Workers who are injured as a result of working for U.S. contractors in places like Afghanistan and Iraq should expect to be taken care of by their employer and their employer’s Defense Base Act insurance carrier. But some DBA insurance companies are not paying foreign workers all that is due to them all the while telling the U.S. Dept. of Labor that they are sending the full amount.
These carriers send payments to the injured workers they insure overseas, but instead of paying for international bank transfer fees themselves, they are allowing the fees to be deducted from the compensation that is due to the worker.
So, if Client A is being paid a compensation rate of $1,000/week, he should be receiving $2,000 every 2 weeks. [1] But what some of our international clients are finding is that instead of receiving $2,000 in their bank account they may only receive $1,950. A quick inquiry to their local bank will show that the missing funds were taken out as as a transfer fee.
How do you know how much you’re supposed to receive?
We help our clients to determine how much they should be receiving under the law. But, if you want to at least see what the insurance company thinks you should be receiving, take a look at the LS-208 form which they are required to submit to the U.S. Department of Labor and which they are supposed to send you a copy.
In box 8, they must indicate both the “Average Weekly Wage” and the “Compensation Rate.”
It’s the compensation rate that tells you how much they think they’re supposed to be sending you per week.
Box 15 shows the amounts that they are telling the OWCP that they have paid you.
If the amount the Insurance Company is telling the Dept. of Labor they are paying you does not line up with how much you are actually receiving, you should contact a knowledgeable attorney right away.
[1] Actually the Act says that injured workers should be paid twice per month, but that is another topic for another day.