Perdue Foods, Inc. (Commission decision, January 25, 2017)

Partial settlement order remanded for unresolved item

Decision type
Commission decision
Docket
16-1778
Decided
January 25, 2017
Outcome
Remanded
Precedential status
Citable Commission precedent
Checked against source
2026-07-21

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Currency note: this decision dates from 2017
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Decision of the Commission
This is a decision of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, the highest level of agency review, citable as Commission precedent. It may have been appealed to a U.S. Court of Appeals after issuance; check subsequent history before relying on it. The full text below is from the official OSHRC release.
About this page: The plain-English summary and decision snapshot below were written by Ezel based on the official OSHRC release. The full text is the agency's own release.
Read the official release (oshrc.gov)

Plain-English summary

Perdue Foods and the Secretary submitted a settlement agreement that expressly excluded Citation 1, Item 2 because Perdue intended to continue contesting it. The judge nevertheless approved the settlement and the order was docketed, even though the agreement did not resolve the entire case. Within the review period, the Secretary sought remand and Perdue sought permission to file a late answer. The Commission remanded the case for the judge to consider those pending matters and the unresolved citation item.

Decision snapshot

  • Cited standard(s): None specified in the decision.
  • Outcome: The case was remanded because the settlement order did not resolve Citation 1, Item 2.
  • Key point: A settlement order cannot fully dispose of a case when the agreement expressly leaves a contested citation item unresolved.

Full text (OSHRC public release)

PERDUE FOODS, INC., OSHRC DOCKET No. 16-1778

2017-01-26
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2018-08-06

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United States of America

OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH REVIEW COMMISSION

���������� 1120 20 th � Street, N.W., Ninth Floor Washington, DC 20036-3457

SECRETARY OF LABOR,

����������������������������� Complainant,

������������������������
v.

OSHRC Docket No. 16-1778

PERDUE FOODS, INC.,

���������������������������� Respondent.

APPEARANCES:

Karen E. Mock, Counsel; Stanley
E. Keen, Regional Solicitor; M. Patricia Smith, Solicitor of Labor; U.S. Department of Labor, Washington, DC

For the Complainant

Raymond
Perez, Jackson Lewis P.C., Atlanta, GA For the
Respondent

REMAND ORDER

Before: M AC DOUGALL,
Acting Chairman; and ATTWOOD, Commissioner. BY THE COMMISSION:

Chief Administrative Law Judge Covette Rooney issued a December 14, 2016 Order Approving Stipulated Settlement Agreement between Perdue Foods, Inc., and the Secretary. The parties stated in an informal settlement agreement dated October 13, 2016, that Citation 1, Item 2 was � excluded � from � the � agreement � as � Respondent � intended � to � contest � it. ��� See � 29 � C.F.R.

� 2200.100(b) (requiring that settlement agreement specify the terms for each contested item and �specify any contested item . . . that remains to be decided�). Although the informal settlement agreement did not fully resolve the case, the judge issued an order, and it was submitted for docketing and subsequently docketed on December 19, 2016, thereby commencing the thirty-day period before �[t]he report of the administrative law judge . . . become[s] the final order of the Commission.� 29 U.S.C. � 661(j) (�The report of the administrative law judge shall become the

final order of the Commission within thirty days after such report by the administrative law judge, unless within such period any Commission member has directed that such report shall be reviewed by the Commission.�); 29 C.F.R. � 2200.90(b)(2) (�Promptly upon receipt of the Judge�s report, the Executive Secretary shall docket the report and notify all parties of the docketing date.�).

On January 11, 2017, within the thirty-day period under section 12(j) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, 29 U.S.C. � 661(j), each party filed an unopposed motion with the Commission: the Secretary filed an Unopposed Motion to Remand, and Respondent filed an Unopposed Motion to Allow Late Answer and an Answer to Complaint. Because the judge�s order did not fully resolve the case, we remand it to the judge for further consideration of these pending matters.

SO ORDERED.

/s/ ��������������������������������������������������������

Heather L. MacDougall

Acting Chairman

/s/ ��������������������������������������������������������

Cynthia L.
Attwood

Dated:
January 25, 2017 �������������������������������������������� Commissioner

2

United
States of America

OCCUPATIONAL
SAFETY AND HEALTH REVIEW COMMISSION

SECRETARY OF
LABOR,

Complainant,

v.

OSHRC DOCKET
NO. 16-1778

PERDUE
FOODS, INC.,

Respondent.

ORDER

APPROVING
STIPULATED SETTLEMENT

The
Commission has jurisdiction over the subject matter of the case and over the parties by virtue of the filing of a timely notice of contest.

The stipulated settlement between the parties filed on 10/13/16 has been considered. The parties certify that affected employees were properly notified of the settlement on 10/19/16. No objection to the settlement has been filed.

The settlement is approved under 5 U.S.C. � 554(c)(1) and Commission Rule

  1. 1 � The terms of the stipulated settlement
    are incorporated, in their entirety, by reference in this order.

��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� ��������������������������������������������� /s/ COVETTE ROONEY

��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� Chief Judge, OSHRC

Dated: December
14, 2016 Washington, D.C.

� SHAPE
� * MERGEFORMAT

1 Rules
of Procedure of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, 29 C.F.R.
�� 2200.1-.212 (1991).

1

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