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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S.K. and U.S. Postal Service, Riverdale Branch, Riverdale, IL
Board closes duplicate appeal docket while original appeal proceeds (ECAB 20-1359)
S.K. appealed OWCP's February 3, 2020 decision on June 17, 2020. After receiving a second copy of the same appeal, the Clerk assigned another docket number by mistake. The Board dismissed the duplicate docket, 20-1359, and stated that the original appeal, 20-1348, would go forward. It made no…
R.K. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Baltimore, MD
Board splits fault ruling on postal worker's continued benefit payments (ECAB 20-1322)
R.K. continued to receive FECA wage loss payments after OWCP terminated her compensation effective July 22, 2018. The Board upheld OWCP's finding that those payments totaled a $68,988.07 overpayment through February 29, 2020. It found that the record did not establish that she knew the first direct…
B.M. and U.S. Postal Service, Roseburg Post Office, Roseburg, OR
Board upholds denial of postal worker's eight-day wage loss claim (ECAB 20-1293)
B.M., a mail carrier with an accepted back strain, claimed wage loss for October 15 through 28, 2016 after resigning from the Postal Service; OWCP allowed October 15 through 20, leaving October 21 through 28 at issue. The Postal Service offered her a temporary full-time modified assignment…
H.C. and U.S. Postal Service, Main Post Office, Carmel, CA
Board dismisses postal worker's late appeal (ECAB 20-0925)
H.C. appealed OWCP's September 19, 2019 decision on March 24, 2020. The Board calculated that the 180-day appeal deadline was March 17, 2020. The envelope's March 18 postmark was also after the deadline. Because H.C. supplied no supported explanation establishing compelling circumstances for a late…
J.S. and U.S. Postal Service, Glen Head Post Office, Glen Head, NY
Board upholds denial of postal carrier's claimed disability recurrence (ECAB 20-0617)
J.S., a letter carrier with an accepted back injury, claimed a recurrence of disability beginning March 22, 2018 after reporting more pain and an increase in walking duties. The Board found that his existing medical restriction allowed up to six hours of walking each day, so the alleged increase…
P.B. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Merrifield, VA
Board dismisses postal worker's appeal filed after 180 days (ECAB 21-0795)
P.B. appealed OWCP's October 23, 2020 decision on April 29, 2021. The Board calculated that the 180-day appeal period ended April 21, 2021. P.B. supplied no supported explanation establishing compelling circumstances for the late filing. The Board dismissed the appeal for lack of jurisdiction…
L.C. and U.S. Postal Service, Frankford Post Office, Philadelphia, PA
Board dismisses postal worker's late appeal (ECAB 21-0794)
L.C. appealed OWCP's August 12, 2020 decision on April 28, 2021. The Board calculated that the 180-day appeal period ended February 8, 2021. L.C. supplied no supported explanation establishing compelling circumstances for the late filing. The Board dismissed the appeal for lack of jurisdiction…
J.A. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Philadelphia, PA
Board grants postal worker's request to dismiss appeal (ECAB 21-0743)
J.A. appealed what the Board described as a purported April 5, 2021 OWCP decision. After filing the appeal, J.A. asked for it to be dismissed in a letter received April 28. The Board granted that request and dismissed the appeal without reviewing the compensation claim.
