Federal Agency Decisions
Federal workers' compensation appeals from the Department of Labor's Employees' Compensation Appeals Board (ECAB), federal-sector labor-relations cases from the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA), mine-safety cases from the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission (FMSHRC), workplace-safety cases from the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC), Longshore Act and Black Lung Benefits Act appeals from the Department of Labor's Benefits Review Board (BRB), precedent decisions of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), environmental permit and penalty appeals from the EPA's Environmental Appeals Board (EAB), and whistleblower and other labor appeals from the Department of Labor's Administrative Review Board (ARB), each with a plain-English summary, the law it cites, and whether it counts as precedent. More agencies are coming.
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Antilles Consolidated Education Association and United States Department of Defense, Education Activity, Alexandria, Virginia
Antilles Education Association and DODEA (FLRA 0-NG-3605): Authority orders bargaining over planning time and pay
The Antilles Consolidated Education Association proposed minimum weekly planning time for teachers in Puerto Rico, additional preparation time for special-education work, and aggregate pay equal to the highest teacher salary schedule in DODEA's Mid-Atlantic District. The Authority found that the…
United States Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Progreso, Texas and National Treasury Employees Union, Chapter 149
CBP Progreso and NTEU Chapter 149 (FLRA 0-AR-5768): Authority upholds reduction to reprimand
Customs and Border Protection suspended a Progreso port officer for ten days based on allegations that the officer used unprofessional language and threatened bodily harm during an interaction with a traveler. The arbitrator found that the agency proved the language allegation but not the…
United States Department of Housing and Urban Development and American Federation of Government Employees, Local 3917
HUD and AFGE Local 3917 (FLRA 0-AR-5761): Authority bars travel compensatory time for union activity
A HUD union representative traveled from Seattle to Washington, D.C. for negotiations and agreed to continue bargaining on a day previously reserved for travel. Weather delayed the return trip, and the agency denied the representative's request for 11 hours of compensatory time for travel. An…
J.P. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Kearny, NJ
Board dismisses postal worker's late appeal (ECAB 22-1319)
A postal employee appealed OWCP's March 1, 2022 decision on September 1, 2022. The Board calculated that the 180-day appeal period ended August 28. It found the filing untimely and found no documented compelling circumstances explaining the delay. The Board dismissed the appeal for lack of…
K.F. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Chicago, IL
Board dismisses postal worker's late appeal (ECAB 22-1318)
A postal employee appealed OWCP's June 1, 2021 decision on September 1, 2022. The Board calculated that the 180-day appeal period ended November 28, 2021. It found the filing untimely and found no documented compelling circumstances explaining the delay. The Board dismissed the appeal for lack of…
R.D. and U.S. Postal Service, Processing & Distribution Center/Facility, West Palm Beach, FL
Board dismisses postal worker's late appeal (ECAB 22-1312)
A postal employee appealed OWCP's March 17, 2020 decision on September 1, 2022. The Board calculated that the 180-day appeal period ended September 13, 2020. It found the filing untimely and found no documented compelling circumstances explaining the delay. The Board dismissed the appeal for lack…
C.D. and Department of the Navy, Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, VA
Board dismisses shipyard worker's late appeal (ECAB 22-1269)
A Norfolk Naval Shipyard employee appealed OWCP's January 11, 2022 nonmerit decision on August 8, 2022. The Board calculated that the 180-day appeal period ended July 10. It found the filing untimely and found no documented compelling circumstances explaining the delay. The Board dismissed the…
A.M. and Department of Agriculture, Agriculture Marketing Service, Winter Haven, FL
Board dismisses Agriculture employee's late appeal (ECAB 22-1262)
A Department of Agriculture employee appealed OWCP's January 14, 2022 decision on August 30, 2022. The Board calculated that the 180-day appeal period ended July 13. It found the filing untimely and found no documented compelling circumstances explaining the delay. The Board dismissed the appeal…
B.S. and U.S. Postal Service, Northville Post Office, Northville, MI
Board dismisses postal worker's late appeal (ECAB 22-1252)
A Northville postal employee appealed OWCP's February 2, 2021 decision on August 27, 2022. The Board calculated that the 180-day appeal period ended August 1, 2021. It found the filing untimely and found no documented compelling circumstances explaining the delay. The Board dismissed the appeal for…
J.S. and Department of the Navy, Military Sealift Command, Naval Station Norfolk, Norfolk, VA
Board dismisses Navy worker's late appeal (ECAB 22-1233)
A Military Sealift Command employee appealed OWCP's July 28, 2021 nonmerit decision on August 8, 2022. The Board calculated that the 180-day appeal period ended January 24, 2022. It found the filing untimely and found no documented compelling circumstances explaining the delay. The Board dismissed…
G.O. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Louis Stokes VA Medical Center, Cleveland, OH
Board dismisses VA worker's late appeal (ECAB 22-1232)
A VA medical center employee appealed OWCP's August 2, 2021 decision on August 3, 2022. The Board calculated that the 180-day appeal period ended January 29, 2022. It found the filing untimely and found no documented compelling circumstances explaining the delay. The Board dismissed the appeal for…
