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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C.C. and Department of Homeland Security, Immigration & Customs Enforcement
Board upholds denial of C.C.’s late reconsideration request (ECAB 21-0896)
C.C. had an accepted right knee contusion, and OWCP ended medical benefits for that condition in 2004 while continuing benefits for her left knee. In 2021 she sought reconsideration of the right knee termination. The Board held that her request came well after the one-year limit and that her new…
T.C. and U.S. Postal Service, Saint Peters Post Office
Board affirms denial of T.C.’s overpayment waiver (ECAB 21-0612)
T.C., a postal clerk, received schedule award payments that continued beyond the approved award period. An earlier Board decision found a $14,822.09 overpayment but held that she was not at fault. OWCP then denied a waiver of recovery. The Board found that her documented liquid assets totaled…
M.M. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Cheyenne VA Medical Center
Board orders proper notice before ending M.M.’s compensation (ECAB 21-0590)
M.M., a VA administrative officer, received compensation for an accepted cervical injury and attempted a restricted-duty return to work in June 2020. She stopped after one day and sought continued compensation. OWCP treated her claim as a recurrence of disability and placed the burden on her to…
D.P. and U.S. Postal Service, Mooresville Post Office, Northlake Station
Board reverses termination of D.P.’s injury benefits (ECAB 21-0534)
D.P., a postal rural carrier associate, received benefits for an accepted concussion, post-concussion syndrome, and right wrist sprain. OWCP ended her wage-loss and medical benefits after a referral neurologist found no remaining work-related condition or restrictions. Her treating physician had…
R.D. and U.S. Postal Service, Airport Mail Center, Nashville
Board upholds denial of R.D.’s reconsideration request (ECAB 21-0472)
R.D., a postal mail handler with accepted left foot and ankle conditions, sought renewed medical treatment after reporting swelling and pain. OWCP denied the recurrence claim. R.D. requested reconsideration and said he had enclosed new medical evidence, but none was submitted with the request. The…
Generational Buildings, LLC
Electronic-filing default set aside
Generational Buildings timely contested a four-item serious citation and timely answered the Secretary's complaint. Eight days after the case was assigned, the judge issued a show-cause order because the small self-represented company had not registered for the Commission's electronic filing system…
H.F. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Bunkie
Board orders combined review of H.F.’s back injury files (ECAB 21-0114)
H.F., a postal city carrier, had an accepted back condition and later filed a separate claim involving another back injury. He disputed OWCP’s decision concerning wage-loss compensation after his return to modified duty. The Board found that OWCP had not combined the two back-injury files, although…
A.T. and Department of the Air Force, Tinker Air Force Base
Board dismisses A.T.’s late appeal (ECAB 22-0168)
A.T. appealed an OWCP decision issued April 9, 2020, but filed with the Board on November 8, 2021. The 180-day deadline had expired on October 6, 2020. A.T. asked for an extension because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the Board found no specific evidence or argument showing that circumstances…
T.M. and U.S. Postal Service, Bustleton Post Office, Philadelphia, PA
Board orders review of T.M.'s compensation claim (ECAB 21-0961)
T.M., a postal letter carrier, received compensation for injuries from a 1992 fall. OWCP terminated her wage-loss compensation and schedule award entitlement after she declined an offered position it considered suitable. She asked OWCP to reconsider and submitted information questioning the…
S.J. and U.S. Postal Service, Dallas Post Office, Dallas, TX
Board orders combined review of S.J.'s injury claims (ECAB 21-0633)
S.J., a postal clerk, sought to add neck, shoulder, and knee conditions to a claim in which OWCP had accepted bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome. OWCP denied the additional conditions and then denied modification after she requested reconsideration. The Board found that her other injury claims…
N.J. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, New York, NY
Board upholds denial of N.J.'s injury claim (ECAB 21-0551)
