Emma L. David v. Honorable Raymond J. Donovan, Secretary of Labor, United States Department of Labor

This is a challenge to the Assistant Secretary of Labor’s decision that appellant David is ineligible for benefits as an adversely affected woods employee, under the Redwood National Park Expansion Act of 1978, Pub.L. No. 95-250, 92 Stat. 163 [Redwood Act], The parties disagreed in their interpretation of Labor Regulation 92.15, 29 C.F.R. § 92.15 (1980), under which appellant seeks benefits. We must decide which interpretation of that regulation should be applied.

FACTS

Emma David worked for Simpson Timber until her layoff on April 30, 1981. Her job involved processing scaling tickets, documents that her employer used to provide measurements and processing instructions for large first-growth redwood logs.

When the Redwood National Park was expanded by Congress, Simpson Timber lost a large amount of timberland and first- growth redwood. As a result, its processing shifted from primarily first-growth to primarily second-growth logs. Soon it changed its log-accounting system to process efficiently the smaller second-growth logs. The new system eliminated appellant’s job. The parties agree that the Park expansion was a factor in the employer’s decision to change its log-accounting…