Cite as: 506 U. S. 153 (1993)
Opinion of the Court
its reasoning in a case involving a hearing loss claim filed after the claimant's retirement. Redick v. Bethlehem Steel Corp., 16 BRBS 155 (1984). Although the ALJ in Redick had made a finding of disability because "scheduled awards are conclusive presumptions of loss of wage-earning capacity and cannot be rebutted," id., at 156, the Board vacated the award of benefits, reasoning that the "voluntary retirement was prior to manifestation of the injury, and was unrelated to his hearing loss," id., at 157.
In 1984, Congress amended the Act by adding the "third" compensation system that unquestionably provides compensation for the type of claim rejected in Aduddell and the other asbestos cases. With the 1984 amendments, Congress authorized the payment of benefits to retirees suffering from occupational diseases that become manifest only after retirement. More precisely, a new § 10(i) addresses claims for death or disability "due to an occupational disease which does not immediately result in death or disability." 33 U. S. C. § 910(i).
As is the case under the first two compensation systems,
compensation under the third system turns in large part on the "average weekly wage" used to calculate benefits. When the "time of injury"—defined as "the date on which the employee or claimant becomes aware, or . . . should have been aware, of the relationship between the employment, the disease, and the death or disability," ibid.—is within the first year of retirement, the claimant's average weekly wage is based upon the claimant's wages just prior to retirement. § 910(d)(2)(A). When the "time of injury" is more than one year after retirement, the average weekly wage is deemed to be the national average weekly wage at that time. § 910(d)(2)(B).
Once the "average weekly wage" is determined, a claimant's benefits are calculated under § 8 of the Act. For claims
157
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