R.B. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Park Place, TX
Board upholds denial of postal mechanic's hernia claim (ECAB 20-1602)
R.B., a postal automotive technician, reported groin pain while helping push a vehicle out of a work stall. OWCP accepted that the incident happened but denied his claim for a left inguinal hernia. The Board found that Dr. Kobza described the incident and diagnosed the hernia without explaining…
A.C. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Lyons VA Medical Center, Lyons, NJ
Board orders further review of VA nurse's shoulder injury claim (ECAB 20-1599)
A.C., a VA nurse, reported right shoulder pain after the medication cart he was pushing became stuck and pulled his shoulder. OWCP denied his claim, but his occupational medicine physician explained how the incident could cause the diagnosed conditions, considering examination and imaging results…
D.G. and U.S. Postal Service, Park Hill Station Post Office, Denver, CO
Board orders further medical review of postal worker's back condition (ECAB 20-1183)
D.G., a postal carrier, sought acceptance of a lumbar condition as a consequence of an accepted left knee injury. His treating surgeon said an altered gait and difficult recovery from knee surgery contributed to the back condition. OWCP's medical adviser rejected that connection but did not explain…
J.R. and U.S. Postal Service, Downtown Boynton Beach Post Office, Boynton Beach, FL
Board requires reasons for denial of postal worker's reconsideration request (ECAB 20-0887)
J.R. requested reconsideration of a wage loss claim involving leave recorded under several accepted injury files. His representative argued that OWCP had wrongly totaled 68 hours of personal leave because some entries covered different hours on the same day and were recorded to avoid duplicate…
C.B. and U.S. Postal Service, Malverne Post Office, Malverne, NY
Board splits postal worker's wage loss and benefit termination appeals (ECAB 20-0629)
C.B., a postal letter carrier with an accepted neck strain, claimed intermittent disability for December 30, 2017 through April 20, 2018. The Board upheld OWCP's denial because her physician did not give examination findings or medical reasoning tying that period of disability to the accepted…
SIP Insulation Professionals, LLC
Three construction items vacated because company was not the employer
Workers were erecting a building with structural insulated panels at an Alabama construction site when OSHA observed alleged aerial-lift, roof fall-protection, and equipment-modification violations. OSHA issued the three-item citation to SIP Insulation Professionals, LLC. The central issue was…
Robert Mockel v. SSA Terminals, LLC
Mockel v. SSA Terminals (BRB 21-0179): premature physician-change appeal dismissed
Robert Mockel sought approval to change his treating physician after receiving longshore disability and medical benefits. A claims examiner declined to issue a change order because the parties disputed whether good cause existed, and said a judge would need to resolve the factual dispute. Mockel…
Michael Beverly v. Virginia International Terminals, LLC
Beverly v. Virginia International Terminals (BRB 20-0504): Special Fund issue returned
Michael Beverly had a longshore disability award after a knee injury, and Virginia International Terminals sought to shift part of its liability to the Special Fund based on his earlier shoulder and carpal tunnel conditions. The judge denied that request. The Board held that the judge used the…
William A. Farmer v. Paramont Coal Company Virginia, LLC
Farmer v. Paramont Coal (BRB 20-0290 BLA): modified benefits award affirmed
William Farmer requested modification of an earlier denial of benefits. A judge found that new and existing evidence established total respiratory disability after thirty-three years of underground coal mine work. The judge applied the fifteen-year presumption and ruled that Paramont Coal had not…
Aaron N. Lapp v. Dakota Westmoreland Corporation
Lapp v. Dakota Westmoreland (BRB 20-0283 BLA): miner benefits affirmed
Aaron Lapp worked thirty-four years in qualifying surface coal mining and was found totally disabled by a respiratory impairment. Dakota Westmoreland challenged the constitutionality of the fifteen-year presumption and the finding that it had not rebutted it. The Board rejected the constitutional…
Talisha K. Rose v. Vectrus Systems Corporation
Rose v. Vectrus Systems (BRB 20-0279): Defense Base Act benefits denial affirmed
Talisha Rose sought benefits for a psychological condition she attributed to experiences while working at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan. The judge found the evidence did not establish a psychological injury and denied benefits. A Board majority upheld the judge's assessment of Rose's testimony and…