N.J., a postal carrier, reported neck, back, and shoulder injuries after a school bus struck her parked vehicle while she was working. OWCP accepted that the collision occurred but denied her claim for lack of qualifying medical evidence linking a diagnosed condition to the incident. The Board…
L.J. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Jackson, MS
Board orders a new decision on L.J.'s schedule award claim (ECAB 21-0468)
L.J., a postal mail processing clerk, had an accepted claim for bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome and sought a schedule award for permanent impairment. After an earlier denial, she submitted a physician's new report rating impairment in both arms at nine percent each. OWCP treated her filing as an…
R.R. and Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Joshua Tree National Park, Chiraico Summit, CA
Board upholds R.R.'s compensation overpayment recovery (ECAB 21-0296)
R.R., a National Park Service maintenance worker, received wage-loss compensation while also receiving Social Security retirement benefits attributable in part to his federal service. OWCP calculated that it had failed to apply the required offset and overpaid him $25,106.43 between November 2014…
T.L. and Social Security Administration, Glendale, AZ
Board upholds refusal to add T.L.'s thumb arthritis to injury claim (ECAB 21-0239)
T.L., a former Social Security Administration claims representative, had accepted upper extremity conditions from repetitive work. She asked OWCP to add degenerative arthritis of her right thumb as a consequence of the accepted injury. The Board found that her medical evidence did not adequately…
G.T. and Department of Agriculture, Natural Resource Conservation Service, Washington, DC
Board dismisses G.T.'s appeal from an informational letter (ECAB 21-0199)
G.T. appealed what he described as an OWCP decision dated November 3, 2020. The Board reviewed the record and found that the document was an informational letter rather than a final adverse decision. Because no reviewable final decision was before it, the Board dismissed this appeal without…
D.W. and Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons, FCI Terminal Island, San Pedro, CA
Board orders medical review of D.W.'s disability claim (ECAB 20-1481)
D.W., a prison utility systems worker, sought compensation for a recurrence of disability after an accepted 2011 injury involving his head and neck. His treating physician said accepted physical conditions left him unable to work, while an OWCP referral physician found he could work with…
P.B. and Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Seattle, WA
Board upholds denial of P.B.'s emotional condition claim (ECAB 19-1673)
P.B., a Labor Department investigator, alleged that inadequate training, overwork, supervisory actions, and retaliation caused an emotional condition. The Board found no evidence supporting her claims that she lacked required training or was overworked. It also found no corroboration of error or…
L.S. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Fort Worth, TX
Board upholds L.S.'s overpayment but reverses fault finding (ECAB 21-0562)
L.S., a postal custodial worker, received wage-loss compensation and Social Security retirement benefits attributable in part to federal service without the required offset. The Board upheld OWCP's calculation of a $9,344.57 overpayment for January through November 2020. It found that L.S. had…
George Bakos, Jr. v. Raymond M. Eberhart, Jr.
Bakos v. Eberhart (BRB 21-0068 BLA): denial of black lung benefits affirmed
George Bakos Jr. appealed a judge's denial of benefits on his subsequent black lung claim. The judge found that Bakos had not proved a totally disabling respiratory impairment. Bakos challenged how the judge weighed two doctors' opinions and calculated his years of coal mine employment. The Board…
Ricky A. Green v. Elk Run Coal Company, Incorporated
Green v. Elk Run Coal (BRB 20-0545 BLA): benefit award vacated and remanded
Elk Run Coal appealed a judge's award of black lung benefits to Ricky Green. The judge had found that an August 2018 chest x-ray established complicated pneumoconiosis, which invoked an irrebuttable presumption of total disability due to the disease. The Board majority held that the judge had not…
Adam V. McKean v. Nemacolin Mines Corporation
McKean v. Nemacolin Mines (BRB 20-0352 BLA): benefit denial vacated and remanded