C.S. and Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, Los Angeles, CA
Board dismisses Census Bureau worker's late appeal (ECAB 22-1228)
A Census Bureau employee appealed OWCP's December 29, 2021 decision on August 22, 2022. The Board calculated that the 180-day appeal period ended June 27, 2022. It found the filing untimely and found no documented compelling circumstances explaining the delay. The Board dismissed the appeal for…
N.L. and Department of Agriculture, Worcester, MA
Board dismisses Agriculture employee's late appeal (ECAB 22-1219)
A Department of Agriculture employee appealed OWCP's February 26, 2014 decision on August 1, 2022. The Board calculated that the 180-day appeal period ended August 25, 2014. It found the filing untimely and found no documented compelling circumstances explaining the delay. The Board dismissed the…
T.W. and Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Federal Correctional Complex, Butner, NC
Board returns prison worker's mold exposure wage loss claim (ECAB 22-0722)
A medical records technician at a federal prison had an accepted allergy from workplace mold exposure and later claimed wage loss after returning to work. OWCP denied compensation for time off beginning in September 2019. The Board found that OWCP's later decision failed to address its own…
U.G. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Oklahoma City VA Medical Center, Oklahoma City, OK
Board returns VA dental assistant's COVID-19 pay claim (ECAB 22-0650)
A dental assistant at a VA medical center sought continuation of pay after testing positive for COVID-19. OWCP denied the request because she filed her injury claim more than 30 days after the December 30, 2021 date she reported. The Board found that OWCP had not applied FECA Bulletin No. 21-09…
N.S. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Milwaukee VA Medical Center, Milwaukee, WI
Board returns VA nurse's COVID-19 pay claim (ECAB 22-0593)
A nurse at a VA medical center sought continuation of pay after reporting COVID-19 symptoms and a positive test. OWCP denied the request because he filed his injury claim more than 30 days after the January 2, 2022 date he reported. The Board found that OWCP had not applied FECA Bulletin No. 21-09…
W.W. III and U.S. Postal Service, Greensprings Carrier Facility, Birmingham, AL
Board upholds finding that postal carrier abandoned hearing request (ECAB 22-0589)
A postal carrier requested a hearing after OWCP denied an increase to his permanent impairment award. The Board found that OWCP mailed notice of a telephone hearing to his address of record and that he neither appeared nor asked within 10 days for another hearing or explained his absence. It…
J.I. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, Omaha, NE
Board returns VA nurse's COVID-19 pay claim (ECAB 22-0568)
A VA nurse sought continuation of pay after reporting exposure to patients and staff with COVID-19 and testing positive. OWCP denied the request because she filed her injury claim more than 30 days after the January 10, 2022 exposure date she reported. The Board found that OWCP had not applied FECA…
L.A. and U.S. Postal Service, St. Armant Post Office, St. Armant, LA
Board upholds denial of postal carrier's recurrence claim (ECAB 22-0463)
A rural postal carrier received compensation for an accepted 2018 right shoulder injury and later returned to full duty. After a separate 2019 incident involving a mail tray, she sought compensation for disability from November 20, 2019 through May 1, 2021 as a recurrence of the earlier injury. The…
C.V. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Cleveland, OH
Board returns hospitalized worker's COVID-19 pay claim (ECAB 22-0407)
The claimant had an accepted work-related COVID-19 claim and was hospitalized on mechanical ventilation. OWCP denied continuation of pay because he filed his injury form more than 30 days after the April 3, 2020 date of injury it used. His counsel argued that hospitalization prevented timely…
T.G. and Department of Defense, Defense Information Systems Agency, Scott Air Force Base, IL
Board upholds denial of late reconsideration request (ECAB 22-0352)
A Defense Information Systems Agency employee had claimed physical and emotional conditions arising from workplace interactions. OWCP's last merits decision in 2018 found that she had not established a compensable employment factor. She sought reconsideration in December 2021 and submitted medical…
E.L. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Jesse Brown VA Medical Center, Chicago, IL
Board reverses VA worker's wage loss reduction over undelivered notices (ECAB 22-0324)
A VA nursing assistant received wage-loss compensation for an accepted left-hand injury. OWCP reduced her compensation after concluding that she had declined a temporary hall-monitor assignment within her work restrictions. The proposed reduction notice came back undeliverable, and she then gave…
C.O. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Brooklyn VA Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY
Board reverses termination of VA nurse's vocal cord benefits (ECAB 22-0267)
A VA nurse received compensation for vocal cord paralysis that OWCP had accepted as work related to exposure to airborne irritants. OWCP later ended her wage-loss and medical benefits based on an impartial examiner's report. The Board found that the examiner rejected the premise that the accepted…
R.A. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Bruce W. Carter VA Medical Center, Miami, FL
Board dismisses withdrawn VA employee appeal (ECAB 22-0055)
R.A. appealed an OWCP decision concerning a Department of Veterans Affairs employee. Counsel later requested withdrawal of the appeal. The Board granted the request and dismissed the appeal without deciding the underlying compensation claim.