Minnie Pearl Estep v. Olga Coal Company
Estep v. Olga Coal (BRB 20-0214 BLA): survivor benefits denial affirmed
Minnie Pearl Estep sought survivor benefits after the death of miner Lawrence Estep. The judge credited him with fewer than fifteen years of underground work and found no complicated pneumoconiosis, so neither statutory death presumption applied. Although clinical pneumoconiosis was established…
Carol Spatafore (on behalf of John R. Spatafore, Sr.) v. Consolidation Coal Company
Spatafore v. Consolidation Coal (BRB 20-0193 BLA): medical opinions returned for review
Carol Spatafore pursued her late husband's black lung claim after prior Board remands. Because his qualifying mine work was under fifteen years, she had to prove entitlement without the fifteen-year presumption. The judge awarded benefits after crediting medical opinions diagnosing legal…
Homer Johnson v. Gap Fork Fuels Incorporated
Johnson v. Gap Fork Fuels (BRB 20-0187 BLA): miner benefits affirmed
Homer Johnson sought benefits on a subsequent claim after more than fifteen years of coal mine work. Gap Fork Fuels challenged the judge's authority, the destruction of a prior claim file, the statutory presumption, and the medical findings. The Board rejected the procedural and constitutional…
Nilia Fauber (on behalf of and widow of James H. Fauber) v. Eastern Associated Coal Company
Fauber v. Eastern Associated Coal (BRB 20-0165 BLA, 20-0166 BLA): miner and survivor benefits affirmed
Nilia Fauber pursued her late husband's black lung claim and her own survivor claim. The judge found that James Fauber had extensive underground coal mine work, was totally disabled, and qualified for the fifteen-year presumption; he also found the employer had not rebutted it. Nilia Fauber then…
Nilia Fauber (on behalf of and widow of James H. Fauber) v. Eastern Associated Coal Company
Fauber v. Eastern Associated Coal (BRB 20-0165 BLA, 20-0166 BLA): miner and survivor benefits affirmed
Nilia Fauber pursued her late husband's black lung claim and her own survivor claim. The judge found that James Fauber had extensive underground coal mine work, was totally disabled, and qualified for the fifteen-year presumption; he also found the employer had not rebutted it. Nilia Fauber then…
Govindarajan v. N2 Services, Inc.
Reconsideration denied
The Board dismissed Vasanth Govindarajan's complaint after he failed to serve his opening brief on N2 Services and did not explain that failure in response to a show-cause order. Govindarajan sought reconsideration, saying he misunderstood the show-cause order and had not received the briefing…
System Tech, Inc. v. USDOL, Administrator, Wage and Hour Div.
Telecommunications wage rate affirmed
System Tech received a telecommunications subcontract for two Department of Energy lease-build facilities at the Idaho National Laboratory campus. It asked to add a Telecommunications Installer classification at $15 per hour plus $4.75 in fringe benefits. The Wage and Hour Division rejected that…
C.Y. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Dallas, TX
Board dismisses postal worker's late appeal of a nonmerit decision (ECAB 21-0776)
C.Y. appealed OWCP's April 15, 2020 nonmerit decision on March 24, 2021. The Board calculated that the 180-day appeal period ended October 12, 2020. C.Y. supplied no supported explanation establishing compelling circumstances for the late filing. The Board dismissed the appeal for lack of…
J.M. and U.S. Postal Service, Frankford Post Office, Philadelphia, PA
Board dismisses postal worker's appeal filed after 180 days (ECAB 21-0757)
J.M. appealed OWCP's August 20, 2020 decision on April 7, 2021. The Board calculated that the 180-day appeal period ended February 16, 2021. J.M. supplied no supported explanation establishing compelling circumstances for the late filing. The Board dismissed the appeal for lack of jurisdiction…
A.B. and Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Yazoo City, MS
Board dismisses prison employee's late appeal (ECAB 21-0749)
A.B. appealed OWCP's September 16, 2020 decision on April 9, 2021. The Board calculated that the 180-day appeal period ended March 15, 2021. A.B. supplied no supported explanation establishing compelling circumstances for the late filing. The Board dismissed the appeal for lack of jurisdiction…
B.L. and U.S. Postal Service, Lakewood Post Office, Lakewood, OH
Board splits wrist disability claims and remands medical visit pay (ECAB 20-1685)
B.L., a postal carrier with an accepted wrist fracture, sought wage loss compensation for intermittent absence in December 2019 and a recurrence of disability beginning that November. His physician restricted outdoor work in temperatures below 45 degrees but did not explain with medical findings…
