This case involves a claim for Black Lung Benefits under the federal Black Lung Benefits Act. Ermine Hayes, a construction worker for Cowin & Company, spent nearly 30 years working in coal mines, often exposed to coal dust. After his death, his son, Jeffrey Hayes, pursued a claim for benefits on his behalf, alleging total disability from pneumoconiosis. To qualify for a rebuttable presumption of disability, a miner must prove they worked in coal mines for fifteen years. The dispute centered on how to calculate a 'year' of employment. An administrative law judge initially awarded benefits, calculating that Hayes worked 17.55 years by crediting years where he worked at least 125 days, even if his employment did not span a full calendar year. The Benefits Review Board vacated this decision, instructing judges to first determine if the miner was employed for a full calendar year before counting the 125 days worked within it. On remand, a new judge denied benefits, finding Hayes had only 13.76 years of qualifying employment. The Board affirmed this denial, and Hayes petitioned the Eleventh Circuit for review.
Chief Judge William Pryor, writing for the court, focused on the plain text of the Department of Labor regulation, 20 C.F.R. § 725.101(a)(32). The regulation defines a 'year' as a period of one calendar year or partial periods totaling one year, during which the miner worked for at least 125 working days. The Director of the Office of Workers' Compensation Programs argued that the regulation required a two-step inquiry: first, the miner must prove employment for a full 365-day period, and second, they must prove 125 days of work within that period. The court rejected this interpretation, stating that the text of subsection (i) unambiguously provides that if a miner worked at least 125 days during a calendar year, they have worked one year for all purposes under the Act. The court noted that the Director's reading would render the presumption in subsection (ii) meaningless, as it would require miners to prove both conditions independently. Furthermore, the court found that the regulation's preamble and historical context did not override the clear statutory text. The court declined to defer to the agency's interpretation under Kisor v. Wilkie because the regulation was not ambiguous; its ordinary meaning clearly supports the 125-day standard without a prerequisite of full-year employment.
The decision clarifies the calculation method for Black Lung Benefits eligibility in the Eleventh Circuit, making it easier for miners to qualify for the fifteen-year presumption. By removing the requirement to prove full-year employment, miners who worked intermittently or for partial years but met the 125-day threshold in a calendar year will now have those periods counted as full years. The case is remanded to the Benefits Review Board to recalculate Ermine Hayes's employment history under this new standard, which may result in him meeting the fifteen-year requirement and receiving benefits.