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

• Decision Date: 28 January 1987
• Docket Number: No. 86-3173,86-3173
• Citation: 810 F.2d 61
• Parties: In the Matter of Stanley STROH, Petitioner, v. DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF WORKERS' COMPENSATION PROGRAMS, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR; and Benefits Review Board, United States Department of Labor, Respondents.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit

Page 61

810 F.2d 61

55 USLW 2431

In the Matter of Stanley STROH, Petitioner, v. DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF WORKERS' COMPENSATION PROGRAMS, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR; and Benefits Review Board, United States Department of Labor, Respondents.

No. 86-3173.

United States Court of Appeals Third Circuit.

Argued Oct. 14, 1986.

Decided Jan. 28, 1987.

Charles A. Bressi, Jr. (argued), Law Offices of Charles A. Bressi, Jr., Pottsville, Pa., for petitioner.

Michael J. Denney (argued), George R. Salem, Donald S. Shire, J. Michael O'Neill, Thomas L. Holzman, U.S. Dept. of Labor, Office of Sol., Washington, D.C., for respondents.

Before GIBBONS and BECKER, Circuit Judges and VAN ARTSDALEN, District Judge ^*.

OPINION OF THE COURT

BECKER, Circuit Judge.

This petition for review of a final decision of the Department of Labor Benefits Review Board presents the question whether a self-employed trucker, who loaded coal at a mine site and hauled it to a breaker where it was to be processed, is a "miner" eligible for benefits under the Black Lung Benefits Act (BLA), 30 U.S.C. § 901 et seq. (1982). The Administrative Law Judge found that the petitioner-claimant, Stanley Stroh, did not come within the definition of a "miner" under the Black Lung Benefits Act, as amended in 1977 to include transportation workers, because he was self-employed and transported the coal to the processing plant over public highways. The Benefits Review Board (BRB) affirmed the ALJ's decision and order.

We conclude that Stroh is a "miner" eligible for benefits under the Act. Accordingly, we grant the petition for review, reverse the decision of the BRB, and remand the case to the ALJ for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. ¹

I.

The relevant facts, developed from Stroh's testimony at a hearing before the ALJ, may be stated most succinctly. ² Stroh was a self-employed coal hauler who would buy coal from independent miners, shovel it into his truck, and haul it to independently owned coal processing plants where he sold the raw coal to the processor. He shoveled up to 16 tons of coal a day, and frequently went underground to help mine the coal. If he had spare time, Stroh also hauled processed coal to private homes.

Stroh applied for Black Lung benefits on August 13, 1979. On December 1, 1982, the ALJ found him not entitled to benefits because the Act's coverage does not "encompass a self-employed coal hauler whose commercial activity was between the mine and independently owned processing plants located elsewhere." The ALJ reasoned that Stroh would have been covered if he had established the following:

1) he operated a truck hauling coal from the immediate site of its extraction to a tipple where it was processed, graded and loaded onto railway cars for further shipment; and

2) his regular journey took him not over public highways, but only over roads of the mining company.

Because of Stroh's failure to satisfy these two elements, the ALJ concluded that he was not a "miner" under the Act, and denied his claim.

Stroh appealed this determination to the BRB. On January 31, 1986, the BRB affirmed the denial of benefits in a 2-1 decision. The BRB employed a three-prong "function, status, situs" test, see infra, to analyze the claim. Most notably, the Board held that the claimant had failed to satisfy the "status" element of its test, because it thought that, once Stroh purchased the raw coal from the mines, it was injected into the stream of commerce and was no longer "coal which is being processed," as required by the "status" prong of the definition of miner. The Board added that Stroh's loading and mining activities were ancillary to his transportation of coal to consumers and likewise could not be considered coal mine employment. ³

II.

In the Black Lung Benefits Reform Act of 1977, Pub.L. 95-239, 1978 U.S.Code Cong. & Ad.News (92 Stat.) 95, Congress amended the Black Lung Act to define miner as follows:

The term "miner" means any individual who works, or has worked in or around a coal mine or coal preparation facility in the extraction or preparation of coal. Such term also includes an individual who works, or has worked, in coal mine construction, or transportation, in or around a coal mine, to the extent such individual was exposed to coal dust as a result of such employment.

