Opinion ID: 3009316
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Martin

Text: Normally, our review of a petition from a Commission order would be standard deferential review pursuant to the Administrative Procedures Act. See Omaha Paper Stock Co. v. Sec’y of Labor, 304 F.3d 779, 782 (8th Cir. 2002) (“We will uphold the Commission’s legal conclusions unless they are ‘arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law.’” (quoting 5 U.S.C. § 706(2)(A))). Here, however, the Secretary appeals as to a question of regulatory interpretation upon which the Secretary and the Commission have adopted competing positions. Assuming the competing interpretations are reasonable, we must defer to the Secretary. See Martin v. Occ. Safety & Health Review Comm’n, 499 U.S. 144, 152–53 (1991) (resolving the relative authority of the Secretary and Commission); Solis v. Summit Contractors, Inc., 558 F.3d 815, 823–25 (8th Cir. 2009) (applying Martin). In Martin, the Court resolved a circuit split and held that “a reviewing court may not prefer the reasonable interpretations of the Commission to the reasonable interpretations of the Secretary.” 499 U.S. at 158. In reaching this conclusion, the Court addressed Congressional intent in depth and examined the specific statutory division of adjudicatory and policymaking authority between the Commission and the Secretary. Id. at 151–54. The Court emphasized that the Occupational Safety and Health Act (“OSHA”) did not create a typical unitary administrative agency, but that the Commission and Secretary represented a separation of neutral, adjudicatory functions, on the one hand, from enforcement and policymaking functions, on the other. Id. The Court concluded unequivocally that deference in the interpretation of regulations was owed to the Secretary rather than the Commission, stating: [T]he Commission is authorized to review the Secretary’s interpretations only for consistency with the regulatory language and for -17- reasonableness. In addition, . . . Congress expressly charged the Commission with making authoritative findings of fact and with applying the Secretary’s standards to those facts in making a decision. See 29 U.S.C. § 660(a) (Commission’s factual findings “shall be conclusive” so long as “supported by substantial evidence”). The Commission need be viewed as possessing no more power than this in order to perform its statutory role as “neutral arbiter.” Id. at 154–55. Martin remains good law, although several courts have recognized the limited scope of Martin’s holding. For example, courts have refused to apply Martin in cases involving different agencies. See, e.g., Hinson v. Nat’l Transp. Safety Bd., 57 F.3d 1144, 1148 n.2 (D.C. Cir. 1995) (recognizing the narrow applicability of Martin and refusing to apply Martin in a case involving competing interpretations from the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board). And courts have determined that Martin was not controlling as to questions of statutory interpretation. See, e.g., Chao v. Occ. Safety & Health Review Comm’n, 540 F.3d 519, 525 (6th Cir. 2008) (“Left undecided by Martin, however, is to whom does a reviewing court defer when the Secretary and Commission offer conflicting interpretations of a provision of [OSHA].”). These refusals by other courts to expand Martin do not undercut Martin’s holding because the Supreme Court in Martin defined the issue narrowly and did not purport to issue a broad ruling that might apply in other contexts or to other agencies. Martin, 499 U.S. at 157 (“We emphasize the narrowness of our holding. We deal in this case only with the division of powers between the Secretary and the Commission under the OSH Act.”). In fact, the nature of the issue raised in Martin was such that courts would not expect Martin to find application except in this very specific context: Martin rested on the careful division of authority Congress set out for the Secretary and the Commission, and that type of division of authority likely will vary from agency to agency and statute to statute. -18- The analysis in Martin itself also makes clear that the Secretary’s understanding of the effect of an interpretation may develop over time given the Secretary’s involvement with many more enforcement actions than the Commission.6 The Court identified this fact as one of the Secretary’s “structural advantages” over the Commission in the interpretation of regulations. Id. at 152. Because the Court expressly anticipated that the Secretary may adjust its interpretation of a regulation over time, we should guard against championing the need for consistency at the expense of the Secretary’s flexibility. Like the Supreme Court, I believe a general review for reasonableness and for adherence to regulatory language is strong protection against surprising, biased, or abusive interpretations. See id. at 156 (“Congress also intended to protect regulated parties from biased interpretations of the Secretary’s regulations. But this objective is achieved when the Commission, and ultimately the court of appeals, review the Secretary’s interpretation to assure that it is consistent with the regulatory language and is otherwise reasonable.”). Our review in this matter therefore requires that we address the Secretary’s interpretation of § 1910.212(a)(1) to determine whether it is a reasonable and textually supported interpretation that merits deference pursuant to Martin in the face of a competing and inconsistent interpretation by the Commission. 6 The Court in Martin stated: [B]y virtue of the Secretary’s statutory role as enforcer, the Secretary comes into contact with a much greater number of regulatory problems than does the Commission, which encounters only those regulatory episodes resulting in contested citations. Consequently, the Secretary is more likely to develop the expertise relevant to assessing the effect of a particular regulatory interpretation. 499 U.S. at 152–53 (emphasis added) (internal citation omitted). -19-