Adam McKean appealed the denial of benefits on a subsequent black lung claim. The judge had rejected a doctor's opinion that McKean's bronchitis and obstructive lung disease were related in part to coal dust, and found that he had not established total disability. The Board held that the judge had…
P.V. and Department of Homeland Security, Customs & Border Patrol, Santa Teresa, NM
Board dismisses P.V.'s late appeal (ECAB 22-0131)
P.V. appealed an OWCP decision issued May 8, 2019, but filed with the Board on November 4, 2021. The deadline to appeal that decision had expired on November 4, 2019. The Board found the appeal untimely and said P.V. had not supplied a supported explanation establishing compelling circumstances for…
E.W. and Department of Veterans Affairs, PFC Floyd K. Lindstrom VA Medical Clinic, Colorado Springs, CO
Board dismisses E.W.'s late appeal (ECAB 22-0099)
E.W., through a representative, appealed an OWCP decision issued March 8, 2021. The 180-day deadline expired on September 4, 2021, but the appeal was filed on October 29, 2021. The Board found no supported explanation establishing compelling circumstances for the delay. It dismissed the appeal…
D.W. and Department of Justice, Bureau of Prisons, Federal Transfer Center, Oklahoma City, OK
Board orders impartial rating of D.W.'s knee impairment (ECAB 21-0840)
D.W., a Bureau of Prisons material handler, injured his right knee in a fall at work and received a schedule award based on two percent permanent impairment of his right leg. His physician rated the impairment at ten percent, relying on ligament laxity, while an OWCP medical adviser rated it at two…
S.M. and Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Chattahoochee Oconee National Forest
Board upholds S.M.’s $47,136.84 benefit overpayment and repayment plan (ECAB 21-0772)
S.M., a Forest Service accounting technician, received FECA compensation for an accepted stress disorder. She also received Social Security retirement benefits that included federal-service earnings, without the required offset against her FECA payments. OWCP calculated an overpayment of $47,136.84…
K.C. and Department of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration, Aurora, CO
Board orders review of evidence in K.C.'s wage-loss claim (ECAB 21-0255)
K.C., a transportation security officer, sought wage-loss compensation after surgery for an accepted right wrist injury. OWCP denied compensation for periods in February and March 2020, saying it had not received medical evidence supporting a reduced work schedule. The Board found that OWCP failed…
T.K. and U.S. Postal Service, Juanita Craft Post Office, Dallas, TX
Board orders review of T.K.'s increased schedule award claim (ECAB 21-0245)
T.K., a postal carrier with accepted foot conditions, had received a schedule award for two percent permanent impairment of each leg. He later submitted a physician's report rating impairment at eleven percent for each leg. OWCP denied reconsideration without reviewing the medical merits. The Board…
Teddy E. Wilson v. Terry Eagle Limited Partnership
Wilson v. Terry Eagle (BRB 21-0084 BLA): black lung benefits affirmed
Teddy Wilson was awarded black lung benefits after a judge found 21 years of underground coal mine work and a totally disabling respiratory impairment. Those findings invoked the statutory 15-year presumption, which Terry Eagle Limited Partnership had to rebut. The employer argued that the…
Owen L. Vandevander v. Wolf Run Mining Company and Arch Coal Company, Incorporated
Vandevander v. Wolf Run Mining (BRB 20-0505 BLA): black lung benefits affirmed
Owen Vandevander received black lung benefits after a judge found 38 years of underground coal mine work and a totally disabling respiratory impairment. Wolf Run Mining challenged the constitutionality of the resulting 15-year presumption and the judge's admission of supplemental medical reports…
Robert Mockel v. SSA Terminals, LLC and Homeport Insurance Company
Mockel v. SSA Terminals (BRB 20-0501): early disability award upheld, later award reversed
Robert Mockel, a mechanic for SSA Terminals, sought Longshore Act benefits after back pain during a work assignment in May 2015. A judge awarded disability benefits for several periods and rejected Mockel's claim that the employer discriminated against him for filing for compensation. The Board…
Pollie Steenbergen, widow of Victor Steenbergen v. ICG Kentucky, LLC
Steenbergen v. ICG Kentucky (BRB 20-0423 BLA): survivor benefits affirmed