S.R. and U.S. Postal Service, Escondido Post Office, Escondido, CA
Board orders OWCP to review all medical reports before deciding reconsideration (ECAB 21-1148)
A postal clerk sought reconsideration of OWCP's termination of her wage-loss benefits. OWCP denied the request without reopening the merits, but its decision did not show that it considered all the medical reports submitted before it ruled. The Board set aside that denial and directed OWCP to…
O.W. and Department of the Army, Red River Army Depot, Texarkana, TX
Board returns impairment claim for a new examination and reverses overpayment (ECAB 21-0836)
A former Army depot worker sought a larger schedule award for permanent impairment of his left leg. His physician and OWCP's medical reviewers gave conflicting impairment ratings. The Board directed OWCP to obtain an impartial medical examination before deciding the award. Because that question…
A.D. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, West Allis, WI
Board upholds denial of postal carrier's left foot injury claim (ECAB 21-0510)
A postal carrier said she hurt her left foot after tripping on an uneven sidewalk while delivering mail. OWCP accepted that the March 2019 incident occurred, but denied her claim for a foot condition. The Board found that her physicians either did not explain the medical connection between the…
Independent Union of Pension Employees for Democracy and Justice and Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
IUPEDJ and Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (FLRA 0-AR-5792): Authority denies reconsideration of incomplete filing
The Independent Union of Pension Employees for Democracy and Justice submitted two electronic exception forms but neither contained the required brief or any argument identifying grounds for review. The Authority dismissed the exceptions, and the Union sought reconsideration. The Authority found…
United States Department of the Interior, United States Park Police and Fraternal Order of Police, United States Park Police Labor Committee
United States Park Police and FOP Labor Committee (FLRA 0-AR-5712): Authority limits shutdown liquidated damages
United States Park Police employees were required to work without timely pay during the 2018 government shutdown because their services protected life or property. An unchallenged merits award found an FLSA violation and awarded liquidated damages on unpaid regular and overtime wages. In a later…
Secretary of Labor on behalf of George Rice v. Nally & Hamilton Enterprises
Temporary economic reinstatement agreement approved
The Secretary obtained an amended order temporarily reinstating miner George Rice while MSHA considered his discrimination claim against Nally & Hamilton Enterprises. The parties then asked to substitute a temporary economic-reinstatement agreement that was retroactive to September 22, 2022. The…
AMVAC Chemical Corporation
In re AMVAC Chemical Corporation (EAB FIFRA Appeal Nos. 22-01 and 22-02): DCPA suspension remanded for hearing
AMVAC Chemical Corporation and agricultural grower groups challenged an accelerated decision suspending registration of the pesticide DCPA, also known as Dacthal. EPA had alleged that AMVAC failed to submit or appropriately address twenty data requirements in a registration review. The…
Barter Collins v. Sturgeon Mining Company
Collins v. Sturgeon Mining (BRB 21-0454 BLA): black lung benefits award affirmed
Barter Collins sought black lung benefits without the 15-year presumption because he had fewer than 15 years of coal mine work. On remand, the judge credited a medical opinion that coal dust significantly contributed to Collins's disabling chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The Board upheld…
Eric J. Gilliam v. Stillhouse Mining, LLC
Gilliam v. Stillhouse Mining (BRB 21-0281 BLA): black lung benefits award affirmed
Eric Gilliam sought black lung benefits after 21 years of qualifying coal mine work. The judge found a disabling respiratory impairment and applied the 15-year presumption. Stillhouse Mining argued that Gilliam's obstructive lung impairment came from asthma and that it had rebutted the presumed…
Dallas Chafins v. Mountain Edge Mining
Chafins v. Mountain Edge Mining (BRB 21-0262 BLA): benefits upheld, payer issue remanded
Dallas Chafins was awarded black lung benefits after the judge found disabling respiratory impairment and at least 15 years of underground coal mine work. The Board upheld the disability finding and the judge's conclusion that the employer had not rebutted the 15-year presumption. Mountain Edge…
Tracie Jefferson v. Ziegler Coal Company
