2019 Black Lung Benefits Stuck at 2018 Rates
It’s almost March 2019 and coal miners and their families who receive federal black lung benefits are still waiting on the annual increase in benefits that they should get. In the February 15 budget deal, Congress authorized a 1.9% increase, but black lung benefits will not increase until the President and the Department of Labor implement this raise. Until then, black lung benefits are stuck at last year’s levels.
Back in December 2018, President Trump issued an executive order freezing federal workers’ wages and prohibiting a planned 2.1% across the board pay raise — indirectly affecting benefits for disabled coal miners and their families. That is because federal black lung benefit rates are set at 37.5% of the base salary of certain entry-level federal employees. See 30 U.S.C. § 922(a)(1). So, if those federal workers don’t get their annual raise, then neither do coal miners suffering from black lung.
Many expected this issue to be resolved when President Trump signed a bill on February 15th to keep the government open through September 30th. The bill also authorized a 1.9 percent pay increase for federal civilian employees, overriding the December pay freeze. However, that authorization was just the first of many steps required to enact the pay raise.
As Erich Wagner of Government Executive reports, “According to a former Office of Management and Budget official familiar with the federal compensation system, Trump is now obligated to issue an executive order authorizing a 1.9 percent raise and publishing new pay tables across the various compensation structures.”
Pay tables on agency payrolls will have to be updated, and the first paycheck with the raise will occur sometime in March, assuming Trump issues the order in February. Because black lung benefits are paid on the 15th day of the month after the month of entitlement, current beneficiaries will see any February 2019 increase on their March 15th payment. Whether miners will receive retroactive back pay for January’s increase in benefits is unclear, but it is possible that the March 15th payment may be 3.8% higher to make up the difference.
Many disabled coal miners have come to rely upon these regular annual raises. In 2018 and 2017, the U.S. Department of Labor increased federal black lung benefits by 1.4% and 1% respectively. These modest increases often fail to keep up with inflation, which was 1.8% in 2018, meaning miners’ paychecks have to be stretched thinner every year.
As posted online by the Division of Coal Mine Workers’ Compensation of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Workers’ Compensation, the monthly benefits rates for 2019 currently still mirror the 2018 rates:
- Primary beneficiary (e.g., a single miner or a widow without any dependent children) – $660.10/month
- Primary beneficiary and one dependent (e.g., a married miner without dependent children or a widow with a dependent child) – $990.10/month
- Primary beneficiary and two dependents (e.g., a married miner with one dependent child) – $1,155.10/month
- Primary beneficiary and three or more dependents (e.g., a married miner with two or more dependent children) – $1,320.00/month
Note that sometimes benefits are decreased because a miner or survivor has another benefits award under a federal or state workers’ compensation program. Many beneficiaries also effectively get less because an award of federal black lung benefits can decrease the amount that someone gets from an award of Social Security Disability.
In addition to monthly monetary benefits, disabled coal miners also receive medical benefits to treat their lung disease. See 20 C.F.R. § 725.701. For many miners, the medical benefits prove more valuable than the monetary benefits.
At a bare minimum, coal miners disabled by black lung and their families deserve regular and predictable benefits that keep pace with inflation. They already face significant stress from dealing with a disease that worsens over time. Their benefits should exist to ease this strain, not add to it