Curse v. Director, Office of Workers' Compensation Programs, U.S. Dept. of Labor

• Decision Date: 26 April 1988
• Docket Number: 87-7375,Nos. 87-7134,s. 87-7134
• Citation: 843 F.2d 456
• Parties: Henry CURSE and George New, Petitioners, v. DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF WORKERS' COMPENSATION PROGRAMS, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, Respondent.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

Page 456

843 F.2d 456

Henry CURSE and George New, Petitioners, v. DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF WORKERS' COMPENSATION PROGRAMS, UNITED

STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, Respondent.

Nos. 87-7134, 87-7375.

United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit.

April 26, 1988.

Jenner & Block, Raymond T. Reott, Chicago, Ill., for petitioners.

Nathaniel Spiller, Carol A. De Deo, Jeffrey A. Hennemuth, Office of the Sol., U.S. Dept. of Labor, Mark E. Solomons, Arter & Hadden, Washington, D.C., for respondent.

John J. Bagnato, Spence, Custer, Saylor, Wolfe & Rose, Johnstown, Pa., for amicus Bethenergy Mines, Inc.

Allen R. Prunty, Jackson, Kelly, Holt & O'Farrell, Charleston, W.Va., for amici Island Creek Coal Co., Consol. Coal, et al.

Petition for Review of a Decision of the Benefits Review Board of the United States Department of Labor.

Before FAY and KRAVITCH, Circuit Judges, and ATKINS ^*, Senior District Judge.

FAY, Circuit Judge:

The Black Lung Benefits Act ("the Act") ¹ is designed to provide benefits to coal miners totally disabled by pneumoconiosis, or black lung disease. 30 U.S.C. Sec. 901(a) (1982). Two former miners, Henry Curse and George New, who had previously filed class B claims and been denied benefits, received the opportunity to reapply for benefits through the 1978 amendments to the Act. Black Lung Benefits Reform Act of 1977, Pub.L. No. 95-239, 92 Stat. 95 (1978). Each chose Department of Labor ("DOL") review and, pursuant to the statute, presented new evidence to prove his disability. In each case, an administrative law judge found the claimant eligible for benefits and, following the directives set forth in the regulations, awarded retroactive payments starting from 1978. Curse and New each challenged the validity of the regulation and appealed his award, arguing that the statute required that the benefits date back to 1974. The Benefits Review Board considered the two cases together. The board upheld the regulation and the legislation, ² and affirmed the award. In this appeal, the claimants make two arguments: (1) the regulation establishing the current system for calculating retroactive payments is inconsistent with the Act; and (2) if the regulation is consistent with the statute, then the Act itself violates the equal protection clause of the constitution. After carefully considering the issues, we find that the regulation reasonably interprets a constitutionally valid statute. Accordingly, we affirm the ruling of the Benefits Review Board.

I. Background

A. The Black Lung Benefits Act

"[C]oal workers' pneumoconiosis, or black lung disease, is a dreadful and insidious disease which interferes with the respiratory functions of its victims, and which slowly and progressively makes the very act of breathing more and more difficult." 124 Cong.Rec. S2,333 (daily ed. Feb. 6, 1978) (statement of Sen. Williams). Black lung disease strikes a very high percentage of coal miners, particularly those who have worked in coal mines for a number of years. ³ It is an as yet incurable and irreversible disease which initially renders a coal miner unable to physically exert himself and ultimately causes the miner's death. ⁴

Despite the pervasiveness of black lung disease among coal miners, this country did not recognize the problem until the 1950s. In 1969, acknowledging the need to implement health and safety measures that would reduce the risk of black lung disease and to provide benefits to coal miners totally disabled by black lung disease, Congress passed the Mine Safety and Health Act, 30 U.S.C. Secs. 801-960 (1982 & Supp. III 1985).

Subchapter IV of the Mine Safety and Health Act, 30 U.S.C. Secs. 901-45 (1982 & Supp. III 1985), deals exclusively with black lung benefits. The statute provides that state workers' compensation programs and responsible coal mine operators will ultimately bear the financial burden of paying these benefits. However, "Congress apparently concluded that, because the 1969 Act imposed new mine health and safety standards [on coal mine operators] without prior notice, it would be unfair to make operators responsible for benefits until they had a reasonable opportunity to comply with the standards." Director, Office of Workers' Compensation Programs v. Bethlehem Mines Corp., 669 F.2d 187, 189 (4th Cir.1982) (footnote omitted). Consequently, Congress created two classes of claims. ⁵ Class B claims, filed before December 31, 1973, were to be paid by the federal government. The Secretary of Health and Human Services ("HHS")--through the Social Security Administration ("SSA") ⁶--considered these claims. 30 U.S.C. Secs. 921-25 (1982). Claims filed after December 31, 1973, called class C claims, were evaluated by the Department of Labor. Benefits for class C claimants were to be paid for by state workers' compensation programs or, where no adequate state program existed, by the responsible coal mine operators. ⁷