Jefferson v. Ziegler Coal (BRB 21-0172 BLA): miner and survivor claims remanded
Tracie Jefferson pursued black lung claims after both her father Willie Jefferson and her mother Brenda died. The labor judge denied the miner claim, finding that the evidence did not prove a totally disabling respiratory impairment, and then denied derivative survivor benefits. The Board held that…
Tracie Jefferson v. Ziegler Coal Company
Jefferson v. Ziegler Coal (BRB 21-0171 BLA): miner and survivor claims remanded
Tracie Jefferson pursued black lung claims after both her father Willie Jefferson and her mother Brenda died. The labor judge denied the miner claim, finding that the evidence did not prove a totally disabling respiratory impairment, and then denied derivative survivor benefits. The Board held that…
Juan Martinez v. Peabody New Mexico Services, LLC
Martinez v. Peabody New Mexico Services (BRB 21-0065 BLA): attorney fee award mostly affirmed, $50 remanded
Juan Martinez’s black lung benefits and his lawyer’s fee award were reviewed together. The Board affirmed $10,362.50 in attorney fees and $3,687.60 in expenses after rejecting the employer’s objections to the hourly rate, billing increments, and travel for medical examinations. It vacated a…
Juan Martinez v. Peabody New Mexico Services, LLC
Martinez v. Peabody New Mexico Services (BRB 20-0558 BLA): benefits award vacated for new medical review
Juan Martinez sought black lung benefits after 13.5 years of coal mine work in New Mexico. A labor judge awarded benefits without the 15-year presumption, finding that Martinez had disabling pneumoconiosis. The Board held that the judge had not considered important medical testimony and treatment…
Kathy Luther v. Eastover Mining Company
Luther v. Eastover Mining (BRB 20-0484 BLA): full Board reconsideration denied
Eastover Mining asked the full Benefits Review Board to reconsider its January 31, 2022 decision affirming black lung benefits on Joseph Luther's claim, pursued by Kathy Luther. The employer also requested oral argument. The Board said the motion was timely but that a majority had not voted to…
James R. Belcher v. Buchanan Minerals, LLC
Belcher v. Buchanan Minerals (BRB 20-0287 BLA): employer liability and benefits start date affirmed
James Belcher was awarded benefits after a judge found complicated pneumoconiosis, which invokes an irrebuttable presumption of disability due to the disease. Buchanan Minerals and its carrier did not contest entitlement but argued that the disease began before Belcher worked for Buchanan. The…
A.R. and Department of the Air Force, Hill Air Force Base, UT
Board confirms duplicate schedule award payment but orders new overpayment calculation (ECAB 22-0750)
An Air Force depot technician received a schedule award after a work injury to his left shoulder. OWCP then sent an additional payment that overlapped the final weeks of that award. The Board agreed that the extra payment created an overpayment and that the worker was without fault. But OWCP's…
L.W. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center, Aurora, CO
Board returns VA nurse's COVID-19 continuation of pay claim for date review (ECAB 22-0749)
A VA nurse reported contracting COVID-19 after patient care and contact with infected coworkers. OWCP denied continuation of pay because she filed her injury form more than 30 days after the date she reported as the injury date. The Board held that OWCP had not applied its COVID-19 guidance, which…
J.G. and Department of the Air Force, Air National Guard, Salem, OR
Board returns air traffic controller's COVID-19 pay claim for date review (ECAB 22-0724)
An Air National Guard air traffic controller reported COVID-19 after working in a radar tower. His supervisor disputed whether the infection came from work, and OWCP denied continuation of pay because he filed his injury form more than 30 days after the reported injury date. The Board found that…
M.M. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, Aurora, CO
Board returns VA nurse's COVID-19 continuation of pay claim for date review (ECAB 22-0595)
A VA nurse reported contracting COVID-19 at work and submitted a positive test dated January 3, 2022. OWCP denied continuation of pay because his injury form was filed more than 30 days after the injury date he reported. The Board found that OWCP had not considered its COVID-19 guidance, which uses…
D.T. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Las Vegas, NV
Board returns postal clerk's COVID-19 pay claim for injury-date review (ECAB 22-0517)
