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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B.W. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Elk Grove, CA
Board finds foot injury reconsideration request timely (ECAB 20-1512)
B.W., a postal distribution clerk, sought reconsideration after OWCP denied her claim for a foot injury caused by a falling parcel. OWCP received her request before the one-year deadline but treated a later signed copy as the filing date and denied reconsideration as untimely. The Board held that…
J.P. and U.S. Postal Service, Chelsea Carrier Annex, Chelsea, MA
Board upholds suspension for missed medical examination (ECAB 20-1112)
J.P., a postal supervisor with accepted right hip and knee conditions, sought a schedule award. His doctor and an OWCP medical adviser assigned different permanent impairment ratings for the hip, so OWCP scheduled an impartial examination. J.P. missed it, and his lawyer argued that the disagreement…
E.S., widow of P.S., and Department of the Navy, North Island Naval Base, Coronado, CO
Board upholds denial of widow's late reconsideration request (ECAB 20-0215)
E.S. sought survivor benefits after her husband, a Navy aerospace engineer, died from a cardiovascular condition. OWCP denied the claim, and she later requested reconsideration with an additional argument about stress from his job duties. The Board reviewed only whether OWCP properly rejected the…
M.K. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Woodbury, NY
Board declines to add foot conditions to postal claim (ECAB 21-0520)
M.K., a letter carrier, sought to add bilateral foot conditions to a claim arising from prolonged walking at work. One physician diagnosed metatarsalgia and discussed repeated stress on her feet, but the Board found his causation opinion equivocal. Other reports described diagnoses and possible…
M.F. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Atlanta Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Decatur, GA
Board upholds denial of VA worker's neck injury claim (ECAB 21-0390)
M.F., a VA supervisor, reported neck and arm symptoms after lifting dental bins at work. OWCP accepted that the incident occurred but denied the injury claim for lack of medical proof of causation. After an earlier Board review, M.F. submitted a new physician's report diagnosing cervical…
H.M. and Department of Homeland Security, Immigration & Customs Enforcement, Centennial, CO
Board denies schedule award for tinnitus without ratable hearing loss (ECAB 21-0378)
H.M., a federal law enforcement officer, reported tinnitus after years of job-related noise exposure. OWCP accepted bilateral tinnitus and requested an impairment rating for a schedule award. A second-opinion physician found essentially normal hearing, and OWCP's medical adviser calculated zero…
S.G. and U.S. Postal Service, Ballantyne Post Office, Charlotte, NC
Board upholds refusal to reopen postal worker's injury claim (ECAB 21-0067)
S.G., a postal sales and distribution clerk, had an accepted left foot injury claim but sought additional intermittent wage-loss compensation. After OWCP denied compensation for the disputed period, her reconsideration request resubmitted physician reports already in the record. The Board held that…
M.J. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Baltimore, MD
Board keeps longstanding wage-earning capacity finding in place (ECAB 21-0036)
M.J., a postal carrier with accepted knee conditions, had worked in a modified carrier position that OWCP used for a 1995 loss of wage-earning capacity determination. She later sought to change that determination, arguing that her condition had worsened and she could no longer work. The Board found…
S.V. and Department of Justice, Bureau of Prisons, Federal Correctional Institution, Phoenix, AZ
Board keeps nine-percent arm impairment award (ECAB 20-1583)
S.V., a Bureau of Prisons worker, sought an increased schedule award for his right shoulder. His physician rated right upper extremity impairment at 13 percent, while OWCP's medical adviser calculated nine percent using different modifier values. The Board found the adviser's rating properly…
M.B. and U.S. Postal Service, General Mail Facility, Cleveland, OH
Board orders fresh overpayment waiver review (ECAB 20-0573)
M.B., a postal worker, received a $63,148.71 FECA overpayment while also receiving Social Security retirement benefits. An earlier Board decision found he was not at fault and directed OWCP to consider waiver. On remand, OWCP used an old financial questionnaire without issuing a new preliminary…