Pollie Steenbergen sought survivor benefits after the death of her husband, coal miner Victor Steenbergen. A judge modified an earlier denial, found that Victor had more than 15 years of underground coal mine work and a totally disabling respiratory impairment at death, and applied the presumption…
Edward M. Williams v. Lehigh Valley Anthracite Coal LLC
Williams v. Lehigh Valley Anthracite (BRB 20-0362 BLA): benefit denial vacated and remanded
Edward Williams appealed a judge's denial of black lung benefits based on her finding that he was not totally disabled. The judge gave equal weight to two doctors who disagreed about whether his breathing impairment prevented his usual coal mine work. The Board found that she had misstated one…
M.M. and U.S. Postal Service, Dominick V. Daniels Processing & Distribution Center, Kearny, NJ
Board dismisses M.M.'s appeal from an informational letter (ECAB 22-0178)
M.M., through counsel, appealed what was described as an August 18, 2021 OWCP decision. The Board found that the August letter was informational and that the most recent decision in the record was an acceptance decision from January 2012. Because no final adverse decision from the relevant period…
B.S. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, St. Louis, IL
Board dismisses B.S.'s late appeal (ECAB 22-0170)
B.S., through a representative, appealed an OWCP decision issued May 14, 2021. The 180-day deadline expired November 10, 2021, but the appeal was filed November 15, five days later. The Board found no supported explanation establishing compelling circumstances for the delay. It dismissed the appeal…
A.S. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, White Plains, NY
Board dismisses A.S.'s late appeal (ECAB 22-0153)
A.S. appealed an OWCP decision issued November 23, 2020. The 180-day appeal period ended May 22, 2021, but A.S. filed with the Board on November 8, 2021. The Board found no supported explanation establishing compelling circumstances for the delay. It dismissed the appeal without reviewing the…
E.P. and U.S. Postal Service, Los Angeles Processing & Distribution Center, Los Angeles, CA
Board dismisses E.P.'s late appeal (ECAB 22-0152)
E.P. filed an appeal on November 8, 2021. Her appeal form named a March 2019 decision, but the Board found no such decision in the record and identified January 13, 2021 as OWCP's most recent decision. The deadline to appeal that decision expired July 12, 2021. The Board found no supported…
D.D. and U.S. Postal Service, Richmond Post Office, Richmond, TX
Board dismisses D.D.'s late appeal (ECAB 22-0135)
D.D. appealed an OWCP decision issued October 29, 2020. The 180-day appeal period ended April 27, 2021, but D.D. filed with the Board on November 1, 2021. The Board found no supported explanation establishing compelling circumstances for the delay. It dismissed the appeal without reviewing the…
R.T. and Department of Homeland Security, Customs & Border Protection, John F. Kennedy International Airport, Jamaica, NY
Board dismisses R.T.'s late appeal (ECAB 22-0129)
R.T. appealed an OWCP decision issued May 4, 2021. The 180th day was Sunday, October 31, so the Board allowed filing through Monday, November 1. R.T. filed on November 3 and gave no supported explanation establishing compelling circumstances for the delay. The Board dismissed the appeal without…
M.S. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Minneapolis, MN
Board dismisses M.S.'s late appeal (ECAB 22-0064)
M.S. appealed an OWCP decision issued April 2, 2021. The 180-day appeal period ended September 29, 2021, but M.S. filed with the Board on October 20, 2021. The Board found no supported explanation establishing compelling circumstances for the delay. It dismissed the appeal without reviewing the…
R.T. and Department of Homeland Security, Customs & Border Patrol, El Paso, TX
Board dismisses R.T.'s late appeal (ECAB 22-0054)
R.T. appealed an OWCP decision issued July 17, 2019. The 180-day appeal period ended January 13, 2020, but R.T. filed with the Board on October 14, 2021. The Board found no supported explanation establishing compelling circumstances for the delay. It dismissed the appeal without reviewing the…
D.R. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Grand Rapids, MI
Board grants D.R.'s request to dismiss appeal (ECAB 21-1247)
D.R., through counsel, filed a timely appeal from OWCP's July 7, 2021 merit decision. Counsel later asked the Board to dismiss the appeal. The Board granted that request and closed the docket without reviewing OWCP's decision.
