Wyman-Gordon Company (Commission decision, August 6, 1992)

Plain-English summary

The Secretary appealed part of the Commission's December 1991 Wyman-Gordon decision to the First Circuit. During the appeal, Wyman-Gordon agreed to withdraw its contest to three instances alleging violations of the employee-record-access standard. Those citation portions became final orders by operation of law. Following the court's mandate, the Commission vacated as moot only its prior dispositions that had vacated those three instances. The remainder of the 1991 decision stayed undisturbed and remained Commission precedent. The release does not state a penalty result.

Decision snapshot

• Cited standard(s): 29 C.F.R. § 1910.20(e)(2)(i)
• Outcome: Settled. Three record-access citation instances became final, and the prior contrary dispositions were vacated as moot.
• Key point: An appellate settlement can change the disposition of specific citation instances without displacing the Commission's remaining analysis and precedent.

Full text (OSHRC public release)

Docket No. 84-785

SECRETARY OF LABOR,

Complainant,

v.

WYMAN-GORDON COMPANY,

Respondent

UNITED STEELWORKERS OF AMERICA, LOCAL 2285,

Authorized Employee Representative.

OSHRC Docket No. 84-785

DECISION

Before: FOULKE, Chairman; WISEMAN and MONTOYA,
Commissioners.

BY THE COMMISSION:

This case is before the Commission pursuant to the
"Order of Court" issued by the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit on June 9, 1992, remanding this case to the Commission "with directions to vacate as moot, in accordance with the settlement agreement, that portion of the December 20, 1991 decision from which an appeal was taken."

Pursuant to section 11(b) of the Occupational Safety
and Health Act of 1970, 29 U.S.C. 660(b), the Secretary petitioned the First Circuit for review of the Commission's decision in this case, dated December 20, 1991. 15 BNA OSHC 1433, 1992 CCH OSHD 29,550 (No. 84-785, 1991). While this case was on appeal before the court, the Secretary and Wyman-Gordon Co. entered into a settlement agreement, a copy of which we have received from the Secretary. In that agreement, Wyman-Gordon withdraws its notice of contest to the citation insofar as it alleged violations of 29 C.F.R. 1910.20(e)(2)(i) concerning "Exhibits" 3A, 8C, and 11. Those parts of the citation are thereby rendered a final order of the Commission, under section 10(a) of the Act, 29 U.S.C. 659(a).

In accordance with the mandate of the First Circuit,
we "vacate as moot" the dispositions in our decision vacating the citation insofar as it alleged violations of section 1910.20(e)(2)(i) concerning "Exhibits" 3A, 8C, and 11. Except for these three specific dispositions, our decision issued on December 20, 1991, remains undisturbed, in accordance with the provisions of the settlement agreement entered into on appeal, and constitutes Commission precedent.[[1]]

Dated: August 6, 1992

FOOTNOTES:

[[1]] As we stated in our decision issued today in
Contractors Welding of Western New York Inc. (No. 88-1847), even though the disposition of an issue may be moot, the analysis is still valid Commission precedent. We emphasize that in this case only the dispositions vacating the citation concerning "Exhibits" 3A, 3C, and 11 are no longer part of our decision. The analysis common to those "Exhibits" and others in the case remains Commission precedent.