What Surviving Families of Contractors Should Know About DBA Death Benefits

If your spouse, parent, or child died while working overseas as a civilian contractor on a U.S. government contract, the Defense Base Act provides death benefits to qualifying survivors. These benefits include a percentage of the worker’s average weekly wage, funeral expenses up to $3,000, and continued payments for dependent children. Friedman, Rodman & Frank has represented surviving families of overseas contractors in DBA death claims for nearly five decades.

How DBA Death Benefits Are Calculated

DBA death benefits are paid under the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act, which the DBA incorporates by reference. The governing statute is 33 U.S.C. § 909, and it sets specific percentages of the deceased worker’s average weekly wage (AWW) based on who survives.

A surviving spouse with no children receives 50 percent of the worker’s AWW, paid for life or until remarriage. A surviving spouse with one or more children receives 66 2/3 percent of the AWW, divided between the spouse and the children. If there is no surviving spouse, one surviving child receives 50 percent of the AWW, and additional children share a total of 66 2/3 percent. The law also pays funeral and burial expenses up to $3,000.

Average weekly wage is the legal basis for calculating how much each survivor receives. Average weekly wage is the figure that represents the deceased worker’s earnings at the time of injury or death, including overseas differentials, hazard pay, and other regular compensation paid under the contract. For rotational contractors, that figure is often disputed by the insurance carrier, and getting it right has a direct effect on the amount paid to the family every week.

Who Qualifies as a Survivor

The DBA defines survivors narrowly. A surviving spouse, dependent children under 18, dependent children under 23 enrolled in school, and children with disabilities of any age all qualify. If no spouse or children survive, parents, siblings, and grandchildren who were financially dependent on the worker may also qualify under 33 U.S.C. § 909(d). U.S. citizenship is not required — foreign nationals working under qualifying contracts have the same rights to death benefits as American workers.

The cause of death has to be tied to the overseas work. The worker’s death must result from an injury or occupational disease that arose out of and in the course of covered employment. For combat-zone deaths, hostile-act injuries, or evacuations, this connection is often clear. For deaths from heart attacks, strokes, or illnesses that develop during a deployment, the carrier may dispute whether the work caused the death — which is where medical evidence and the zone of special danger doctrine often come into play.

Deadlines and How to File a Claim

A survivor has one year from the date of the worker’s death to file a death benefits claim under 33 U.S.C. § 913(a). For deaths caused by occupational diseases that develop slowly, the deadline can extend to two years from the date the survivor knew or should have known the death was work-related. Notice to the employer must be given within 30 days under 33 U.S.C. § 912.

Claims are filed with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs using Form LS-262 (Claim for Death Benefits). Disputed claims are heard by an Administrative Law Judge within the DOL’s Office of Administrative Law Judges, and decisions can be appealed to the Benefits Review Board and the appropriate U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

If you lost a family member who was working overseas under a U.S. government contract, call Friedman, Rodman & Frank at (877) 448-8585 for a free case evaluation. You can also submit a case review online. You pay nothing unless we recover benefits for your family.