Black Lung Benefits Act of 1972

Last updated
Black Lung Benefits Act of 1972
Great Seal of the United States (obverse).svg
Long titleJoint resolution to amend the provisions of the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 to extend black lung benefits to orphans whose fathers die of pneumoconiosis, and for other purposes.
Enacted bythe 92nd United States Congress
EffectiveMay 19, 1972
Citations
Public law Pub.L.   92–303
Statutes at Large 86  Stat.   150
Codification
Acts amended Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969
Titles amended 30 U.S.C.: Mineral Lands and Mining
U.S.C. sections amended
Legislative history
  • Introduced in the Houseas H.R. 9212 by Carl D. Perkins (DKY) on August 5, 1971
  • Committee consideration by U.S. House Education & Labor
  • Passed the House on November 10, 1971 (311-79)
  • Passed the Senate on April 17, 1972 (73-0)
  • Reported by the joint conference committee on April 19, 1972; agreed to by the Senate on May 4,1972 (Agreed) and by the House on May 10, 1972 (275-122)
  • Signed into law by President Richard M. Nixon on May 19, 1972

The Black Lung Benefits Act (BLBA) is a U.S. federal law which provides monthly payments and medical benefits to coal miners totally disabled from pneumoconiosis (black lung disease) arising from employment in or around the nation's coal mines. The law also provides monthly benefits to a miner's dependent survivors if pneumoconiosis caused or hastened the miner's death.

Contents

History

In 1952, Alabama became the first state to provide compensation for coal workers' pneumoconiosis. [1]

In 1969, the United Mine Workers convinced the United States Congress to enact the landmark Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act which provided compensation for miners suffering from Black Lung Disease. Arnold Miller (1923–1985) a miner and long time labor activist played a big role in the struggle for this legislation.

Adjudication and processing

Claims may be submitted to any of nine district offices of the Division of Coal Mine Workers' Compensation of the Department of Labor. [2] The employment and medical history of the claimant are examined, including a complete pulmonary evaluation paid for by the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund. [3] There may be a rebuttable presumption that pneumoconiosis resulted from such employment for miners long-term employed at one or more coal mines. [4] Right of rebuttal is offered to the relevant coal mine operator, and final determination is made by the director of the examining district office. [3]

The fairness of these administrative proceedings, however, has recently been called into question in light of an increasing lack of resources for miners to contest claims accompanied by a resurgence in black lung disease. [5]

Benefits and medical services

Present and former coal miners, other workers who have been exposed to coal dust, and their surviving dependents may apply for medical and monthly financial benefits under the Act. The program provides for diagnostic testing to verify the presence of black lung disease and degree of associated disability. Benefits may include a monthly stipend, as well as such medical services as prescription drug coverage, hospitalization coverage, durable medical equipment, and outpatient therapy.

Note: Benefits do not include Residence costs (room and board) for nursing homes or skilled nursing facilities. [6] Miners who become disabled to the point of needing the services of a nursing home or skilled nursing facilities will have to resort to their own insurance or private funds to pay for these services.

Payments are made by the operator of the mine most recently employing an affected worker or from the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund. [3] Payments and benefits are not considered taxable income. [7]

Black Lung Disability Trust Fund

Coal miners meeting with Congresswoman Alma Adams about the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund in 2020. Alma Adams with coal miners 2020.jpg
Coal miners meeting with Congresswoman Alma Adams about the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund in 2020.

The Black Lung Benefits Act established a government trust fund to pay for the benefits, financed by an excise tax on coal. Until the end of 2018 the tax was $1.10 per ton for coal from subsurface mines and $0.55 per ton for surface mines, limited to a maximum of 4.4% of the coal’s selling price. Starting January 1, 2019 the rate was reduced to $0.50 per ton for coal from subsurface mines and $0.25 per ton for surface mines, limited to 2% of selling price. Coal produced for export is not taxed. [8] The Trust Fund runs a deficit, financed by borrowing from the treasury. Congress has in the past forgiven portions the debt, which reached a maximum of $10.5 billion in 2008 and stood at $4.3 billion in 2018. With the 2019 cut in excise tax rates, the General Accounting Office estimates the debt will reach $15.4 billion in 2050. [9]

See also

Notes

  1. Black Lung - United Mine Workers of America
  2. "About the Black Lung Program". Office of Workers' Compensation Programs (OWCP) - Division of Coal Mine Workers' Compensation (DCMWC). U.S. Dept. of Labor. Retrieved 2019-07-24.
  3. 1 2 3 Compliance Guide to the Black Lung Benefits Act, January 2001, Department of Labor
  4. "Regulations and presumptions". Archived from the original on 2010-12-26. Retrieved 2010-09-19.
  5. Achieving Procedural Fairness in Black Lung Benefits Hearings; Breathless and Burdened
  6. Black Lung Medical Benefits: Questions and Answers about the Federal Black Lung Program;U.S. Department of Labor Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs; page 4
  7. Federal Black Lung Benefits Are Not Taxable
  8. "Coal Excise Tax". Natural Resources Revenue Data. U.S. Dept. of the Interior. Retrieved 2019-07-24.
  9. Black Lung Benefits Program: Options for Improving Trust Fund Finances (Report). General Accounting Office. May 30, 2018. GAO-18-351. Retrieved 2019-07-24.