B. The Amendments

Congress became dissatisfied with the program that was set up to implement the Act. The legislature determined that the Act was being interpreted too restrictively. ⁸ Accordingly, in 1972, Congress amended the act in an effort to liberalize the evidentiary standards. Black Lung Benefits Reform Act of 1972, Pub.L. No. 92-303, 86 Stat. 150 (1972); see Solomons, A Critical Analysis of the Legislative History Surrounding the Black Lung Interim Presumption and a Survey of Its Unresolved Issues, 83 W.Va.L.Rev. 869, 870-73 (1981).

At the same time, Congress urged the Secretary of HHS to adopt regulations that would solve another problem: the tremendous backlog of class B claims. Strike v. Director, Office of Workers' Compensation Programs, 817 F.2d 395, 397 (7th Cir.1987); Talley v. Mathews, 550 F.2d 911, 916 (4th Cir.1977). The Secretary, in response, adopted a set of interim standards that made it significantly easier for class B claimants to establish their eligibility for benefits. By establishing these rules, the Secretary hoped to enable class B claims to be reviewed more quickly and with more satisfactory results. In addition, the Secretary promulgated a set of permanent regulations for class C claimants. ⁹ These permanent regulations contained much more stringent standards than did the interim rules. ¹⁰ Consequently, the DOL claims had a much higher denial rate than the HHS claims. Strike, 817 F.2d at 398; Solomons, supra, at 873.

Between 1975 and 1977, Congress developed yet another set of amendments to the Act. These amendments further modified the existing evidentiary standards. The amendments also authorized the Secretary of Labor to create standards for class C claimants. 33 U.S.C. Sec. 932(a) (1982 & Supp. III 1985). By stressing that these standards could be no more stringent than the standards governing class B claims, Congress hoped to equalize treatment of the two classes. ¹¹

In addition, Congress wanted to remedy past wrongs caused by the overly restrictive and complicated standards. Therefore, it provided both class B and class C claimants whose claims had been denied with one more chance to apply for benefits. 30 U.S.C. Sec. 945 (1982). Class C claims, which had been denied based on the most restrictive criteria of all, automatically received reconsideration. 30 U.S.C. Sec. 945(b) (1982). In reconsidering the claims, the Secretary of Labor had to apply its new, more relaxed evidentiary standards, and could request additional evidence from the claimant regarding the miner's disability. 30 U.S.C. Sec. 945(b)(2)(B) (1982). Class B claimants, on the other hand, had six months from their date of notification in which to opt for reconsideration. The class B claimants had two choices: (a) review by the Secretary of HHS based on existing evidence; or (b) review by the Secretary of Labor, based on both existing and additional evidence. ¹² In either case, the claim would be evaluated according to the new, modified evidentiary rules. 30 U.S.C. Sec. 945(a)(1) (1982).

The statute unequivocally mandates that all claimants who reapply for benefits and are found eligible "shall be awarded benefits on a retroactive basis for a period which begins no earlier than January 1, 1974." 30 U.S.C. Sec. 945(c) (1982). Beyond this general guideline, however, the statute provides no instructions regarding the date that retroactive payments should begin.

Pursuant to his statutory authorization, the Secretary of Labor set up a system governing the payment of benefits for these reconsidered class B and class C claims. 20 C.F.R. Sec. 727.302 (1987). No claimant can receive benefits for a period which commences earlier than January 1, 1974. 20 C.F.R. Sec. 727.302(a) (1987). For class C claimants who can establish a date of onset for the disease, benefits are payable from the month of onset or January 1, 1974, whichever is later. 20 C.F.R. Secs. 725.503(b), (e) (1987); see 20 C.F.R. Sec. 727.302(e) (1987) (making section 725.503 controlling for reconsidered class C claims). Where the class C claimant cannot establish a date of onset, benefits are payable "beginning with the month during which the claim [is] filed." 20 C.F.R. Sec. 725.503(b) (1987).

Class B claimants are treated slightly differently. Like class C claimants, class B claimants who can show when they were stricken with black lung disease receive retroactive benefits payable from the latter of the onset date or January 1, 1974. ¹³ If a class B claimant cannot establish the date of onset of disease, however, the DOL must first determine whether the claimant elected DOL or HHS review. If the claimant chose to have HHS review the claim, and, accordingly, presented no additional evidence to establish his claim, his retroactive payments date back to January 1, 1974. 20 C.F.R. Sec. 702.302(b) (1987). This claimant, then, would receive the same benefits as a similarly situated class C claimant. A class B claimant who, like Curse or New, elects DOL review and is found eligible for benefits only after presenting new evidence...