A postal mail processing clerk reported COVID-19 after contact with coworkers and filed a continuation of pay claim. His form listed January 17, 2021 as the injury date, while the positive test described in the order was collected January 18, 2022. OWCP denied pay because the form was filed more…
C.M. and U.S. Postal Service, Processing and Distribution Center, Las Vegas, NV
Board upholds postal clerk's injury denial and abandoned hearing finding (ECAB 22-0509)
A postal distribution clerk reported left shoulder and chest wall pain after a work shift involving heavy lifting. She could not identify a specific event during that shift that caused the injury, and the Board found her description too vague to establish the claimed traumatic incident. OWCP had…
V.L. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, New York, NY
Board reverses termination of postal supervisor's cervical injury benefits (ECAB 22-0336)
A postal customer service supervisor received benefits for a herniated cervical disc that OWCP had accepted as work related. OWCP later terminated wage-loss and medical benefits based on an impartial examiner's report. The Board found that the examiner treated the disc condition as age related and…
R.M. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Chicago, IL
Board returns postal carrier's COVID-19 continuation of pay claim (ECAB 21-0576)
A Chicago postal carrier reported COVID-19 after working with customers, and OWCP eventually accepted her infection as work related. It still denied continuation of pay because her injury form was filed more than 30 days after the injury date she reported. The Board found that OWCP had not…
the Broken iPhone, LLC
COVID-19 general duty clause violation affirmed
The Broken iPhone operated a two-person cell-phone repair store in Mobile, Alabama, where employees worked near a steady flow of customers. OSHA observed unmasked employees and customers at close distances, and the owner required masked customers to remove their face coverings before entering. The…
Federal Education Association and United States Department of Defense, Education Activity, Alexandria, Virginia
Federal Education Association and DODEA (FLRA 0-NG-3486): Authority splits five overseas-teacher proposals
The Federal Education Association sought bargaining over five proposals affecting teachers in DODEA schools overseas. The Authority found negotiable a qualified preparation-time proposal because its benefit in reducing off-duty work outweighed its limited burden on management. It also found…
Beverly Hale v. BAE Systems San Francisco Ship Repair
Hale v. BAE Systems (BRB 22-0346): Interlocutory appeal dismissed without prejudice
Beverly Hale appealed administrative law judge Christopher Larsen's orders modifying prior decisions about her late husband's asbestos exposure and denying reconsideration. The Board held that the orders were interlocutory because they neither awarded nor denied benefits and the exposure issue…
Larry Brooks v. United Stevedores of America, Incorporated
Brooks v. United Stevedores of America (BRB 21-0627): Employer-paid attorney fee denied
Larry Brooks and his employer disputed the amount of Longshore benefits due for his hearing loss. After an informal conference, the employer said it accepted the district director's recommendation and promptly paid the amount Brooks had requested, but a calculation used the earlier weekly wage and…
Richard L. Winning v. ICG Illinois, LLC and American International South/AIG
Winning v. ICG Illinois (BRB 21-0552 BLA): black lung benefits award affirmed
Richard L. Winning worked underground in coal mines for 29 years and was found to have a totally disabling respiratory impairment. An administrative law judge awarded black lung benefits after applying the fifteen-year presumption and finding that ICG Illinois had not rebutted it. The employer…
Jerry W. Moorehead v. The Monongalia County Coal Company and Murray Energy Corporation Trust
Moorehead v. Monongalia County Coal (BRB 21-0528 BLA): disability denial returned for review
Jerry W. Moorehead sought to modify an earlier denial of black lung benefits. The judge credited him with 29 years of coal mine work and found pneumoconiosis, but denied benefits because the record did not establish total respiratory disability. The Board upheld the findings that his breathing and…
Rosemary M. Stephen, on behalf of and widow of David E. Stephen, v. Consolidation Coal Company
Stephen v. Consolidation Coal (BRB 21-0474 and 21-0476 BLA): miner and survivor claims remanded
Rosemary Stephen pursued her late husband's black lung claim and her own survivor claim. An administrative law judge denied both because he found that David Stephen's work for Consolidation Coal did not meet the legal definition of a miner. The Board held that the judge focused on whether the coal…
