The Investigative Staff was told by a Department of Labor official that prior to the fiscal year 1977 budget the Employment Standards Administration received all the funding for the black lung program, and this was reallocated to the other offices shown in the above table. Each department within Labor submitted its request for people and money to the Program, Budget, Review Committee, which decided how many positions and how much money each department would receive. Beginning with the fiscal year 1977 budget, each department will be justifying its own request for positions and money. This was done at the request of the House Appropriations Committee. No longer will there be one figure in the budget for the black lung program. The following are short descriptions of the positions that are funded from the black lung appropriations. 1. Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management The two positions assigned to this office are a program analyst and a budget analyst. There are a total of 12 positions authorized for the Board. Of these, the three board members and one clerical position are funded from salaries and expenses of the Department. Six of the remaining eight positions are funded from black lung appropriations, with the remaining two positions from the Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act. These eight positions are five attorneys, two clerical, and one docket clerk. In addition to the 12 permanent positions they have 3 temporary clerical positions until the end of the current fiscal year. The primary workload to date has been with the Longshoremen's Act and not with black lung. The first black lung case was filed in May 1975. As of December 31, 1975, there were 142 longshoremen's and 50 black lung cases pending. The Investigative Staff was told by an administrative official of the Solicitor's Office that they do not allocate personnel positions between the programs funded by the Employment Standards Administration, of which black lung is one. A total of 21 positions have been funded by the Employment Standards Administration, of which 19 are funded from black lung appropriations. Included in the 21 positions are 7 secretaries, 12 attorneys, 1 legal assistant, and 1 subrogation assistant. The work of the Solicitor's Office has not required them to utilize all 19 positions for black lung work. An official of the Solicitor's Office advised the Investigative Staff that 10 people are working primarily on black lung work-8 attorneys and 2 clerks. These eight attorneys spend from 75 to 80 percent of their time on black lung activities. 4. Office of the Administrative Law Judge The first black lung case was appealed to the Office of the Administrative Law Judge in October 1974. However, prior to that time, positions were funded from black lung appropriations, with the individuals filling these positions working on the longshoremen's program. For example, the Investigative Staff was advised by an Administrative Law Judge official that, for fiscal year 1973, nine positions were funded from black lung appropriations; however, all worked on the longshoremen's program because the 1972 amendments to the Longshoremen's Act did not provide positions for the Office of Administrative Law Judge. The fiscal year 1974 black lung appropriation provided 38 positions--27 administrative law judges and 11 clerical. All personnel that were hired worked on the longshoremen's program. During that year three of the clerical positions were reclassified to administrative law judges. The programs for fiscal years 1975 and 1976 provided the same 38 positions. As of June 30, 1975, all the positions were filled, with 23 (16 hearing officers and 7 clerical) working on black lung cases, while 15 (8 administrative law judges and 7 clerical) were working on longshoremen's cases. 5. Office of Employment Standards The Office of Employment Standards Administration is responsible to the Secretary of Labor for administering and directing employment standards programs dealing with minimum wage and overtime standards; equal pay; age discrimination in employment; promotion of women's welfare; standards to improve employment conditions other than safety, nondiscrimination, and affirmative action in Government contracts and subcontracts and in federally assisted construction; and workers compensation programs for Federal and certain private employers and employees. There are a total of four positions in the Office that are funded from the black lung appropriation. The four positions are one information officer, one statistical supervisor, one mail clerk, and one finance clerk. 6. Office of Workmen's Compensation Programs The Office of workmen's Compensation Programs is responsible to the Office of Employment Standards Administration for the administration of the three basic federal workers' Compensation laws: the Federal Employees' Compensation Act; the Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act; and the "Black Lung" benefit payment provisions of the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969, as amended. This Office is also responsible for developing and recommending standards for improving State workers' compensation laws and providing technical advice and assistance to the States in implementing such standards. There are four positions in this Office that are being funded from the black lung appropriations. The job titles for these positions are program analyst, priority mail processor, Deputy Director, and secretary to the Deputy Director. 