Opinion ID: 413120
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The sounds of silence.

Text: 24 The 1972 amendments to the Act did not specify the length or terms of Board members' service. But there are suggestions in the history of the Act and its subsequent administration that Congress affirmatively intended for Board members, as part of the Department of Labor's staff, to serve as other appointed officials serve--at the discretion of the Secretary. 25 For one thing, in enacting the 1972 amendments Congress plainly considered a report which recommended that, inter alia, members of workers' compensation appeals boards like the Benefits Review Board be appointed for fixed terms with protection against removal. 55 Congress gave most careful consideration to this report, see H.R.Rep. No. 92-1441, 92d Cong., 2d Sess. 4 (1972), but did not adopt the fixed term proposal. 56 Instead, Congress placed the Board within the Department of Labor and instructed the Secretary to keep separate the functions of administering the program and sitting in judgment on the hearings. 57 S.Rep. No. 92-1125, 92d Cong., 2d Sess. 13-15 (1972). Congress gave the Secretary the responsibility of setting the machinery [of the Board] in motion, Continental Air Lines, Inc. v. CAB, 519 F.2d 944, 954-955 (D.C.Cir.1975), cert. denied sub nom. Western Airlines, Inc. v. Continental Air Lines, Inc., 424 U.S. 958, 96 S.Ct. 1436, 47 L.Ed.2d 365 (1976) (quoting Power Reactor Development Co. v. Int'l Union of Elec., Radio & Mach. Wkrs, 367 U.S. 396, 81 S.Ct. 1529, 6 L.Ed.2d 924 (1961)), and of determining the appropriate manner in which claims should be adjudicated and the Act administered. 58 See 33 U.S.C. Sec. 939 (1976) (Secretary charged with duty of issuing regulations to implement the statute). 26 The Secretary immediately implemented Congress' instructions. In his initial organizational order the Secretary placed the Board within the Office of the Under Secretary of Labor rather than in the Office of the Assistant Secretary. 20 C.F.R. Secs. 801.104, 801.302 (1982). 59 The order explained:[Placing the Board within the Office of the Under Secretary] was deemed necessary because the Board's functions are quasi-judicial in character and involve review of decisions made in the course of the administration of the several Acts by the Employment Standards Administration which is headed by an Assistant Secretary.    27 38 Fed.Reg. 6171 (March 7, 1973). The Secretary, consistent with Congress' intent, see S.Rep. No. 92-1125, supra, at 13-15, was attempting to insulate the Board from those who would be subject to its review--namely, the Employment Standards Administration, which the Assistant Secretary heads. 60 But the Secretary was not trying to, and did not have to, create an impregnable fortress of protection for the Board. 28 Thus, pursuant to his statutory authority to issue regulations governing establishment and operation of the Board, 33 U.S.C. Sec. 939 (1976), he promulgated 20 C.F.R. Sec. 801.201(d) (1982), providing that: 29 All members of the Board shall serve indefinite terms to be determined in the discretion of the Secretary. 30 This regulation gave the Secretary some control over the Board, a control that Congress might have deemed necessary since the Secretary was to be held accountable for agency operations. The regulation was implemented in 1973 and has been in effect, without interruption, 61 since that time. Thus, from the inception of the 1972 amendments, those charged with administering the statute have consistently construed it as giving the Secretary the traditional power of removal. 62 In the sounds of silence, courts are duty bound to follow 'the construction of a statute by those charged with its execution ... unless there are compelling indications that it is wrong.'  Haviland v. Butz, 543 F.2d 169, 174 (D.C.Cir.), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 832, 97 S.Ct. 95, 50 L.Ed.2d 97 (1976) (quoting Red Lion Broadcasting Co. v. FCC, 395 U.S. 367, 381, 89 S.Ct. 1794, 1801, 23 L.Ed.2d 371 (1969)), especially when that construction occurs contemporaneously with enactment of the statute. 63 We cannot find compelling indications that this regulation contravenes the congressional intent in the face of such history. Thus we must defer to the Secretary's interpretation as a sound expression of congressional will. 64 31 The Secretary's interpretation of the original congressional intent is further supported by recent floor activity in Congress. 65 In 1981 Senator Don Nickles, chairman of the Subcommittee on Labor of the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources, introduced legislation to make the Board more independent of the administrative arm of the Department of Labor. 66 Senator Nickles explained: 32 The 1972 amendments also created a two-step administrative appeal process within the Department of Labor, including a Benefit Review Board whose three members are appointed by the Secretary of Labor and serve at his pleasure. 33 127 Cong.Rec. S5077 (daily ed. May 14, 1981) (emphasis added). Senator Nickles believed that the Board needed a major facelift for it to have the proper degree of independence. He believed that S. 1182 would improve the administration of the Act 34 by establishing the Benefits Review Board and administrative law judges as a tribunal independent of the Department of Labor. The members of the Board are to be appointed by the President for fixed terms with the advice and consent of the Senate. The Secretary of Labor and his designees will not participate in litigation before the Board.    35 Id. at S5078. Thus, not only did Senator Nickles want to prevent the Secretary from removing Board members, he also wanted to elevate Board members to the status of officers of the United States (as opposed to inferior officers) and leave their appointment to the President. 36 The proposed bill was the subject of intensive debate in the legislative hearings, especially concerning the status of the Board. See Hearings on Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act Amendments of 1981 Before the Subcommittee on Labor of the Committee on Labor and Human Resources of the United States Senate, 97th Cong., 1st Sess. (1981) (1981 Hearings). Then-chairman of the Board, Samuel Smith, testified that: 37 The Board performs the same judicial function which the U.S. District Courts exercised prior to 1972. The term of office is indefinite with no procedures for removal.    38