M.H. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center, Richmond, VA
Board upholds recovery of M.H.'s compensation overpayment (ECAB 21-1031)
M.H., a former VA nurse, received wage-loss compensation while also receiving Social Security retirement benefits attributable in part to federal service. OWCP calculated that it had not applied the required offset and had overpaid her $44,320.59 from December 2009 through March 2018. The Board…
B.H. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Houston, TX
Board reverses refusal to modify B.H.'s wage capacity decision (ECAB 21-0892)
B.H., a postal mail processor, challenged an OWCP decision reducing her wage-loss compensation based on her supposed capacity to work as a receptionist. OWCP's June 2017 decision relied on medical reports from 2013 and 2014 to find that position physically suitable. The Board found those reports…
J.J. and Department of Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service, Holcomb, KS
Board orders review of J.J.'s wage capacity modification request (ECAB 21-0479)
J.J., a food inspector with accepted bilateral plantar fasciitis, asked OWCP to modify a wage capacity determination based on a customer service position. She submitted medical reports describing restrictions on standing and walking and said her work limitations had changed. OWCP rejected the…
C.H. and Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Federal Medical Center Devens, Ayer, MA
Board upholds finding that C.H. abandoned hearing request (ECAB 21-0204)
C.H., a correctional officer, sought a hearing after OWCP denied his traumatic injury claim. OWCP mailed notice of a scheduled telephone hearing to his address of record, but he did not appear. He also did not request postponement or explain his absence within ten days. The Board affirmed OWCP's…
C.G. and Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, Dallas, TX
Board reverses termination of C.G.'s wage-loss compensation (ECAB 21-0171)
C.G., a Census Bureau enumerator, received wage-loss compensation for accepted back, neck, and knee conditions after a fall at work. OWCP offered her a temporary part-time telephone position and terminated compensation when she did not accept it. The Board found the referral physician's initial…
J.S. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Royal C. Johnson Memorial Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Sioux Falls, SD
Board upholds denial of J.S.'s increased schedule award (ECAB 21-0739)
J.S., a VA police officer, previously received a schedule award for nine percent permanent impairment of his right leg following a work injury. OWCP later terminated his compensation after finding that he refused suitable work. He sought an increased schedule award based on later medical evidence…
D.J. and U.S. Postal Service, Atlanta District Sales Office, Atlanta, GA
Board upholds refusal to reopen D.J.'s injury claim (ECAB 21-0371)
D.J., a postal clerk, sought compensation for injuries she attributed to a fall involving cords under her desk. OWCP had denied the claim because it found insufficient evidence that the April 2015 incident occurred as alleged. D.J. later requested reconsideration and submitted more medical reports…
L.Y. and Department of the Air Force, Space & Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, CA
Board orders medical review of L.Y.'s emotional condition claim (ECAB 20-1108)
L.Y., an Air Force logistics specialist, claimed an emotional condition connected to heavy project work, personnel actions, and alleged harassment. The Board found that she established overwork on two demanding projects; her supervisor acknowledged both assignments, added responsibility, and work…
A.B. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Powder Springs, GA
Board upholds denial of A.B.'s late reconsideration request (ECAB 20-0561)
A.B., a postal rural carrier, sought reconsideration of an OWCP decision denying her claim for injuries from an altercation with a coworker. OWCP received the request on May 29, 2019, five days after the one-year deadline from its last merit decision. The Board held that receipt, rather than the…
Jerry Thomas Ratliff v. Eastern Coal Corporation
Ratliff v. Eastern Coal (BRB 21-0061 BLA): lab technician's black lung benefits affirmed
