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The statutory five-member board operated with three or four
The Department of Labor’s Benefits Review Board has five authorized administrative appeals judges, but it operated with three or four from November 2023 onward and had four when the inspector general reported. Each appeal requires a three-judge panel.
With five judges, each would participate in roughly 60% of cases if work were evenly distributed. With four, that rises to 75%—a 25% increase in per-judge panel participation. The calculation explains a capacity squeeze; it does not capture case complexity or staff support.
| Fiscal year | Cases | Average months |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 61 | 6.83 |
| 2022 | 100 | 9.76 |
| 2023 | 130 | 11.93 |
| 2024 | 196 | 12.81 |
| 2025 | 207 | 13.98 |
Longshore volume rose 239%
Longshore cases increased from 61 in fiscal 2021 to 207 in fiscal 2025, a 239.3% rise. Average processing time increased from 6.83 months to 13.98 months, or 104.7%.
Black Lung appeals moved differently: annual case counts fell from 622 to 360 over the same endpoints, while average processing time ended at 12.34 months after peaking at 16.54 months in 2023. That contrast argues against attributing every delay to one cause.
The report says the shortage was part of the cause
The inspector general says timeliness was driven in part by the judge shortage. The qualification matters: rising Longshore volume, case mix and administrative processes can also affect duration.
Vacancy accountability is nevertheless measurable. A board that legally depends on three-member panels has little redundancy at three or four judges, and the report recommends actions aimed at staffing and timeliness.
Method and limits
This newsroom transcribed five years of the report’s caseload and processing-time table and calculated endpoint changes. Percentages are rounded to one decimal place.
Average months do not show the distribution of individual waits, and correlation does not prove that vacancies caused the full increase. The inspector general’s narrower ‘in part’ conclusion is preserved.