Bosson Legal Group
A business, civil litigation, and Defense Base Act claims law firm licensed in Virginia and DC

Defense Base Act (DBA)

Learn more about our Defense Base Act (DBA) Practice at Bosson Legal Group. Bosson Legal Group, a law firm led by Tim Bosson, provides legal services in the areas of for-profit and nonprofit corporation law and civil litigation to individuals and organizations throughout Northern Virginia and D.C., including Fairfax, Merrifield, Falls Church and the jurisdictions of Fairfax County, Loudoun County, Arlington County, Prince William County and the City of Alexandria.

The Defense Base Act (DBA)

The Defense Base Act (DBA) is a federal workers’ compensation and death benefits law (42 U.S.C. §§ 1651-54) that protects primarily employees of U.S. government contractors who are working in U.S. combat zones or on U.S. bases outside the United States.[1]  The DBA requires such contractors to purchase DBA workers compensation insurance for their employees, and the United States Department of Labor oversees the administration of DBA benefits.

If you have physical or psychological injuries due to your employment overseas for a federal contractor, you may be entitled to medical benefits; and if your injury affects your ability to work, you may also be entitled to workers’ compensation.

If you have a spouse or parent who died as a result of working for a U.S. government contractor overseas, you may be entitled to benefits.

Most people working in these combat zones for U.S. contractors are not from the U.S. but are from places like Uganda, India, Macedonia, and Kosovo. So BLG attorney John Vinci has worked with clients from not only here in the United States, but also from places like India, South Africa, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Macedonia.  These injured workers were employed by companies like KBR, Fluor, DynCorp, Ecolog, Academi (formerly Blackwater), Mission Essential Personnel, and AECOM/ACFirst.

It’s not unusual for these companies to require their employees to work 12 hours a day, 7 days per week, for 3-4 months at a time. With this workload, many employees develop physical injuries (back and neck injuries seem to be common), and, with continued attacks on U.S. bases, many also develop psychological injuries such as PTSD.

Even if the DBA insurance carrier is paying you now for an injury you have received, you should still retain an attorney to make sure your rights are protected.

And you should act now, since there are time limits that may affect your ability to claim compensation if you do not act quickly.

John Vinci has worked to help get compensation for scores of injured employees of U.S. contractors under the DBA. You can contact him using our Contact Form.

[1] The scope of the Defense Base Act is broader than this definition but also has some exceptions.  Please contact us to find out if it applies to your specific circumstances.

Disclaimer: Results depend on the specific legal and factual circumstances of each case.  John Vinci and Bosson Legal Group, P.C. cannot guarantee specific results, and any examples or previous case experiences should not be taken as a promise of similar results.  This information does not constitute legal advice. You should consult an attorney regarding the specific details of your case.