To file a DBA claim, give your employer written notice of the injury within 30 days using Form LS-201, then file Form LS-203 with the Department of Labor’s Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs within one year of the injury, and serve a copy on your employer and its insurance carrier. Both deadlines are strict, and missing either can end your right to compensation even when the injury is genuine and clearly work-related. The Defense Base Act extends the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act to civilian contractors injured or killed on U.S. government contracts overseas, and it pays medical treatment, disability compensation, and death benefits through a federal system administered by OWCP.
Confirm You Are Covered
The DBA reaches a wide range of overseas work tied to U.S. government interests. You are covered if you work for a private employer on a military, air, or naval base acquired by the United States from a foreign government after January 1, 1940, on any land used by the U.S. for military purposes outside the continental United States, on a public works contract or subcontract performed overseas for any U.S. agency, or providing welfare and morale services (such as USO work) for the Armed Forces abroad.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 US Code 1651 – Compensation Authorized
Coverage does not depend on citizenship. The Department of Labor has confirmed that all employees in covered employment are protected regardless of nationality, so U.S. citizens, legal residents, and foreign nationals hired by American contractors all file under the same rules.2U.S. Department of Labor. Defense Base Act Information Coverage also reaches beyond the job site and work hours under the zone of special danger doctrine, meaning an injury during ordinary recreational or social activity that is foreseeable for someone living overseas for the job can still be compensable.3U.S. Department of Labor. Zone of Special Danger Doctrine Commentary
Step 1: Give Written Notice Within 30 Days
Written notice of the injury must go to your employer and to the district director of the local OWCP office within 30 days of the injury.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 33 US Code 912 – Notice of Injury or Death Form LS-201, the Notice of Employee’s Injury or Death, is the form used for this purpose.5U.S. Department of Labor. Form LS-201 – Notice of Employees Injury or Death Include the exact date, time, and location of the incident, along with a description of how it happened and what equipment or environmental conditions were involved.
The 30-day clock works differently for occupational diseases that do not immediately cause disability. In that case, the clock starts when you become aware, or should have become aware through medical advice, of the connection between your condition and your employment. The same “awareness” trigger applies to the one-year deadline below.
Step 2: File Form LS-203 Within One Year
Your right to compensation is barred unless you file a formal claim within one year of the injury or death. If your employer has been making voluntary payments without a formal award, you have one year from the date of the last payment to file.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 33 USC 913 – Filing of Claims
The formal claim is Form LS-203, the Employee’s Claim for Compensation. It asks for your employment history, wage information, a description of the injury, details of the medical treatment you have received, and your employer’s name and contact information, including the insurance carrier if you know it.7U.S. Department of Labor. Form LS-203 – Employees Claim for Compensation
OWCP’s preferred filing method is electronic submission through the SEAPortal (Secure Electronic Access Portal). If electronic filing is not possible, mail the claim to OWCP/DFELHWC at 400 West Bay Street, Room 63A, Box 28, Jacksonville, FL 32202.2U.S. Department of Labor. Defense Base Act Information You must also serve a copy of the claim on your employer and its insurance carrier. Service is mandatory and triggers the carrier’s obligation to respond. Once OWCP receives your filing, the case is assigned an official number that identifies it for all future communications and medical billing.
If Your Employer Never Filed Its Report
Your employer is required to file its own report, Form LS-202 (Employer’s First Report of Injury), within 10 days of learning about the injury. If the employer knows about the injury but fails to file that report, the one-year statute of limitations is tolled until the employer actually files. The limitations period may also be tolled for claimants who are minors or mentally incapacitated without a legal representative.
What to Gather Before You File
The quality of your supporting documents directly affects how quickly the claim moves. Assemble these while the 30-day and one-year clocks are still running.
Medical records. These are the backbone of any DBA claim. Gather the initial physician reports, diagnostic imaging results, treatment notes, and any specialist referrals. The records need to establish both that you have a medical condition causing harm and that your work environment or a specific workplace incident could have caused or contributed to it. A doctor’s note saying “patient reports back pain” is far less useful than imaging results showing a herniated disc paired with a physician’s opinion connecting it to a specific lifting incident at work.
