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Meaning of "Miner" for Purposes of Black Lung Benefits Act
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The Black Lung Benefits Act provides for total disability claims for United States miners suffering from pneumoconiosis (aka black lung disease), which was contracted due to their employment. Originally, a "miner" was considered to be a person who was employed in an underground coal mine. However, subsequent amendments to the Act deleted the "underground" requirement so that miners working in above-ground environments would also be covered.
Further amendments to the Act expanded the definition of "miner." First, the definition was changed to apply to individuals who worked or had worked in a coal mine. Second, individuals who worked not only in the extraction of coal but also in the preparation of the product were included as "miners." Third, the amendments increased the breadth of the definition to include those individuals who worked in construction or transportation around a coal mine and who were exposed to coal dust as a condition of their employment. This last change establishing exposure as the key element became the bedrock for identifying an individual eligible for benefits under the Act. Basically, a miner was one exposed to coal dust. Thus, the location of the individual's work is crucial to the determination of his "miner" status. Copyright 2009 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. |
