Issues Related to the Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act.

To determine the effects of the 1972 amendments to LHWCA, we interviewed 1 Labor officials in Washington, D.C., and in the district offices who have responsibility for administering this compensation program 2 officials representing insurance carriers, maritime employers, and maritime employees and 3 attorneys representing employees and employers in LHWCA compensation cases. We also reviewed recent testimony before the House Committee on Education and Labor and the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources on the administration of this act. To evaluate Labors procedures for claims administration and adjudication, we reviewed 100 randomly selected cases in each the San Francisco and New York district offices. We also used a questionnaire to obtain program information from the other district offices responsible for handling LHWCA claims. We validated selected responses to our questionnaire by performing limited verification work at the Long Beach, Houston, New Orleans, and Boston district offices. Other information on program administration was obtained from OWCP reports on district office LHWCA activities.