Secretary of Labor obo Jason Wylie v Allegheny Mineral Corporation and Secretary of Labor v. Allegheny Mineral Corporation (ALJ decision, January 9, 2019)

Plain-English summary

The Judge had separated Jason Wylie's discrimination-relief claim from the related civil-penalty proceeding after the Secretary withdrew from a proposed combined settlement. Allegheny Mineral then asked to approve the same compensatory-relief terms with Wylie, but the record conflicted on whether Wylie still accepted them. Judge Jerold Feldman held that Wylie was a party who could settle his own monetary-relief claim without the Secretary's approval. He scheduled a recorded conference to hear directly whether Wylie accepted the terms or wanted an evidentiary hearing. The conference was limited to Wylie's relief, placed under seal to preserve the confidentiality request, and did not address deterrence-related sanctions in the separate penalty docket.

Decision snapshot

• Cited authority: 30 U.S.C. § 815(c)(2)
• Outcome: A sealed prehearing telephone conference was scheduled to determine Wylie's position on the proposed compensatory settlement.
• Key point: A miner represented by the Secretary remains a party and may decide whether to settle the miner's own monetary-relief claim.

Full text (FMSHRC public release)

FEDERAL MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH REVIEW
COMMISSION

OFFICE OF
ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGES

1331 Pennsylvania
Avenue, NW, Suite 520N

Washington, DC 20004

SECRETARY OF LABOR

MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH   

ADMINISTRATION (MSHA),

on behalf of JASON WYLIE,

Complainant,

v.

ALLEGHENY MINERAL

CORPORATION,

Respondent.

SECRETARY OF LABOR

MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH   

ADMINISTRATION (MSHA),

Petitioner,

v.

ALLEGHENY MINERAL

CORPORATION,

Respondent.

DISCRIMINATION PROCEEDING

Docket No. PENN 2018-0158-DM

MSHA No. NE MD 2018-01

Mine: Bison Mine

Mine ID: 36-10107

CIVIL PENALTY PROCEEDING

Docket No. PENN 2018-0275

Mine: Bison Mine

Mine ID: 36-10107

ORDER
SCHEDULING PREHEARING

TELEPHONE
CONFERENCE

Before: Judge Feldman

The captioned matters were severed in an Order that established and severed newly created Docket No. PENN 2018-0275 concerning the Secretary’s civil penalty proceeding from Docket No. PENN 2018-0158-DM that is limited to issues concerning the merits of Wylie’s discrimination complaint and his claim for relief. Severance Order, 40 FMSHRC ___, Slip op.

at 4, (Oct. 23, 2018). These matters were severed as a consequence of the Secretary’s withdrawal from the parties’ verbal settlement agreement that would have resolved the issues of both the compensatory relief to be awarded to Wylie and the amount of the civil penalty to be paid in this matter. Id . at 2. Currently before me is Allegheny’s Motion to Approve Settlement with Wylie that apparently concerns the identical settlement terms with respect to compensatory relief that were informally accepted but subsequently rejected by the Secretary. Allegheny’s Agreement and Mot. to Approve Settlement at 3-4 (Nov. 21, 2018).

The record contains conflicting
statements concerning whether Wylie has agreed to settle. In an email transmitted on September 28, 2018, Wylie unequivocally advised the Commission that he agreed to the settlement terms with regard to his monetary relief, and, that he was not interested in participating in a hearing. See Order Denying Sec’y’s Mot. for Recon., 40 FMSHRC ___, Slip op. at 2 (Nov. 8, 2018). Nevertheless, the Secretary now asserts that Wylie has rejected the settlement because, “[Wylie] has embraced [the] desire to serve the broader public purpose of deterring future discrimination and does not want his to be the test case allowing the routine confidential resolution [of] discrimination cases.” Sec’y’s Mot. to Recons. Severance Order at 5 (Oct 26, 2018). However, issues concerning deterrence go beyond the scope of the discrimination proceeding in Docket No. PENN 2018-0158-DM, which is limited to the issue of Wylie’s entitlement to monetary relief.

Commission Rule 4(a) provides, in
pertinent part:

In a proceeding instituted by the
Secretary under section 105(c)(2) of the Act, 30 U.S.C. [§] 815(c)(2), the complainant on whose behalf the Secretary has filed the complaint is a party .
. . .

29 C.F.R. § 2700.4(a); Sec’y of Labor v. Mountain Top Trucking Co. , 18 FMSHRC 487, 488 (April 1996).

As a party, Wylie does not require
the Secretary’s approval for his agreement to settle the issue of his monetary relief. Consequently, a telephone conference with Wylie, opposing counsel for Allegheny, and the Secretary will be scheduled so I can hear directly from Wylie whether he accepts the settlement terms with respect to the amount of his compensatory relief, or, whether Wylie chooses to pursue his claim of alleged discrimination through an evidentiary hearing. The telephone conference will be limited solely to the motion to approve settlement between Allegheny and Wylie in Docket No. PENN 2018-0158-DM. The telephone conference will not address the issues concerning deterrence-related sanctions that are the subject of

Docket No. PENN 2018-0275.

The telephone conference will be
recorded and transcribed. To preserve the pending nature of Allegheny’s request for confidentiality, the transcript of the telephone conference will be placed under seal.

ORDER

Consequently, consistent with the
above, IT IS ORDERED that the captioned parties participate in a conference call scheduled for 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, January 22, 2019. The parties will receive an email containing the information required to participate in the conference call.

Any procedural questions concerning the matters discussed herein should be directed to my Law Clerk, Noah Meyer, at [email protected] or (202) 233-4010.

/s/ Jerold Feldman

Jerold Feldman

Administrative
Law Judge

Distribution (by regular and
certified mail):

Oscar L. Hampton III, Regional Solicitor, U.S. Department of Labor, Office of the Solicitor,

Suite 630E, The Curtis Center, 170 S. Independence Mall West, Philadelphia, PA 19106

[email protected]

Matthew R. Epstein, Esq., U.S. Department of Labor, Office of the Solicitor, Suite 630E,

The Curtis Center, 170 S. Independence Mall West, Philadelphia, PA 19106

[email protected]

Jason Wylie, 604 Vanadium Road, Bridgeville, PA 15017 [email protected]

Patrick W. Dennison, Esq., Jackson Kelly PLLC, Three Gateway Center, Suite 1500,

401 Liberty Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15222 [email protected]

/nm