J.C. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Whitehall, AR
Board upholds denial of postal carrier's thigh injury claim (ECAB 20-1509)
J.C., a rural postal carrier with an earlier femur fracture, reported thigh pain after his leg caught on a brace while leaving a work vehicle. OWCP accepted the December 21, 2019 incident but denied the injury claim. His surgeon recorded pain and swelling near the old fracture site and suggested a…
R.C. and Department of Agriculture, Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service, Riverdale, MD
Board restores Agriculture employee's hearing request (ECAB 20-1388)
R.C., an Agriculture Department analyst, claimed injuries after falling over a dolly at work. OWCP denied the claim and later rejected her request for an oral hearing as untimely based on when it received the request. The Board found that OWCP had not retained the envelope or another carrier date…
S.H. and U.S. Postal Service, Processing & Distribution Facility, Grand Rapids, MI
Board upholds denial of mail handler's knee injury claim (ECAB 20-1357)
S.H., a mail handler, reported knee pain while pulling a full load of mail from a robot. OWCP accepted that the July 29, 2019 incident occurred but denied his claim for a left knee condition. His orthopedic surgeon diagnosed osteoarthritis and discussed a prior knee injury, but did not say that the…
H.H. and U.S. Postal Service, Menomonie Post Office, Menomonie, MN
Board orders second opinion on postal carrier's lumbar condition (ECAB 20-0839)
H.H., a rural mail carrier, claimed that twisting, lifting, and other delivery duties worsened his lower back condition. His physician compared earlier and later imaging and explained how those motions could worsen disc protrusions and affect nerves. The Board found that the opinion did not fully…
H.V. and U.S. Postal Service, Maplewood Post Office, Maplewood, NJ
Board reverses termination of postal carrier's benefits over job offer (ECAB 20-0710)
H.V., a postal carrier with accepted knee injuries, lost compensation after OWCP concluded that he refused suitable modified work. OWCP initially found the written December 2017 offer unsuitable, then later said a modified offer was suitable and terminated his benefits for refusing it. The record…
National Federation of Federal Employees, Local 1953 and United States Department of the Air Force, Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana
NFFE Local 1953 and Barksdale Air Force Base (FLRA 0-AR-5649): Authority upholds uniform requirement
Barksdale Air Force Base directed dual-status Air Reserve Technicians to wear military uniforms while performing their civilian duties. NFFE Local 1953 argued that the requirement violated the federal statute restricting who may wear a military uniform. An arbitrator read that provision together…
Association of Administrative Law Judges, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers and Social Security Administration, Office of Hearing Operations
Administrative Law Judges Association and Social Security Administration (FLRA 0-AR-5553): Authority permits office-size bargaining
The Social Security Administration proposed reducing the maximum size of future administrative-law-judge offices from 200 to 120 square feet and offered to bargain. The judges' Union claimed that office size was already covered by the parties' agreement and could not be changed through midterm…
A.M. and Department of the Interior, National Park Service, George Washington Memorial Parkway, McLean, VA
Board upholds refusal to reopen park officer's surgery authorization dispute (ECAB 21-0158)
A.M., a National Park Service police officer, experienced a medical episode after physical training and underwent emergency treatment for an aortic dissection. OWCP refused to authorize the emergency surgery; its hearing representative affirmed that decision in February 2020, and A.M. requested…
D.R. and Department of the Army, Aviation & Missle Command, Corpus Christi Army Depot, Corpus Christi, TX
Board upholds denial of late hearing loss reconsideration request (ECAB 21-0061)
D.R., an Army depot materials expediter, sought reconsideration of a denied hearing loss claim. OWCP received her request in February 2020, more than one year after its December 2018 merits decision. The Board found the request untimely and reviewed whether new medical reports clearly showed an…
C.M. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Bellmawr, NJ
Board upholds denial of disability and added hip condition (ECAB 21-0004)