Related Research Articles

According to the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO), there are 1,138 statutory provisions in which marital status is a factor in determining benefits, rights, and privileges. These rights were a key issue in the debate over federal recognition of same-sex marriage. Under the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the federal government was prohibited from recognizing same-sex couples who were lawfully married under the laws of their state. The conflict between this definition and the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution led the U.S. Supreme Court to rule DOMA unconstitutional on June 26, 2013, in the case of United States v. Windsor.

Pneumoconiosis interstitial lung disease that is caused by the inhalation of dust

Pneumoconiosis is the general term for a class of interstitial lung diseases where inhalation of dust has caused interstitial fibrosis. Pneumoconiosis often causes restrictive impairment, although diagnosable pneumoconiosis can occur without measurable impairment of lung function. Depending on extent and severity, it may cause death within months or years, or it may never produce symptoms. It is usually an occupational lung disease, typically from years of dust exposure during work in mining; textile milling; shipbuilding, ship repairing, and/or shipbreaking; sandblasting; industrial tasks; rock drilling ; or agriculture.

The Fair Deal was an ambitious set of proposals put forward by U.S. President Harry S. Truman to Congress in his January 1949 State of the Union address. More generally the term characterizes the entire domestic agenda of the Truman administration, from 1945 to 1953. It offered new proposals to continue New Deal liberalism, but with the Conservative Coalition controlling Congress, only a few of its major initiatives became law and then only if they had considerable GOP support. As Richard Neustadt concludes, the most important proposals were aid to education, universal health insurance, the Fair Employment Practices Commission, and repeal of the Taft–Hartley Act. They were all debated at length, then voted down. Nevertheless, enough smaller and less controversial items passed that liberals could claim some success.

Employee benefits Non-wage compensation provided to employees in addition to normal wages or salaries

Employee benefits and benefits in kind include various types of non-wage compensation provided to employees in addition to their normal wages or salaries. Instances where an employee exchanges (cash) wages for some other form of benefit is generally referred to as a "salary packaging" or "salary exchange" arrangement. In most countries, most kinds of employee benefits are taxable to at least some degree. Examples of these benefits include: housing furnished or not, with or without free utilities; group insurance ; disability income protection; retirement benefits; daycare; tuition reimbursement; sick leave; vacation ; social security; profit sharing; employer student loan contributions; conveyancing; long service leave; domestic help (servants); and other specialized benefits.

Mine Safety and Health Administration agency of the United States Department of Labor

The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) is an agency of the United States Department of Labor which administers the provisions of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 to enforce compliance with mandatory safety and health standards as a means to eliminate fatal accidents, to reduce the frequency and severity of nonfatal accidents, to minimize health hazards, and to promote improved safety and health conditions in the nation's mines. MSHA carries out the mandates of the Mine Act at all mining and mineral processing operations in the United States, regardless of size, number of employees, commodity mined, or method of extraction. David Zatezalo is Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health, and the head of MSHA.

Coal workers' pneumoconiosis (CWP), also known as black lung disease or black lung, is caused by long-term exposure to coal dust. It is common in coal miners and others who work with coal. It is similar to both silicosis from inhaling silica dust and asbestos dust. Inhaled coal dust progressively builds up in the lungs and leads to inflammation, fibrosis, and in worse cases, necrosis.

Radiation Exposure Compensation Act US law

The United States Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) is a federal statute providing for the monetary compensation of people, including atomic veterans, who contracted cancer and a number of other specified diseases as a direct result of their exposure to atmospheric nuclear testing undertaken by the United States during the Cold War, or their exposure to radon gas and other radioactive isotopes while undertaking uranium mining, milling or the transportation of ore.

Safety and Health in Mines Convention, 1995 is an International Labour Organization Convention. It was adopted at the 82nd International Labour Conference (ILC) of the International Labour Organization (ILO). The ILO is an agency under the United Nations that deals with international labor issues while promoting workers rights and opportunities. One of ILO's goals is to hold annual labor conventions to create legally binding contracts for participating nations to ratify. During the Safety and Health in Mines Convention (C176), it was recognized that there are inherent hazards in the mining workplace, and a need for a convention was mandatory.