B.P. and U.S. Postal Service, Buffalo Post Office, Buffalo, NY
Board orders review of knee recurrence claim (ECAB 20-0178)
B.P., a postal carrier with an accepted knee injury, filed a recurrence claim after her knee buckled. OWCP converted the claim into a new occupational disease claim but did not explain why or address her objection to that change. Her later reconsideration request was late, yet the Board found that…
Mary C. Hall v. Electric Boat Corporation
Hall v. Electric Boat (BRB 21-0557): settlement appeal dismissed as premature
Mary Hall appealed a district director's order approving a Longshore Act settlement. Her notice of appeal said the parties had already filed a timely joint motion asking the district director to reconsider that order, and the motion was still pending. The Board applied a rule requiring dismissal of…
Ruth Lee Neal, on behalf of and widow of Thomas H. Neal, v. Union Carbide Corporation
Neal v. Union Carbide (BRB 20-0326 and 21-0152 BLA): miner and survivor denials affirmed
Ruth Neal pursued her late husband Thomas Neal's black lung claim and a separate survivor claim. Both had been denied, and she sought modification based on alleged mistakes of fact. The Board upheld the first judge's assessment of conflicting x-ray and CT scan readings and her finding that the…
Albert R. Schindler v. Kellogg Brown & Root Services and Insurance Company of the State of Pennsylvania
Schindler v. Kellogg Brown & Root (BRB 20-0563): lung cancer claim remanded
Albert Schindler worked in Iraq and claimed that exposure to smoke from waste burning caused his lung cancer. A judge excluded five exhibits as hearsay and denied benefits, finding that the claim was filed too late and that the evidence did not establish work conditions that could cause the…
Steven G. Mahlberg v. Consol Pennsylvania Coal Company and Consol Energy, Incorporated
Mahlberg v. Consol Pennsylvania Coal (BRB 20-0399 BLA): benefits award vacated for new rebuttal findings
Steven Mahlberg worked thirty-nine years in coal mining and received an award of black lung benefits under the fifteen-year presumption. The employer argued that smoking, rather than coal dust, caused his obstructive lung disease and asthma. The judge rejected that medical opinion mainly because…
Ruth Lee Neal, on behalf of and widow of Thomas H. Neal, v. Union Carbide Corporation
Neal v. Union Carbide (BRB 20-0326 and 21-0152 BLA): miner and survivor denials affirmed
Ruth Neal pursued her late husband Thomas Neal's black lung claim and a separate survivor claim. Both had been denied, and she sought modification based on alleged mistakes of fact. The Board upheld the first judge's assessment of conflicting x-ray and CT scan readings and her finding that the…
Bobby S. Justus v. Wellmore Energy Company and Old Republic Insurance Company, Incorporated
Justus v. Wellmore Energy (BRB 20-0262 BLA): complicated pneumoconiosis award affirmed
Bobby Justus had more than fifteen years of underground coal mine work and sought black lung benefits. A judge found that CT scan evidence established complicated pneumoconiosis, which triggers an irrebuttable presumption of total disability due to the disease. The employer challenged the judge's…
Joseph R. Parrish v. Tanoma Mining Company, Incorporated and American Mining Insurance Company
Parrish v. Tanoma Mining (BRB 20-0173 BLA): denial of benefit modification affirmed
Joseph Parrish sought to reopen a denial of black lung benefits after more than twenty-three years of underground coal mining. A judge found one valid lung function study showed disability, but concluded the new evidence as a whole did not establish that his respiratory impairment prevented his…
Ricky L. Deal v. KTK Mining & Construction Company and Kentucky Employers Mutual Insurance
Deal v. KTK Mining & Construction (BRB 20-0120 BLA): benefits award affirmed
Ricky Deal worked in underground mining, coal mine construction, and maintenance at a coal processing plant. A judge credited him with 24.27 years of qualifying work and awarded black lung benefits under the fifteen-year presumption. The employer challenged whether the construction and surface work…
Y.D. and Department of Justice, Metropolitan Detention Center, Brooklyn, NY
Board dismisses 21-1190 appeal as late (ECAB 21-1190)
The appellant sought Board review of an OWCP decision dated January 15, 2021. The Board calculated a filing deadline of July 14, 2021, but the appeal was filed on July 31, 2021. It found no supported compelling circumstance excusing the delay and dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.
