§ 10.150 - Statement relative to substantive rules.

(a) The principal function of the Office and its subordinate parts is that of adjudicating claims for workers’ compensation. This function is quasijudicial in character and involves the application of statutes and principles of law to resolve factual situations. This field of activity is within the specialized branch of the law generally referred to as “workers’ compensation,” and has its own particularized principles which have general applicability to workers’ compensation statutes (State and Federal), as such statutes have certain common or underlying similarity in respect to the meaning of terms and phrases, and in respect to scope, jurisdiction, and general basic concepts of employer liability.

(b) In the administration of the Act, the Office has one general policy, which is to follow and to adhere to the principles of workers’ compensation law as stated in the opinions of the Supreme Court, the Federal Circuit Courts of Appeal, and the District Courts of the United States, as they may appropriately be applied or have been determined by the Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board (ECAB) to apply in like situations arising under the Act. In addition, decisions and opinions of the judicial tribunals of the several States furnish principles of law of general applicability in the specialized field of workers’ compensation, which form parts of the foundation of general principles relied upon in the application and interpretation of the Act. The Office applies the provision of the Act applicable in respect to a particular case or situation, to the extent that such provision can readily be applied without extrinsic aid, but where such aid is necessary the source thereof is the body of principles embodied in authoritative decisions of the courts and the ECAB within such well-recognized branch of the law.