LONGSHORE REFORM PART OF STIMULUS PACKAGE

February 17, 2009

 

 

The long awaited amendment of the LONGSHORE Act will become law

today as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act with

President Obama’s signature. The change in the wording of the Act is

shown below.

 

So who will this effect and how will it work?

 

IT WILL HAVE NO EFFECT ON:

·          Boat manufactures and builders

·          Repairers of commercial vessels of any length

·          Marine Contractors, dock builders, dredgers, etc.

·          Those who do not carry state act workers compensation

 

SO WHO WILL BENEFIT?

A group of employers who repair recreational vessels over 65ft. They will move their exposure from LONGSHORE to State act immediately.

 

ISSUES:

·          To protect the amended exclusion this group must still purchase state workers compensation – do not rely on

      officer exclusions. The LONGSHORE law is quite specific – the exclusion only applies to employees IF state

      act workers compensation coverage is provided.

·          Even though the new exclusion is now in effect, do not run ahead and cancel the LONGSHORE policy:

- An employee can still allege eligibility under LONGSHORE and without LONGSHORE I insurance; you

  have no one to defend you.

- Any work, however incidental, on commercial vessels OF ANY SIZE remains LONGSHORE.

- Any work building or manufacturing recreational vessels over 65ft remains LONGSHORE.

 

REDUCED PREMIUMS:

The purpose of this change has always been to stimulate growth by reducing the cost to the recreational marine repairer. In general, it will not be necessary to cancel current policies or wait until renewal in order to receive the full effect of these changes. Most companies will allow the midterm change of payrolls to reflect this change in the law and we will be designing and providing a form shortly to make this new calculation as easy as possible. We will send a link to this form as soon as available. Dependant on your current LONGSHORE payroll and the time remaining on the current policy, this return could be substantial – so do not wait – act now!

 

 

 

LONGSHOREreform 2009

This site is sponsored by LIG Marine Managers, Inc.  www.LIGMarine.com