[Federal Register: January 30, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 19)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 4204-4205]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr30ja07-7]
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Employment Standards Administration
20 CFR Part 725
RIN 1215-AB60
Regulations Implementing the Black Lung Benefits Act of 1969, as
Amended
AGENCY: Employment Standards Administration, Labor.
ACTION: Final rule.
SUMMARY: This final rule eliminates the procedural requirement that the
Department's administrative law judges include the parties' names in
decisions and orders issued in Black Lung Benefits Act claims. The
Department is revising the rule to give the Office of Administrative
Law Judges more flexibility in captioning these decisions. This will
allow the Department the flexibility to limit the amount of personal
information about black lung claimants that is included in published
final decisions.
DATES: Effective January 30, 2007.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: James L. DeMarce, Director, Division
of Coal Mine Workers' Compensation, Office of Workers' Compensation
Programs, Employment Standards Administration, 202-693-0046.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The current version of § 725.477(b) has
been in effect since 1978. The regulation requires the Department of
Labor's Office of Administrative Law Judges to include, among other
things, the "names of the parties" in decisions and orders issued
under the Black Lung Benefits Act, as amended, 30 U.S.C. 901-944. Coal
miners or their survivors who have filed claims for benefits are
parties to the claim; thus, their names are included in the decision
and order. Given the nature of black lung benefits claims, the decision
and order frequently contains a variety of personal information about
the miner and his or her survivors and dependents. In virtually every
case, this information includes detailed medical assessments of the
miner's physical condition, including the miner's medical history,
physical examination and objective test findings, medical treatment
records, and hospitalization records. In certain cases, a miner's or
survivor's financial records and the names, birthdates, and medical
histories of dependents may also be disclosed.
For many years, publication of these decisions was not widespread.
Although available for public inspection through the Office of
Administrative Law Judges, only a small percentage of decisions were
published in commercial legal reporters, such as the Black Lung
Reporter. But beginning in November 1996, Congress required agencies to
publish final adjudicatory decisions on the Internet (or in other
electronic form). See 5 U.S.C. 552(a)(2). Accordingly, the Office of
Administrative Law Judges now posts all final decisions on the
Department of Labor's Web site. As a result, these decisions are now
readily accessible to the public. By removing from § 725.477(b) the
requirement that parties' names be included in decisions, the revised
rule affords the Office of Administrative Law Judges the flexibility to
adopt procedures, as it deems necessary, that both ensure public access
to its decisions and eliminate the link between individual claimants
and their medical and financial information necessarily disclosed in
those decisions.
Finally, the revision to § 725.477(b) conforms the Black Lung
Benefits Act regulations to the rules governing decisions issued by the
Office of Administrative Law Judges under the Longshore and Harbor
Workers' Compensation Act, 33 U.S.C. 901 et seq., as well as decisions
issued by the Benefits Review Board and the Employees' Compensation
Appeals Board, two other Department of Labor adjudicatory bodies.
Neither the Longshore Act regulations nor the regulations governing
decisions issued by the two Boards require that the parties' names be
included in the decisions rendered. See 20 CFR 501.6 (Employees'
Compensation Appeals Board); 20 CFR 702.348 (Longshore Act); 20 CFR
802.404 (Benefits Review Board).
Rulemaking Analyses
Administrative Procedure Act
Section 553 of the Administrative Procedure Act exempts "rules of
agency organization, procedure, or practice." from proposed rulemaking
(i.e., notice-and-comment rulemaking). 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(3)(A). The
Department's revision to § 725.477(b) pertains solely to the
Department's formatting of decisions and orders and makes no change to
a substantive standard. Accordingly, the Department has determined that
this revision need not be published as a proposed rule under 5 U.S.C.
553(b). For the same reason, the Department has determined that there
is good cause, within the meaning of 5 U.S.C. 553(d)(3), to make the
revision effective upon publication.
Regulatory Flexibility Act
Because the Department has concluded that this action is not
subject to the Administrative Procedure Act's proposed rulemaking
requirements, it is not subject to the regulatory flexibility
provisions of the Regulatory Flexibility Act(5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.).
Unfunded Mandates Reform Act
This action is not subject to sections 202 or 205 of the Unfunded
Mandates Reform Act (UMRA, Pub. L. 104-4) because the Department has
determined that the revision is not subject to the Administrative
Procedure Act's proposed rulemaking requirements. In addition, this
action does not significantly or uniquely affect small governments or
impose a significant intergovernmental mandate as described in sections
203 and 204 of UMRA.
Paperwork Reduction Act
This action does not impose an information collection burden under
the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).
Executive Order 12866
This action is not a "significant regulatory action" and is
therefore not subject to review by the Office of Management and Budget
under Executive Order 12866 (58 FR 51735 (Oct. 4, 1993)).
[[Page 4205]]
Executive Order 13132
This action will not have substantial direct effect on the States,
on the relationship between the national government and the States, or
on the distribution of power and responsibilities among the various
levels of government, as described in Executive Order 13132 (64 FR
43255 (Aug. 10, 1999)).
List of Subjects in 20 CFR Part 725
Administrative practice and procedure, Black lung benefits, Claims,
Health care, Lung diseases, Miners, Mines, Workers' compensation.
- For the reasons set forth in the preamble, 20 CFR Part 725 is amended
as set forth below:
PART 725--CLAIMS FOR BENEFITS UNDER PART C OF TITLE IV OF THE
FEDERAL MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH ACT, AS AMENDED
- 1. The authority citation for part 725 continues to read as follows:
Authority: 5 U.S.C. 301, Reorganization Plan No. 6 of 1950, 15
FR 3174, 30 U.S.C. 901 et seq., 921, 932, 936; 33 U.S.C. 901 et
seq., 42 U.S.C. 405, Secretary's Order 7-87, 52 FR 48466, Employment
Standards Order No. 90-02.
- 2. Amend § 725.477(b) by revising the first sentence to read as
follows:
§ 725.477 Form and contents of decision and order.
* * * * *
(b) A decision and order shall contain a statement of the basis of
the order, findings of fact, conclusions of law, and an award,
rejection or other appropriate paragraph containing the action of the
administrative law judge, his or her signature and the date of issuance
* * *.
Signed at Washington, DC, this 25th day of January, 2007.
Victoria A. Lipnic,
Assistant Secretary for Employment Standards Administration.
Shelby Hallmark,
Director, Office of Workers' Compensation Programs.
[FR Doc. E7-1432 Filed 1-29-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-CK-P