C.M., a postal carrier with accepted right knee injuries, sought wage loss for disability beginning April 17, 2019 and acceptance of a right hip condition. Her surgeon related hip arthritis and injections to the earlier work injury but did not explain how an accepted condition caused disability for…
A.M. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Bellmawr, NJ
Board upholds ankle claim denial and late written-review refusal (ECAB 20-1575)
A.M., a postal carrier, reported rolling her left ankle at work on March 13, 2020. OWCP accepted the incident but denied the claim for lack of sufficient medical proof connecting a diagnosed condition to it. The Board found that a physician's checked form box supplied no causal reasoning, while…
J.C. and U.S. Postal Service, Houston Processing & Distribution Center, Houston, TX
Board upholds denial of postal carrier's late reconsideration request (ECAB 20-1250)
J.C. sought reconsideration of an earlier denial of wage loss for November 30, 2011 through July 25, 2012. OWCP received his request in October 2019, more than one year after its last merits decision in January 2014. The Board found the request untimely and reviewed whether his evidence clearly…
P.Y. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Marshfield, MA
Board remands waiver for postal worker's first incorrect benefit payment (ECAB 20-0824)
P.Y. continued to receive FECA wage loss payments after OWCP terminated his benefits effective April 28, 2019, creating a $21,749.76 overpayment through December 7, 2019. The Board found no proof that he knew the first direct deposit, made May 25, was incorrect when he received it. It reversed the…
P.S. and Department of Defense, Defense Commissary Agency, Andrews Air Force Base, MD
Board requires notice before stopping commissary worker's benefits (ECAB 20-0714)
P.S., a commissary store worker with an accepted knee injury, received wage loss compensation on the periodic rolls. After she returned to work for one hour on June 14, 2018, OWCP stopped paying and treated later compensation as a new recurrence claim that P.S. had to prove. The Board held that a…
M.W. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Plainfield, IL
Board orders new impairment ratings for postal carrier's schedule award (ECAB 20-0252)
M.W., a postal carrier with accepted shoulder, hip, back, and neck conditions, sought additional schedule award compensation for permanent impairment. The Board found that the statement of accepted facts sent to OWCP's medical adviser omitted her accepted neck sprain, undermining the upper…
National Air Traffic Controllers Association and United States Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration
NATCA and Federal Aviation Administration (FLRA 0-AR-5683): Authority upholds leave-without-pay ruling
An air-traffic controller requested sick leave for an illness but did not have enough accrued sick leave to cover the missed shift. The Federal Aviation Administration converted the request to leave without pay after determining that staffing conditions did not permit spot annual leave. An…
United States Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, El Paso, Texas and American Federation of Government Employees, National Border Patrol Council, Local 1929
CBP El Paso and AFGE Local 1929 (FLRA 0-AR-5508): Authority upholds official-time back pay
A Border Patrol agent and Union steward requested eight hours of official time for a grievance presentation and investigation of two employee complaints. Customs and Border Protection approved six hours, applying a two-hour limit for each potential grievance, and the employee used two hours of…
S.F. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Detroit, MI
Board dismisses postal worker's late appeal (ECAB 21-0754)
S.F. appealed an OWCP nonmerit decision concerning a postal employment claim. The Board said the 180-day period for an appeal from the July 14, 2020 decision ended January 10, 2021. S.F. filed on April 7, 2021 and offered no documented compelling reason for the delay. The Board dismissed the appeal…
C.T. and U.S. Postal Service, Hamilton Park Post Office, Dallas, TX
Board dismisses postal worker's appeal on request (ECAB 21-0674)
C.T. appealed a February 2021 OWCP decision involving a postal employment claim. The order does not describe the nature of that claim. C.T. later asked the Board to dismiss the appeal. The Board granted the request and closed the appeal without ruling on the merits.
B.N. and Department of Agriculture, U.S. Forest Service, Albuquerque, NM
Board dismisses Forest Service worker's appeal on request (ECAB 21-0623)
B.N. appealed a September 2020 OWCP decision involving a Forest Service employment claim. The order does not describe the nature of that claim. B.N. later asked the Board to dismiss the appeal. The Board granted the request and closed the appeal without ruling on the merits.
