Settling Wage Loss for Hitch and Bonus Pay
Offshore and marine workers often earn more than a flat weekly wage. Many work a hitch, such as 14 days on and 14 days off. Overtime, day rates, completion bonuses and safety bonuses can form a large share of pay. After an injury, those extras become the hard part of a wage-loss claim.
A Houston maritime case usually starts with base earnings. Pay stubs, hitch calendars and vessel logs show the regular pattern. Counsel then adds the extras that the worker would likely have earned. A bonus paid only after a full hitch may still count if the worker had a steady record of finishing those hitches.
The defence often argues that bonuses were discretionary. It may also say overtime would have fallen if the job slowed. The claimant answers with history. Several years of hitch completions and bonus payments can show a reliable pattern. A one-off gift is weaker evidence than a repeated completion bonus.
Maintenance and cure can run alongside the wage claim. Maintenance is a daily living amount while the worker is unfit. It is not a full substitute for hitch pay. Cure covers reasonable medical care. Neither payment automatically settles lost overtime or lost bonuses. Those sums usually sit in the Jones Act or general maritime negligence claim.
Calculating the loss needs a clean timeline. Lawyers mark the date the hitch would have begun. They then project the number of missed rotations through the expected recovery. A long disability can stretch that projection for months. A short layoff may cover only one hitch.
Taxes, union rules and rotational schedules complicate the figures. Some workers receive a higher day rate only while on the vessel. Time off the boat may pay nothing. A simple annual salary conversion can therefore overstate or understate the true loss. Pay records from the same employer are the better guide.
Settlement talks often split the difference. Insurers may accept base hitch pay and discount uncertain bonuses. Claimants may hold out for the extras when the file shows a long streak of those payments. Mediation works best when both sides use the same hitch calendar.
Wage loss in these files is not a single number on a W-2. It is a pattern of rotations and add-ons. Proof of that pattern decides how much the settlement can carry. This overview is general information. It is not legal advice.