7. Office of Coal Mine Workers' The Office of Coal Mine Workers' Compensation is responsible to the Office of Workmen's Compensation Programs for the administration of the "Black Lung" benefit payment provisions of the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969, as amended. There are a total of 150 positions in this Office, with 134 being filled as of December 31, 1975. Of the 16 vacancies, 5 are clerical positions, 2 are claims examiners, 8 are program analysts and workmen's compensation specialists, and 1 is benefits pay clerk. This Office was authorized to hire nine temporary clerical personnel through January 1976. Two of these positions were terminated; six were extended to September 29, 1976, and one to February 6, 1976. An additional 18 temporary positions were authorized on June 26, 1975, to be terminated on June 29, 1976, and comprised 6 claims examiners, 6 clerk-typists, and 6 workers' compensation specialists. An additional four temporary positions were authorized in 1975 for one claims examiner and three workers' compensation assistants. Three of these positions The Investigative Staff was informed in January 1976 that an additional 22 temporary positions were authorized on September 17, 1975. As of December 31, 1975, there have been terminated. were a total of 48 temporary positions authorized, and 45 were filled. The unfilled positions were two claims examiners and one clerk-typist. The Associate Director for Coal Mine Workers' Compensation advised the Investigative Staff that officials within the Department of Labor have been aware of the increasing backlog of claims due to a lack of personnel. In a staff paper dated October 26, 1973, some 3 months after the program was assumed by the Department of Labor, this individual stated: "The fact that half of the [claims] folders require additional development by DOL [Department of Labor] claims examiners results in an ever-increasing backlog of cases and places an additional workload not anticipated nor planned for in our staffing patterns." This individual advised the Investigative Staff that the staffing problems have been made known to Department of Labor officials through program and budget meetings through the years. In a June 23, 1975, memorandum to the Director, Office of Workmen's Compensation Programs, this same individual stated that: "As we have discussed on enumerable occasions, staff resources continues to be the single most significant factor causing processing delays and the concomitant Congressional interest in the Program. The great degree of litigation by the coal industry, Social Security Administration's (SSA) lack of performance and the medical evidence procedures are other important factors as well." In this memorandum a request was made for 82 additional temporary staff persons for a minimum of 1 year and a maximum of 18 months to reduce workloads to acceptable levels. The Investigative Staff was informed that 40 temporary positions previously discussed were in response to this request. The Investigative Staff's question is: "why did they wait 2 years to authorize these positions"? The Investigative Staff believes that the projected claims filings of 15,400 in 1976 and 6,000 in 1977 and 1978 and 5,000 in 1979-81 are understated. It was the opinion of some of the Branch Managers of the District Offices of the Social Security Administration that with the increased retirement benefits for coal miners starting January 1, 1976, they expect a substantial increase in retirements and therefore a substantial increase in people applying for benefits under the existing Federal programs such as black lung. It is the Investigative Staff's belief that additional staff may be necessary and that the Department should consider either requesting additional permanent staff or converting some of those positions in other groups in the Department of Labor that are presently not being used on black lung work, although funded by the program, to such vital positions as claims examiners. At such time that the workload is reduced in the initial claims review area, tney could then be transferred to other areas where they are needed. B. Black Lung Benefit Claims Backlog There are three levels of adjudication where black lung benefit claims could be backlogged: (1) initial determination by the Office of Coal Mine Workers' Compensation; (2) appeals to the Office of the Administrative Law Judge; and (3) appeals to the Benefits Review Board. The Investigative Staff found that the only area where there is a backlog is at the initial determination level and, as stated previously in the report, resulted from a lack of personnel and the Department of Labor's inaction in the early stages of the program to alleviate this problem. 1. Initial Determination Statistics were obtained from the Department of Labor beginning with October 1974 and showed that the backlog has been increasing every month since that date, except for November 1975 when adjudicated claims exceeded new receipts by 64. A summary of these backlogs follows: These backlogged claims will have to be reviewed by the 36 claims examiners. Therefore, as of December 31, 1975, on the average, each claims examiner would be responsible for 1,350 claims. Some of the more senior examiners are responsible for up to 2,000 claims. According to a Department of Labor official, an optimum caseload per examiner in workers' compensation programs is 500 cases per year. In addition to the shortage of claims examiners there is also a shortage of support personnel, such as clerk-typists, |