J.G. and U.S. Postal Service, Lehi Post Office, Lehi, UT
Board dismisses postal worker's appeal on request (ECAB 21-0105)
J.G. appealed an OWCP decision concerning a postal employment claim. His lawyer later asked the Board to dismiss the appeal. The Board granted the request and dismissed the case without addressing the underlying claim. The order gives no reason for the requested dismissal and no merits ruling.
D.T. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Pittsburgh, PA
Board recognizes postal worker's dental injury and remands seizure issue (ECAB 21-0091)
D.T., a postal clerk, fell on a workroom floor and injured his face and mouth. OWCP denied his claim for an injury related to the fall. The Board found that medical records established a tooth avulsion and facial fracture caused by the accepted July 2018 incident, and ordered OWCP to address…
F.A. and Department of the Navy, Naval Weapons Station Earle, Colts Neck, NJ
Board upholds limits on Navy worker's accepted back injury (ECAB 20-1652)
F.A., a Navy materials handler, slipped on icy stairs at work and injured his lower back. OWCP accepted a temporary aggravation of preexisting lumbar disease but declined to add lumbar radiculopathy, degenerative disc disease, and neurological changes in his extremities. His treating physician and…
C.C. and Social Security Administration, Swainsboro, GA
Board orders new calculation of SSA worker's benefit overpayment (ECAB 20-1253)
C.C., a former Social Security Administration employee with accepted psychological conditions, received workers' compensation and Social Security retirement benefits. OWCP found a $95,345.95 overpayment because it had not offset the retirement benefits attributable to her federal service. The Board…
O.N. and U.S. Postal Service, JAF/Morgan Processing & Distribution Center, New York, NY
Board rejects postal mechanic's shoulder injury claim (ECAB 20-0902)
O.N., a postal building equipment mechanic, reported right shoulder pain after a cooling tower fan guard slipped during work. OWCP accepted that the May 3, 2019 incident occurred but denied the injury claim. The Board found that the medical reports did not adequately explain how the incident caused…
B.B. and Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, Sacramento, CA
Board reverses IRS worker's retirement-offset overpayment (ECAB 20-0711)
B.B., a former IRS secretary with accepted arm and shoulder injuries, received workers' compensation and Social Security retirement benefits. OWCP found a $14,726.51 overpayment because it had not offset compensation for a portion of those retirement benefits. The Board found that the record did…
K.W. and Department of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration, Federal Air Marshal Service, Sunrise, FL
Board rejects air marshal's recurrence of disability claim (ECAB 20-0230)
K.W., a federal air marshal, claimed that he became totally disabled from work beginning October 13, 2017 because of a recurrence of his accepted 2010 neck injury. He had returned to a limited-duty position and did not claim that its requirements changed. The Board found that his neurologist's…
S.P. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Philadelphia, PA
Board release conflicts on postal worker's disability appeal (ECAB 20-0133)
S.P., a postal clerk with an accepted knee injury, sought compensation for total disability beginning February 2, 2010. Her physician and OWCP's referral physician disagreed about whether she developed complex regional pain syndrome from the accepted injury or a later consequential fracture. The…
United States Department of Veterans Affairs (Agency) and American Federation of Government Employees, Local 17 (Union)
Department of Veterans Affairs and AFGE Local 17 (FLRA 0-AR-5575): Existing union official-time agreement controlled
The Department of Veterans Affairs reduced the union's paid time for representation work under a new executive order while its collective-bargaining agreement remained in effect. An arbitrator found that the agreement's official-time terms controlled and ordered the agency to restore the hours it…
Glenn A. Ott v. Pacific Fishermen Shipyard and Electric LLC
Ott v. Pacific Fishermen Shipyard (BRB 21-0276): withdrawn fee award vacated
Glenn Ott's counsel withdrew his petition for a fee for work before the district director and said he would not pursue that fee. The employer had appealed the district director's fee award and asked the Board to vacate it before dismissing the appeal. The Board accepted the withdrawal as final…
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.