30 U.S.C. § 902(d) (Emphasis added). Shortly after the 1977 amendments the Secretary of Labor promulgated regulations which, inter alia, clarified the Act's definition of "miner" as follows:

"Miner" or "coal miner" means any individual who works or has worked in or around a coal mine or coal preparation facility in the extraction or preparation of coal. The terms also includes an individual who works or has worked in coal mine construction or transportation in or around the coal mine to the extent such individual was exposed to coal dust as a result of such employment.

20 CFR § 725.101(a)(2b). The term "miner" is further defined for Part C claims (those filed after January 1, 1974) in the regulations at 20 C.F.R. 725.202(a) to include:

A person who is or was a self-employed miner or independent contractor, and who otherwise meets the requirements of this paragraph, shall be considered a miner for the purpose of this part.

20 C.F.R. 725.202(a).

The term coal mine is defined as:

all structures, facilities, machinery, tools, equipment, shafts, slopes, tunnels ... placed upon, under or above the surface ... and includes custom coal preparation facilities.

30 U.S.C. § 902(d) (emphasis added). It is undisputed that the coal processing facility to which claimant sold his coal comes within this definition of coal mine. The definition of "miner" which emerges from the conjunction of the above four definitions would appear to include claimant, since he is an independent contractor who has been exposed to coal dust while working in transportation in and around coal mines.

Moreover, the limited legislative history concerning these provisions indicates that the BLA is remedial legislation, intended to provide coverage to all self-employed miners and independent contractors, and that Congress intended that the Act protect workers who are employed in or around a coal mine or preparation facility in the transportation of coal to the extent they are exposed to coal dust. H.Conf.Rep. No. 864, 95th Cong., 2nd Sess., reprinted in 1978 U.S.Code Cong. & Ad.News 237, 308-309. The canons of statutory construction teach us to construe such remedial legislation broadly, so as to effectuate its purposes.

In construing the term "miner," we have employed a two-prong test: a "situs" test, which requires work in or around a coal mine or preparation facility, and a "function" test, requiring performance of coal extraction or preparation work. Both of these elements must be satisfied for an individual to be considered a miner. Wisor v. Director, Office of Workers' Compensation Programs, 748 F.2d 176,, 178 (3d Cir.1984). Accord, Southard v. Director, Office of Workers' Compensation Programs, 732 F.2d 66, 69 (6th Cir.1984); Amigo Smokeless Coal Co. v. Director, Office of Workers' Compensation Programs, U.S. Department of Labor, 642 F.2d 68 (4th Cir.1981). To satisfy the situs test, a claimant must have worked in or around a coal mine or custom coal preparation facility and have been exposed to coal dust as a result of his transportation work. The BRB found, appellees concede, and we agree, that Stroh satisfies this requirement.

The "function" prong requires that the claimant's job was "integral to the extraction or preparation of coal, not ancillary to the delivery and commercial use of processed coal." BRB Op. at 130a. The BRB, however, also imposed a "status" requirement, pursuant to which the "claimant must [have] be[en] working with coal which [was] being processed, rather than a finished product in the stream of commerce." Id. The BRB held that Stroh did not satisfy the status requirement, because "once claimant purchased the coal, it entered the stream of commerce. A claimant cannot be considered a miner when his hauling activities involve coal that is already injected into the stream of commerce." Id.

The BRB erred in so holding. Stroh satisfies the function test because he transported coal still in the course of being processed: the coal processing plants to which Stroh delivered coal processed raw coal for use by retail consumers. We agree that if the processing plant to which he delivered had purchased and processed raw coal for its own consumption, Stroh would not have satisfied the "function" requirement. McKee v. Director, OWEP, 2 BLR 1-804 (1980). But the processing plant to which Stroh delivered was not an ultimate consumer, and the coal hauled by claimant to that plant was not yet a finished product in the stream of commerce. Id. at 1-97.

We believe that the BRB's addition of a separate status prong is contrary to both the language and goals of the BLA. First, we think that, as described by the BRB, the "status" prong is best understood as subsumed within the "function" test. Even as defined by the BRB, the latter test requires that "claimant's function ... be integral to the extraction or preparation of coal, not ancillary to the delivery and commercial use of processed coal." This test already includes a requirement that a claimant...