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Title 33 — Navigation and Navigable WatersRelease 119-73not60

§939 Administration by Secretary

Title 33 › Chapter 18— LONGSHORE AND HARBOR WORKERS’ COMPENSATION › § 939

Last updated Apr 5, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Secretary must run the programs in this chapter. The Secretary can make rules, hire temporary technical and medical advisers, and appoint deputies and other staff while following civil service rules for certain hires. The Secretary can spend money needed to run the program, including for staff pay, rent, books, and printing. Those expenses are paid as described in section 945 when the Secretary approves itemized vouchers. The Secretary must set up compensation districts that include the high seas and U.S. areas and assign one or more deputy commissioners to each district. Lawsuits about injury or death on the high seas are filed in the federal district court where the responsible deputy commissioner’s office is located, or in the District of Columbia court if that office is there. The Secretary must give people covered by this chapter information and help about coverage, benefits, and claim procedures, and may provide legal help on request. The Secretary must tell and help compensated employees about medical, job, and vocational rehabilitation services. The Secretary must direct vocational rehab for permanently disabled workers and arrange services with state or private agencies. The Secretary may provide prosthetic devices or other equipment needed for a disabled employee to work. If needed services are not otherwise available, the Secretary may use the fund in section 944 to get those services and may also use amounts authorized in annual Labor Department appropriations to pay the costs of this help.

Full Legal Text

Title 33, §939

Navigation and Navigable Waters — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Except as otherwise specifically provided, the Secretary shall administer the provisions of this chapter, and for such purpose the Secretary is authorized (1) to make such rules and regulations; (2) to appoint and fix the compensation of such temporary technical assistants and medical advisers, and, subject to the provisions of the civil service laws, to appoint, and, in accordance with chapter 51 and subchapter III of chapter 53 of title 5, to fix the compensation of such deputy commissioners (except deputy commissioners appointed under subsection (a) of section 940 of this title) and other officers and employees; and (3) to make such expenditures (including expenditures for personal services and rent at the seat of government and elsewhere, for law books, books of reference, periodicals, and for printing and binding) as may be necessary in the administration of this chapter. All expenditures of the Secretary in the administration of this chapter shall be allowed and paid as provided in section 945 11 See References in Text note below. of this title upon the presentation of itemized vouchers therefor approved by the Secretary.
(b)The Secretary shall establish compensation districts, to include the high seas and the areas within the United States to which this chapter applies, and shall assign to each such district one or more deputy commissioners, as the Secretary deems advisable. Judicial proceedings under section 918 and 921 of this title in respect of any injury or death occurring on the high seas shall be instituted in the district court within whose territorial jurisdiction is located the office of the deputy commissioner having jurisdiction in respect of such injury or death (or in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia if such office is located in such District).
(c)(1)The Secretary shall, upon request, provide persons covered by this chapter with information and assistance relating to the chapter’s coverage and compensation and the procedures for obtaining such compensation and including assistance in processing a claim. The Secretary may, upon request, provide persons covered by this chapter with legal assistance in processing a claim. The Secretary shall also provide employees receiving compensation information on medical, manpower, and vocational rehabilitation services and assist such employees in obtaining the best such services available.
(2)The Secretary shall direct the vocational rehabilitation of permanently disabled employees and shall arrange with the appropriate public or private agencies in States or Territories, possessions, or the District of Columbia for such rehabilitation. The Secretary may in his discretion furnish such prosthetic appliances or other apparatus made necessary by an injury upon which an award has been made under this chapter to render a disabled employee fit to engage in a remunerative occupation. Where necessary rehabilitation services are not available otherwise, the Secretary of Labor may, in his discretion, use the fund provided for in section 944 of this title in such amounts as may be necessary to procure such services, including necessary prosthetic appliance or other apparatus. This fund shall also be available in such amounts as may be authorized in annual appropriations for the Department of Labor for the costs of administering this subsection.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

section 945 of this title, referred to in subsec. (a), was repealed by Pub. L. 98–426, § 25, Sept. 28, 1984, 98 Stat. 1654. See section 944 of this title. Codification In subsec. (a) “chapter 51 and subchapter III of chapter 53 of title 5” substituted for “the Classification Act of 1949, as amended” on authority of Pub. L. 89–554, § 7(b), Sept. 6, 1966, 80 Stat. 631, the first section of which enacted Title 5, Government Organization and Employees. As originally enacted, subsec. (b) contained a reference to the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia. Act
June 25, 1936, substituted “the district court of the United States for the District of Columbia” for “the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia”, and act
June 25, 1948, as amended by act
May 24, 1949, substituted “United States District Court for the District of Columbia” for “district court of the United States for the District of Columbia”. Former second sentence of subsec. (c), providing that the Federal Board for Vocational Education should cooperate with the Employees’ Compensation Commission in such educational work has been omitted. The functions of the Board were transferred to the Department of the Interior by Ex. Ord. No. 6166, § 15,
June 10, 1933, and then to the Federal Security Agency by Reorg. Plan No. 1 of 1939, §§ 201, 204, eff.
July 1, 1939, 4 F.R. 2728, 53 Stat. 1424. The Commission was abolished and its functions transferred to the Federal Security Administrator and the Federal Board for Vocational Education was abolished by Reorg. Plan No. 2 of 1946, former section 3 and 8, respectively, set out in the Appendix to Title 5, Government Organization and Employees.

Amendments

1984—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 98–426, § 27(c), substituted “Secretary” for “United States Employees’ Compensation Commission”. See

Transfer of Functions

note set out under section 902 of this title. Subsecs. (b), (c)(2). Pub. L. 98–426, § 27(a)(2), substituted “Secretary” for “commission”. See

Transfer of Functions

note set out under section 902 of this title. 1972—Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 92–576 added par. (1) and redesignated existing provisions as par. (2). 1956—Subsec. (c). Act July 26, 1956, substituted “rehabilitation” for “education” at end of first sentence, and substituted last two sentences, relating to use of special fund where necessary rehabilitation services are not available, and availability of fund in amounts authorized annually for the Department of Labor for former sentence which provided that “If any surplus is left in any fiscal year in the fund provided for in section 944 of this title, such surplus may be used in subsequent fiscal years for the purposes of administration and investigation.” 1949—Subsec. (a). Act Oct. 28, 1949, substituted “Classification Act of 1949” for “Classification Act of 1923”.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 1984 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 98–426 effective Sept. 28, 1984, see section 28(e)(1) of Pub. L. 98–426, set out as a note under section 901 of this title.

Effective Date

of 1972 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 92–576 effective 30 days after Oct. 27, 1972, see section 22 of Pub. L. 92–576, set out as a note under section 902 of this title.

Repeals

Act Oct. 28, 1949, ch. 782, cited as a credit to this section, was repealed (subject to a savings clause) by Pub. L. 89–554, Sept. 6, 1966, § 8, 80 Stat. 632, 655.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

33 U.S.C. § 939

Title 33 — Navigation and Navigable Waters

Last Updated

Apr 5, 2026

Release point: 119-73not60