What the maximum amount of maintenance a company can pay under the Jones Act?

Is there a limit to the amount that your Jones Act employer can pay you to live on each month under maintenance and cure law? I'm maritime attorney Tim Young and a lot of our clients will ask is my company limited to paying me a certain amount each month such as $8.00 a day or $15.00 a day or $20.00 a day or can my company pay me more than their rate of maintenance? A company can pay any amount that it elects to pay you each month.
A lot of our clients will struggle because the company will only pay $15.00 or $20.00 a day and sometimes companies even lie to employees and say that under the law $15.00 or $20.00 a day is the most that the company is allowed to pay. I will tell you that is absolutely not true. There is no law that prevents your employer from paying any amount that they want to you for you to live on each month. After a maritime injury the only law that applies to your company is maintenance and cure law in terms of how much they can pay you. Under maintenance and cure law your company is legally supposed to pay you how much your bills are each month. We believe the minimum, the absolute least that you should receive each month, should be the amount that your monthly bills are. What you should do is send a list of your monthly bills to your employer, let them know how much it costs for you to pay these bills each month and we believe the minimum they should pay you is that amount each month for you to live on. However, your company is not limited to just paying that amount.
Your company can absolutely pay you any amount they want each month including extra money if you need it to survive during your injury. Call us if you have any questions at all about maritime law, the Jones Act or your rights, choices and options under such law.