Social Security Disability Insurance is a payroll tax-funded federal insurance program of the United States government. It is managed by the Social Security Administration and designed to provide income supplements to people who are physically restricted in their ability to be employed because of a notable disability. SSD can be supplied on either a temporary or permanent basis, usually directly correlated to whether the person's disability is temporary or permanent.

Caplan's syndrome is a combination of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and pneumoconiosis that manifests as intrapulmonary nodules, which appear homogenous and well-defined on chest X-ray.

Disability Insurance, often called DI or disability income insurance, or income protection, is a form of insurance that insures the beneficiary's earned income against the risk that a disability creates a barrier for a worker to complete the core functions of their work. For example, the worker may suffer from an inability to maintain composure in the case of psychological disorders or an injury, illness or condition that causes physical impairment or incapacity to work. It encompasses paid sick leave, short-term disability benefits (STD), and long-term disability benefits (LTD). Statistics show that in the US a disabling accident occurs, on average, once every second. In fact, more than one in four 20-year-olds today will be unable to work due to an illness or injury for 1 year or more during their life before retirement. The same concept is instantiated in some countries as income protection insurance.

Iowa Workforce Development is a government agency in the American state of Iowa, responsible for overseeing workplace safety, workers' compensation, unemployment insurance and job training services. It was formed in May 1996.

Uranium mining and the Navajo people Effects of uranium mining on Navajo

In 1944, uranium mining under the U.S military's Manhattan Project began on Navajo Nation lands and on Lakota Nation lands. On August 1, 1946, the responsibility for atomic science and technology was transferred from the military to the United States Atomic Energy Commission. Afterward, widespread uranium mining began on Navajo and Lakota lands in a nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

Office of Workers Compensation Programs major disability compensation program in the United States of America

The Office of Workers' Compensation Programs administers four major disability compensation programs which provide wage replacement benefits, medical treatment, vocational rehabilitation and other benefits to certain workers or their dependents who experience work-related injury or occupational disease.

A "B" reader is a physician certified by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) as demonstrating proficiency in classifying radiographs of the pneumoconioses.

Uninsured employer in the United States is a term to identify an employer of workers under circumstances where there is no form of insurance in place to provide certain benefits to those workers. More specifically, it is a term used in workers’ compensation law to identify an employer who does not have some form of worker’s compensation insurance or self-insurance coverage in effect at the time of, or during the time of, a claimed injury.

Born in Toledo, Ohio, in 1909, Lorin Edgar Kerr was educated at the University of Toledo where he received his B.A. in 1931 and at the University of Michigan, receiving his M.D. in 1935 and a M.S.P.H. in 1939. From 1937 to 1944 he served in municipal and county public health departments in Ohio and Michigan. Kerr joined the United States Public Health Service in 1944, first in the War Food Administration and later in the Industrial Hygiene Division. While with the Industrial Hygiene Division he provided consultant services for labor unions which were then beginning to develop their own medical care programs.

Environmental justice and coal mining in Appalachia is the study of environmental justice – the interdisciplinary body of social science literature studying theories of the environment and justice; environmental laws, policies, and their implementations and enforcement; development and sustainability; and political ecology – in relation to Coal mining in Appalachia.

J. Davitt McAteer is an American lawyer, author, and activist from Fairmont, West Virginia. McAteer was appointed to the position of assistant secretary for the Mine Safety and Health Administration from 1993 to 2000 under President Bill Clinton. Throughout his career, McAteer has been an advocate for safe working conditions for miners, particularly in the coal industry. After the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster of 2010, where an explosion caused by negligence led to the death of 29 miners, McAteer Served on Governor Earl Ray Tomblin's independent investigation panel to determine the cause of the explosion. McAteer is the author of "Monongah: The Tragic Story of the 1907 Monongah Mine Disaster".

Bituminous Coal Operators Association (BCOA) is a coal mining lobbying organization. It was founded in 1950 by various companies to deal with the UMWA and unionizing of mines during the change from human labor to mechanical labor. The BCOA would strike deals between miners, mine companies, and coal buying companies to provide a steady flow of continuous labor and a steady purchasing price for coal. The main deals normally contained negotiations of some miners being put out of work by mechanizations while the miners left would be guaranteed a steady job and pay as long as they agreed to not hold up progress with strikes and other activities. In addition, the BCOA hears requests from the UMWA employees for pay raises but often results in unprotected employees being laid off after a deal has been reached. The current president of BCOA is David M Young. He is the main representative for the BCOA and lobbyist.