Bill would strip federal workers' comp from Guam defense workers
H.R. 876 — To amend the Defense Base Act to exclude Guam. · Filed by James (Jim) Moylan (R-GU) · Introduced Jan 31, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill amends the Defense Base Act to exclude Guam from its coverage. The Defense Base Act currently provides workers' compensation and benefits to certain employees working on U.S. military bases and related defense facilities. The bill narrows that coverage by removing Guam from the definition of territories and possessions to which the Act applies, meaning workers in Guam would no longer be eligible for Defense Base Act protections.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is to narrow the geographic scope of federal workers' compensation coverage by excluding a specific U.S. territory, reducing protections for a defined class of workers.
What the text implies
- Workers in Guam may face gaps in compensation coverage if Guam's local workers' compensation system does not provide equivalent protections or if there is no seamless transition mechanism.
- The exclusion may create a two-tier system where defense workers in other U.S. territories retain federal protections while Guam workers do not, despite performing similar work.
The full analysis lists 3 implications of this text.
Who stands to gain
U.S. federal government (reduced Defense Base Act liability and benefit payouts); Defense contractors operating in Guam (reduced workers' compensation costs if they absorb the gap)