G.S. and U.S. Postal Service, Richmond Processing & Distribution Center, Sandston, VA
Board dismisses 21-1180 appeal as late (ECAB 21-1180)
The appellant sought Board review of an OWCP decision dated August 11, 2020. The Board calculated a filing deadline of February 7, 2021, but the appeal was filed on July 14, 2021. The June 2021 correspondence cited on the appeal form was informational and was not a final adverse OWCP decision. It…
S.B. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Rock Island, IL
Board dismisses 21-1177 appeal as late (ECAB 21-1177)
The appellant sought Board review of an OWCP decision dated January 25, 2021. The Board calculated a filing deadline of July 26, 2021, but the appeal was filed on July 28, 2021. Because the 180th day fell on a Saturday, the filing deadline extended to Monday, July 26. It found no supported…
M.M. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Socorro, TX
Board dismisses 21-1176 appeal as late (ECAB 21-1176)
The appellant sought Board review of an OWCP decision dated April 15, 2020. The Board calculated a filing deadline of October 12, 2020, but the appeal was filed on July 27, 2021. It found no supported compelling circumstance excusing the delay and dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.
W.D. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Harrisburg, PA
Board dismisses 21-1147 appeal at appellant’s request (ECAB 21-1147)
The appellant filed a timely Board appeal on July 21, 2021 from an OWCP decision dated June 24, 2021. The Board received W.D.'s dismissal request on August 2, 2021. The Board granted the request and dismissed the appeal without deciding the compensation issue.
B.P. and U.S. Postal Service, Glenville Bratenahl Post Office, Cleveland, OH
Board dismisses 21-1119 appeal as late (ECAB 21-1119)
The appellant sought Board review of an OWCP decision dated October 23, 2018. The Board calculated a filing deadline of April 21, 2019, but the appeal was filed on July 15, 2021. It found no supported compelling circumstance excusing the delay and dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.
A.M. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Riverside, CA
Board dismisses 21-0827 appeal at appellant’s request (ECAB 21-0827)
The appellant filed a timely Board appeal on May 7, 2021 from an OWCP decision dated April 21, 2021. A.M. requested dismissal in a July 20, 2021 letter. The Board granted the request and dismissed the appeal without deciding the compensation issue.
C.T. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Shaker Heights, OH
Board denies wage loss for unsupported absence dates (ECAB 20-0786)
C.T., a postal worker with an accepted 2010 injury, sought compensation for several intermittent absences in 2018 and early 2019. His physician recommended light duty but did not say he could not work on the claimed dates. Other reports likewise did not address those dates, and nurse practitioner…
M.N. and U.S. Postal Service, Caro Post Office, Caro, MI
Board orders fuller impartial opinion on rural carrier's spine claim (ECAB 21-0318)
M.N., a rural carrier, claimed spine conditions from driving a postal vehicle on rough roads. An earlier Board decision found conflicting medical opinions and ordered an impartial examination. The examiner found no significant pathology but did not explain why several other doctors' diagnoses were…
C.R. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Philadelphia, PA
Board recognizes crash-related contusions but rejects other conditions (ECAB 21-0056)
C.R., a postal vehicle operator, reported injuries after a truck struck her work vehicle. OWCP denied her claim because it found no qualifying physician opinion establishing an injury. The Board held that visible right hip and thigh contusions could be accepted without such an opinion, so she had…
D.W. and Department of the Navy, Pacific Fleet Shipyards, Bremerton, WA
Board reverses zero-benefit vocational rehabilitation sanction (ECAB 20-0840)
D.W., a Navy shipyard worker with an accepted shoulder and elbow injury, stopped participating in a vocational rehabilitation plan after starting classes. OWCP reduced his wage-loss compensation to zero for failure to cooperate. The Board held that because suitable positions had already been…
Nate Pulley, d/b/a Yellow Creek Stone
In re Nate Pulley, d/b/a Yellow Creek Stone (EAB NPDES Appeal No. 21-02): petition dismissed for lack of jurisdiction