Jerry Thomas Ratliff worked for more than 25 years as a coal laboratory technician collecting and testing samples. A judge found that his work qualified as coal mine employment, involved regular coal dust exposure, and combined with total respiratory disability to invoke the 15-year presumption…
Jose L. Villacorta Chavarria v. Constellis Group/Triple Canopy, Incorporated and SOC-SMG, Incorporated
Villacorta Chavarria v. Triple Canopy and SOC-SMG (BRB 21-0032): Defense Base Act denial affirmed
Jose Villacorta Chavarria worked as an armed security guard in Iraq for Triple Canopy and SOC-SMG and later sought benefits for a claimed work-related psychological condition. A judge applied the Longshore Act's presumption of work causation but found the employers had rebutted it. After weighing…
Robert A. Bragg v. Buffalo Mining Company and Pittston Company
Bragg v. Buffalo Mining (BRB 21-0024 BLA): black lung benefits affirmed
Robert Bragg was awarded black lung benefits after a judge found 20.2 years of underground coal mine work and accepted the employer's agreement that he had a totally disabling respiratory impairment. The resulting 15-year presumption shifted the burden to Buffalo Mining to disprove a connection…
Bert R. Biliter v. Ridgetop Mining, Incorporated and American Resources Insurance Company
Biliter v. Ridgetop Mining (BRB 21-0013 BLA): black lung benefits affirmed
Bert Biliter was awarded black lung benefits after a judge found at least 23 years of qualifying coal mine work and total respiratory disability. Ridgetop Mining challenged the disability finding and argued that it had rebutted the resulting 15-year presumption. The Board upheld the judge's…
Lillian Shortridge, on behalf of and widow of Chester R. Shortridge v. Island Creek Kentucky Mining
Shortridge v. Island Creek Kentucky Mining (BRB 21-0002 and 21-0003 BLA): miner and survivor benefits affirmed
Lillian Shortridge pursued her late husband Chester's black lung claim and her own survivor claim. A judge found that Chester had 17 years of underground coal mine work and a totally disabling respiratory impairment, invoking the 15-year presumption. The employer challenged the disability finding…
James T. Gaydos v. Consolidation Coal Company and Consol Energy, Incorporated
Gaydos v. Consolidation Coal (BRB 20-0569 BLA): black lung benefits affirmed
James Gaydos received black lung benefits after a judge found 22 years of underground coal mine work and a totally disabling respiratory impairment. Those findings invoked the statutory 15-year presumption. Consolidation Coal argued that its doctors had disproved a coal dust connection because…
Tom S. Clay v. Imperial Colliery Company
Clay v. Imperial Colliery (BRB 20-0543 BLA): employer liability and benefits affirmed
A judge awarded black lung benefits to Tom Clay and found Imperial Colliery responsible for payment. Imperial challenged its designation, arguing that Clay later worked for other businesses that should be liable instead. The Board held that Imperial had not proved any later employer employed Clay…
Ann B. Stipcak, widow of John A. Stipcak v. Helen Mining Company
Stipcak v. Helen Mining (BRB 20-0481 BLA): fee order affirmed in part and remanded
Ann Stipcak's lawyer requested $14,014.75 in fees and expenses after miner and survivor benefits had been awarded. A judge granted the full request despite its filing almost eight years after the deadline set in the benefit order. Helen Mining appealed the fee award as untimely. The Board held that…
Daniel L. Hicks v. Paramont Coal Company Virginia, LLC
Hicks v. Paramont Coal (BRB 20-0413 BLA): complicated pneumoconiosis issue remanded
Daniel Hicks appealed a denial of black lung benefits without counsel. A judge had found that Hicks did not prove total respiratory disability or complicated pneumoconiosis. The Board upheld the ordinary disability finding, which barred the rebuttable 15-year presumption, but held that the judge…
Terry T. Roberts v. Huntington Ingalls, Incorporated and Horizon Shipbuilding, Incorporated
Roberts v. Huntington Ingalls and Horizon Shipbuilding (BRB 20-0411): medical liability affirmed
Terry Roberts injured his back while working for Huntington Ingalls in 1992, and the parties later settled his compensation claim while leaving medical benefits open. He returned to shipyard work and worked for Horizon Shipbuilding in 2017. Ingalls argued that the later work aggravated his back…
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.