Wage documentation. Your compensation rate is based on your average weekly wage, calculated as one fifty-second of your average annual earnings.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 33 US Code 910 – Determination of Pay Gather 52 weeks of pay records before the injury date: pay stubs, tax returns, or employer wage statements. If your employment lasted less than a year or your wages fluctuated significantly, the calculation method may differ, and getting this number right matters because every benefit payment flows from it.
Witness statements. Statements from coworkers who saw the accident can strengthen your case.
A complete file copy. Keep copies of every document you submit, every medical bill, and every piece of correspondence with the insurance carrier or the Department of Labor.
What Happens After You File
Once your employer receives notice of the injury, the first installment of compensation becomes due on the fourteenth day. If the carrier fails to pay an installment that is due without an award, a 10 percent penalty is added to the overdue amount. If the carrier fails to pay compensation ordered through a formal award, the penalty jumps to 20 percent.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 33 USC 914 – Payment of Compensation
You also have a legal advantage that does not exist in most state systems. Under Section 20(a) of the Longshore Act, if you show that you suffered harm and that your working conditions or a workplace accident could have caused it, the law presumes your injury is work-related.10U.S. Department of Labor. Section 20 – Presumptions The burden then shifts to the employer to produce substantial evidence that your injury was not caused by your employment. The presumption does not prove that an injury exists or fix its extent (you still need medical evidence for those), but on the critical question of work-relatedness it starts by assuming the answer is yes.
If your injury was caused by a war-risk hazard such as a hostile attack, an explosion, or a terrorist act, benefits are still paid by your employer’s carrier in the normal way, but the carrier can then seek reimbursement from the U.S. government under the War Hazards Compensation Act (42 U.S.C. 1701–1717). This matters to you because carriers sometimes move slowly on war-hazard claims while sorting out the reimbursement process.
If the Carrier Disputes Your Claim
Denials and low offers are common. The dispute resolution process runs through three levels.
Informal Conference
Either party, or the claims examiner on their own initiative, can request an informal conference. An OWCP claims examiner facilitates a discussion, hears each side, and issues a written recommendation. That recommendation is not binding, but many disputes settle at this stage because both sides get a preview of how an impartial evaluator views the evidence.11U.S. Department of Labor. Information for Longshore Claimants If you believe the examiner misapplied the law or overlooked evidence, you can request reconsideration by the district director.
Formal Hearing Before an Administrative Law Judge
If the informal conference does not resolve the dispute, either party can request a formal hearing before the Office of Administrative Law Judges, and you can bypass the informal conference entirely if you think it would be unproductive. DBA cases are assigned a docket number starting with “LDA.” The hearing is conducted from scratch; the claims examiner’s earlier recommendation is not automatically part of the record, so you need to present your full case with medical evidence, witness testimony, and legal arguments.11U.S. Department of Labor. Information for Longshore Claimants
Benefits Review Board
A party who disagrees with the ALJ’s decision can appeal to the Benefits Review Board, a three-member appellate body within the Department of Labor. The Board reviews the ALJ’s decision for errors of law and asks whether the findings of fact are supported by substantial evidence. If the Board issues a panel decision, a party has 30 days to petition the full permanent Board for further review.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 33 USC 921 – Review of Compensation Orders Further appeals go to the federal circuit courts.
Attorney Fees Work Differently in DBA Cases
Most claimants benefit from a lawyer, and the fee rules have unusual features worth understanding before you sign anything. Attorney fees in DBA cases must be approved by whichever body oversaw the stage of the case where the work was performed: the district director, the ALJ, or the Benefits Review Board. A fee contract between you and your attorney is not enforceable on its own. Fees are calculated using the lodestar method, meaning a reasonable hourly rate multiplied by the number of hours reasonably spent on the case.13U.S. Department of Labor. Section 28 – Attorneys Fees An attorney who collects a fee that has not been approved faces criminal penalties.
The carrier or employer may be ordered to pay your attorney fees if they declined to pay compensation after being notified of your claim and you then successfully prosecuted it through legal proceedings. If the employer voluntarily paid some compensation but you obtained a larger award through litigation, the employer pays fees based on the difference between what was originally offered and what you ultimately received.14Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 33 USC 928 – Fees for Services If your claim is unsuccessful, you bear the cost of your own attorney under whatever arrangement you agreed to, and the fee still must be submitted for approval.