The petition sought review of a Tennessee NPDES permit issued to Nate Pulley, doing business as Yellow Creek Stone, for a limestone mining and processing facility in Houston County, Tennessee. The permit authorized treated mine wastewater and stormwater discharges to an unnamed tributary of Yellow…
N.P. and U.S. Postal Service, Roberto Clemente Post Office, Chicago, IL
Board upholds refusal to reopen postal clerk's claim (ECAB 21-0042)
N.P., a postal clerk, had claimed bilateral shoulder and hand conditions from repetitive duties. After an earlier Board decision affirmed denial of the claim, he requested reconsideration outside the one-year period. A new physician letter used speculative terms and did not show clear error in…
M.D. and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Arlington, VA
Board orders reasoned response to FDIC worker's reconsideration request (ECAB 21-0022)
M.D. asked OWCP to reconsider a compensation claim after a prior Board decision. OWCP treated the request as untimely and summarily said the accompanying medical evidence did not show clear error. The Board held that OWCP had failed to review the new material and give findings and reasons…
L.T. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Crisis Line, Atlanta, GA
Board confirms workplace exposure and orders injury review (ECAB 20-1499)
L.T., a VA Veterans Crisis Line employee, reported an asthma attack after a coworker used an aerosol substance in a nearby room. OWCP denied her claim at the factual incident stage. The Board found her account consistent with supervisor information and contemporaneous medical reports, establishing…
A.S. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Cedar Rapids, IA
Board orders specialist review of carrier's foot-related disability (ECAB 20-0406)
A.S., a postal carrier with accepted arthritis in both first toe joints, sought wage-loss compensation for July through November 2017. Her doctor described pain, swelling, limited motion, and difficulty with the standing and walking her job required. The Board found the reports insufficient to…
C.Z. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Ann Arbor Veterans Health Administration, Ann Arbor, MI
Board upholds denial of VA supply worker's shoulder claim (ECAB 20-0352)
C.Z., a VA supply technician, reported left shoulder damage after lifting a box at work. One physician said the injury was consistent with her pathology but did not explain the medical mechanism. Other reports provided diagnoses without causation opinions, while imaging and physical therapy notes…
C.Y. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Kissimmee, FL
Board orders complete review of postal worker's leg conditions (ECAB 20-0144)
C.Y., a postal worker, sought to add knee, ankle, and foot conditions to a claim that already covered other body regions. OWCP relied on a referral physician's reports to deny the request. The Board found that the physician had focused on upper extremity impairment and had not answered OWCP's…
Secretary of Labor v. Marfork Coal Company, LLC
Caption correction authorized
An administrative law judge's settlement decision became final after 40 days but contained the wrong docket number in its caption. The judge asked the Commission for permission to correct the clerical error. Commission procedural rules allow correction of a clerical error in a final decision with…
B.N. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Santa Clarita, CA
Board reopens back claim but upholds hearing abandonment (ECAB 21-0509)
B.N., a letter carrier, claimed that years of carrying mail aggravated spinal arthritis. The Board found that physician reports identified a diagnosed back condition requiring OWCP to review medical causation further, so it set aside the claim denial. B.N. also missed a scheduled telephone hearing…
T.S. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Muskegon, MI
Board rejects table-saw hand injury as consequence of old knee claim (ECAB 20-0968)
T.S. said his knee buckled while he used a table saw, causing a left hand injury, and sought to treat the hand conditions as consequences of an accepted 1978 knee injury. Physicians documented the hand damage but did not explain how the accepted knee conditions caused it. The Board held that his…
W.R. and Tennessee Valley Authority, Watts Bar Nuclear Plant, Spring City, TN
Board upholds termination of long-running back benefits (ECAB 20-0480)