Rosemary M. Stephen, on behalf of and widow of David E. Stephen, v. Consolidation Coal Company
Stephen v. Consolidation Coal (BRB 21-0474 and 21-0476 BLA): miner and survivor claims remanded
Rosemary Stephen pursued her late husband's black lung claim and her own survivor claim. An administrative law judge denied both because he found that David Stephen's work for Consolidation Coal did not meet the legal definition of a miner. The Board held that the judge focused on whether the coal…
Robert Tocyloski v. Mallard Contracting Company, Incorporated and Rockwood Casualty Insurance Company
Tocyloski v. Mallard Contracting (BRB 21-0445 BLA): attorney fee increased for hearing travel
After a successful black lung claim, Robert Tocyloski's lawyer requested fees and expenses for work before the administrative law judge. The judge excluded four hours covering travel to and participation in the hearing as clerical work, along with other time entries. The Board found that excluding…
Tammy Williams, on behalf of Ralph A. Patrick, and Darren A. Patrick v. Virgil Raleigh Coal Company, Incorporated and Old Republic Insurance Company
Williams and Patrick v. Virgil Raleigh Coal (BRB 21-0393 and 21-0394): miner and survivor awards affirmed
Tammy Williams pursued her late father Ralph Patrick's black lung claim, and his dependent child Darren Patrick sought survivor benefits. An administrative law judge found that Ralph Patrick's coal mine work caused a disabling respiratory condition and awarded benefits on both claims. The employer…
Tammy Williams, on behalf of Ralph A. Patrick, and Darren A. Patrick v. Virgil Raleigh Coal Company, Incorporated and Old Republic Insurance Company
Williams and Patrick v. Virgil Raleigh Coal (BRB 21-0393 and 21-0394): miner and survivor awards affirmed
Tammy Williams pursued her late father Ralph Patrick's black lung claim, and his dependent child Darren Patrick sought survivor benefits. An administrative law judge found that Ralph Patrick's coal mine work caused a disabling respiratory condition and awarded benefits on both claims. The employer…
Larry G. Justus v. Royalty Smokeless Coal Company, Incorporated and Alpha Natural Resources
Justus v. Royalty Smokeless Coal Company (BRB 21-0380 BLA): benefits denial affirmed
Larry G. Justus filed a subsequent claim for black lung benefits after receiving credit for 7.03 years of coal mine employment. The judge found that he could not invoke either the fifteen-year presumption or the irrebuttable presumption for complicated pneumoconiosis. She also found that the…
What these documents are
- The agencies: Federal workers' compensation appeals from the Department of Labor's Employees' Compensation Appeals Board (ECAB), federal-sector labor-relations cases from the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA), mine-safety cases from the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission (FMSHRC), workplace-safety cases from the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC), Longshore Act and Black Lung Benefits Act appeals from the Department of Labor's Benefits Review Board (BRB), precedent decisions of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), environmental permit and penalty appeals from the EPA's Environmental Appeals Board (EAB), and whistleblower and other labor appeals from the Department of Labor's Administrative Review Board (ARB). Each decision page names its agency.
- Commission, Board and Authority decisions: Rulings by the agency's highest review level (the Commission at OSHRC and FMSHRC, the Authority at FLRA, the Board of Immigration Appeals, the Administrative Review Board at Labor, and the Environmental Appeals Board at EPA). These are citable as precedent, though a decision may have been appealed to a U.S. Court of Appeals after issuance.
- ALJ decisions: Rulings by the agency's Administrative Law Judges after a hearing. When no Commissioner directs review, an ALJ decision becomes a final order that binds the parties in that case but is not binding precedent: under 29 U.S.C. § 661(j) at OSHRC, and after the 40-day window of 30 U.S.C. § 823(d)(1) at FMSHRC.
- Why finality matters: Every page here says which kind of decision you are reading, so you know whether it is precedent you can cite or a final order that only shows how one judge ruled on one set of facts.
- Where they come from: Every page links the official public release from the deciding agency, and the full text on the page is that release. The plain-English summaries are written by Ezel.