a client if his wife was employed? He said no, and she said, ” YES I AM!” (this is dating myself, it was back when Roseanne Barr was doing her stand up.) The wife says, “I’m a DOMESTIC GODDESS!” We all laughed, and then she said. “Put that on the application.” So I did, marked her as employed, and moved on. I really didn’t think twice about it.

A few days later, an underwriting associate at the firm I was with came over to my section, and with their boss, and my boss, and my bosses boss and they kept looking at me while I was on another sales call. Finally my boss came over, and said to not take another call. Needless to say, I finished the call sweating bullets, wondering what could have happened that 1/2 the management team was in my section waiting for me?!

Turns out “Domestic Goddess” is not a job, and cannot go onto an auto insurance application.  Who knew?

EDIT: This was decades before Roseanne Barr was cancelled from ABC for being a racist.