Opinion ID: 609806
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Longshore and Black Lung Regulations

Text: 14 The statutory provisions of the Longshore Act and the Black Lung Act that pertain to the filing of a compensation order have been implemented by regulation. The Secretary of Labor is responsible for promulgating regulations to implement both Acts. 30 U.S.C. § 936(a) (Black Lung Act); 33 U.S.C. § 939(a) (Longshore Act). The Secretary's regulation implementing the Black Lung Act requires that the ALJ serve the compensation order on the parties by certified mail and, on the same day, return the record of the claim to the Division of Coal Mine Worker's Compensation. 20 C.F.R. § 725.478 (the Black Lung regulation). 6 All of the courts that have construed the Black Lung regulation have held that, under the regulation as well as the statute, the order may be considered filed only after the service requirement is met. See Old Ben Coal Co., supra; Jewell, supra; Patton, supra; Youghiogheny, supra. The Secretary does not dispute this construction. 15 The regulation that the Secretary has promulgated to implement the identical statutory provision in the Longshore Act is ambiguous, however. It requires that the Deputy Commissioner, after receiving the ALJ's order, date and file it, and, on the same day, send a copy by certified mail to the parties and their representatives, if any. 20 C.F.R. § 702.349 (the Longshore regulation). 7 It is on the Longshore regulation that the Director bases his view that the Longshore Act does not require service on the parties before a compensation order may be deemed filed. 8 16 The Director's interpretation would be plausible were one to look only to the face of the regulation. However, in this case, that is far from enough. The Director implies that the Longshore Act regulation and Black Lung regulation constitute substantive determinations as to when a compensation order may be considered filed. That is incorrect. The regulations are procedural, not substantive. They cannot establish the acts that must be performed before an order is deemed filed; the statute does that. The regulations fill in the details of the procedure the Secretary's subordinates are to follow once the ALJ has reached a decision. They constitute directions to each administrator concerned as to how to perform his or her duties under and in accordance with the specific requirements of the applicable statutes. Cf. Trent Coal, Inc. v. Day, 739 F.2d 116, 117 (3d Cir.1984) (characterizing the Black Lung regulation as a housekeeping regulation). While the Black Lung regulation is clearer on its face than the Longshore regulation, neither purports to decide--or even treat--the question when filing occurs. 17 In sum, although the Longshore regulation is more opaque than the Black Lung regulation, we cannot find reason in its opacity to give it a meaning opposite to that given the Black Lung regulation by the Secretary and the courts. To read the Longshore regulation in a way antithetical to the Black Lung regulation would be to construe it in an arbitrary fashion--to create a conflict between two statutes where none exists. We seek to avoid such an arbitrary construction, and, accordingly, construe the Longshore regulation in a way that harmonizes it with, rather than makes it inconsistent with, the Black Lung regulation.