W.R., a Tennessee Valley Authority worker, had received benefits for an accepted back strain and contusion from a 1986 fall. OWCP's second-opinion physician concluded that those accepted conditions had resolved and that later degenerative changes were not caused by the injury. The Board found this…
S.E. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Mobile, AL
Board orders review of omitted elbow evidence (ECAB 20-0400)
S.E., a postal worker, sought to add right lateral epicondylitis to an accepted claim. OWCP denied the request while reviewing only evidence submitted after an earlier decision. The Board found that relevant elbow reports from before that decision also had to be considered. It set aside the denial…
United States Agency for Global Media and American Federation of Government Employees, Local 1812
U.S. Agency for Global Media and AFGE Local 1812 (FLRA 0-AR-5648): Authority vacates debt-waiver award
The Agency for Global Media reinstated employees affected by an improper reduction in force and later determined that it had overpaid their backpay by more than $240,000. The agency denied debt-waiver requests because it found that the employees should have recognized and reported the overpayments…
Secretary of Labor v. Solar Sources Mining, LLC
Berm penalty reduced to $40,000
Solar Sources Mining violated the berm standard at a surface coal mine after a haul truck went over a dumpsite edge and the driver was injured while escaping. The citation's S&S, unwarrantable-failure, high-negligence, and serious-gravity findings were no longer disputed; the appeal concerned the…
J.G. and Tennessee Valley Authority, Paradise Fossil Plant, Drakesboro, KY
Board dismisses appeal lacking a recent OWCP decision (ECAB 21-0796)
J.G. appealed from what he described as a 2019 OWCP decision. The record before the Board contained no final adverse OWCP decision within 180 days of his April 2021 appeal; the most recent was from July 2016. The Board therefore dismissed the appeal for lack of jurisdiction without revisiting the…
D.K. and Department of Justice, U.S. Marshals Service, Brooklyn, NY
Board denies schedule award tied to accepted neck sprain (ECAB 20-0262)
D.K., a U.S. Marshals Service investigator, sought a schedule award after a work vehicle crash. OWCP had accepted a neck sprain but had not accepted the shoulder and other conditions that physicians used for impairment ratings. An impartial physician found no lasting extremity impairment from the…
J.G. and Tennessee Valley Authority, Paradise Fossil Plant, Drakesboro, KY
Board dismisses appeal from unverified OWCP decision (ECAB 20-0087)
J.G. sought Board review of a purported September 2019 OWCP decision. The Board's record contained no final adverse decision on that date, and the last OWCP decision of record was issued in July 2016. With no reviewable decision inside the appeal window, the Board dismissed for lack of…
K.C. and U.S. Postal Service, Pacific Grove Post Office, Pacific Grove, CA
Board upholds repayment of postal worker's $43,811.57 overpayment (ECAB 21-0430)
K.C., a postal worker, received FECA wage-loss compensation while also receiving Social Security retirement benefits without the required offset. OWCP found a $43,811.57 overpayment for which she was not at fault, but denied waiver and set deductions of $400 every 28 days. The Board agreed that the…
D.K. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Des Moines, IA
Board upholds denial of hand injury claim after vehicle incident (ECAB 21-0369)
D.K., a postal worker, sought benefits for a left hand condition after an accepted October 2020 vehicle incident. The Board found that his medical submissions did not establish a firm diagnosis linked to the incident. His reconsideration request repeated reports or arguments already considered and…
J.P. and Department of the Navy, Commander, Navy Installations Command, San Diego, CA
Board upholds denial after conflicting knee injury accounts (ECAB 21-0310)
J.P., a Navy aircraft freight loader, said he struck his right knee on a computer stand while carrying a box at work. A contemporaneous medical report instead recorded that the injury happened at home and denied a direct blow. Other records described preexisting knee arthritis without mentioning a…
V.H. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Ventura, CA
Board orders evidence on available light-duty job (ECAB 20-0875)
