Page:United States Reports 502 OCT. TERM 1991.pdf/248

 502us1$$8Z 08-21-96 15:22:32 PAGES OPINPGT

90

SOUTHWEST MARINE, INC. v. GIZONI Opinion of the Court

the issue here, for the LHWCA contains no exclusion for railroad workers comparable to that for Jones Act seamen. Next, Southwest Marine advances a “primary jurisdiction” argument suggesting that, where a maritime worker is “arguably covered” by the LHWCA, the district court should stay any Jones Act proceeding pending a final LHWCA “administrative agency” determination that the worker is, in fact, a “master or member of a crew.” We find no indication in the LHWCA that Congress intended to preclude or stay traditional Jones Act suits in the district courts. Indeed, the LHWCA anticipates that such suits could be brought. Title 33 U. S. C. § 913(d) tolls the time to file LHWCA claims “[w]here recovery is denied to any person, in a suit brought at law or in admiralty to recover damages in respect of injury or death, on the ground that such person was an employee and the defendant was an employer within the meaning of this chapter and that such employer had secured compensation to such employee under this chapter.” Southwest Marine seeks to support its primary jurisdiction argument by pointing to the relation between the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act (FECA), 5 U. S. C. § 8101 et seq., and the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), 28 U. S. C. § 2671 et seq. But FECA contains an “unambiguous and comprehensive” provision barring any judicial review of the Secretary of Labor’s determination of FECA coverage. Lindahl v. Office of Personnel Management, 470 U. S. 768, 780, and n. 13 (1985); see 5 U. S. C. § 8128(b). Consequently, the courts have no jurisdiction over FTCA claims where the Secretary determines that FECA applies. The LHWCA contains no such provision. Likewise, we reject Southwest Marine’s argument that agency proceedings under the LHWCA require the jurisdictional limitations we have found the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), 29 U. S. C. § 151 et seq., to place on state and federal courts in favor of the proceedings conducted by the National Labor Relations Board.