V.H., a postal worker with an accepted injury, claimed recurrent disability beginning October 22, 2015, her disability retirement date. She said she had stopped work in June 2014. The employer said an eight-hour assignment was available but relied on a job offer from January 2014. Another agency…
L.O. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Fresno VA Medical Center-VA Central California, Fresno, CA
Board denies VA worker's claimed disability period (ECAB 20-0170)
L.O., a VA employee with accepted cervical and thoracic conditions, sought compensation for a period away from work in 2018. Her physician diagnosed several conditions and stated she was disabled, but did not explain why the accepted injury prevented work during the claimed dates. A later note…
George C. Danner v. Electric Boat Corporation
Danner v. Electric Boat (BRB 21-0519): settlement appeal dismissed as premature
George Danner appealed a district director's order approving a Longshore Act settlement. His notice of appeal reported that the parties had filed a joint motion for reconsideration on June 22, 2021, and that the district director had not yet acted on it. The Board applied the rule requiring it to…
Ricky S. Neece v. Fred Arrington Trucking, Incorporated and United States Fidelity & Guaranty
Neece v. Fred Arrington Trucking (BRB 20-0212 BLA): denial of benefits affirmed
Ricky Neece sought black lung benefits after driving coal trucks and working for related trucking businesses. A judge credited 13.64 years of qualifying coal mine employment, below the fifteen years required for the statutory presumption, and found the evidence did not establish pneumoconiosis. On…
S.C. and Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, Denver, CO
Board orders specialist review after icy workplace fall (ECAB 21-0637)
S.C., a Bureau of Reclamation employee, slipped on ice at work and reported pain and numbness in several body areas. A physician later explained how the fall could have stretched her neck and shoulder tissues and caused arm tingling. The Board found the opinion detailed enough to require OWCP to…
J.G. and U.S. Postal Service, Willimantic Post Office, Willimantic, CT
Board upholds recovery of $380.16 insurance-premium overpayment (ECAB 21-0395)
J.G., a postal worker receiving FECA benefits, was overpaid $380.16 because a life insurance premium was underwithheld. OWCP found him without fault but denied waiver after he did not provide requested financial information. The Board held that OWCP could recover a no-fault overpayment when the…
S.M. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, East Saint Louis, IL
Board upholds refusal to reopen impairment claim (ECAB 21-0392)
S.M. sought reconsideration of a denied schedule award for permanent impairment. His physician submitted an addendum asserting that a spinal nerve rating should be included, along with the earlier rating report. The Board found the addendum substantially similar to evidence already considered and…
R.D. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Baton Rouge, LA
Board upholds denial of late reconsideration request (ECAB 20-1596)
R.D. requested reconsideration of a claim last decided on the merits in 2007. The 2020 request was late. Her representative suggested that OWCP might have selected an impartial examiner improperly, but supplied no evidence of a selection error. The Board held that speculation did not meet the…
Clara Elsea (Widow of Charles Elsea) v. Wolverine Mining Corporation
Elsea v. Wolverine Mining (BRB 20-0447, 20-0448 BLA): miner's claim denied; survivor claim continues
Clara Elsea pursued her late husband's black lung claim and her own survivor claim. An administrative law judge denied benefits in the miner claim because the evidence did not establish pneumoconiosis, then sent the survivor claim to the district director for further evidence on the cause of death…
Clara Elsea (Widow of Charles Elsea) v. Wolverine Mining Corporation
Elsea v. Wolverine Mining (BRB 20-0447, 20-0448 BLA): miner's claim denied; survivor claim continues
Clara Elsea pursued her late husband's black lung claim and her own survivor claim. An administrative law judge denied benefits in the miner claim because the evidence did not establish pneumoconiosis, then sent the survivor claim to the district director for further evidence on the cause of death…
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.