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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A.B. and Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, Chamblee, GA
Board orders explained wage-loss calculation for FAA worker (ECAB 20-0167)
A.B., an FAA employee with accepted wrist and psychological conditions, sought wage-loss compensation after returning to a lower-paying job. OWCP denied two disputed periods in March and April 2014 and August 2014 without showing how it calculated his wage-earning capacity. The Board said OWCP had…
United States Department of Veterans Affairs, John J. Pershing VA Medical Center, Poplar Bluff, Missouri and American Federation of Government Employees, Local 2338
John J. Pershing VA Medical Center and AFGE Local 2338 (FLRA 0-AR-5572): Authority restores physician-scheduling award
An arbitrator found that a VA medical center violated its agreement by scheduling physicians for weekend patient rounds beyond their regular 40-hour workweeks and awarded scheduling adjustments and rest-and-relaxation time. The Authority had initially set aside the award after concluding that the…
American Federation of Government Employees, Local 2338 and United States Department of Veterans Affairs, John J. Pershing VA Medical Center, Poplar Bluff, Missouri
AFGE Local 2338 and John J. Pershing VA Medical Center (FLRA 0-AR-5572): Authority denies attorney fees for physician-scheduling case
An arbitrator found that a VA medical center violated its agreement by scheduling physicians for weekend rounds outside their regular 40-hour workweeks and awarded retroactive rest and relaxation. The Union later sought attorney fees under the Back Pay Act. The arbitrator denied fees after finding…
Dennis L. Houchins v. Clinchfield Coal Company
Houchins v. Clinchfield Coal Company (BRB 20-0292): Benefits award affirmed on complicated pneumoconiosis
Dennis Houchins sought Black Lung benefits after at least 28.49 years of underground coal mine work. The judge found complicated pneumoconiosis and applied the irrebuttable presumption that Houchins was totally disabled by the disease. The employer challenged the judge's reading of one X-ray…
Reuben L. Dancey v. Eastern Associated Coal Corporation
Dancey v. Eastern Associated Coal (BRB 20-0128): Benefits denial remanded over conflicting medical opinions
Reuben Dancey sought Black Lung benefits after 6.50 years of qualifying coal mine work. The judge found two doctors' opposing opinions about whether coal dust contributed to his lung disease equally persuasive and denied benefits because Dancey had not proved legal pneumoconiosis. The Board…
McCurry v. Kenco Logistic Services, LLC
Surprise summary-decision ground vacated
Edith McCurry alleged that Kenco Logistic Services retaliated against her for protected Food Safety Modernization Act activity by denying long-term disability benefits. Kenco sought summary decision based on collateral estoppel and lack of jurisdiction, but the ALJ instead ruled that the record…
The Residences at Boland Place
Building wage classification affirmed
P & M Holdings planned Boland Place as a mixed-use apartment development with four upper residential floors, a club level, and a lower sublevel. Davis-Bacon guidance generally uses a residential wage determination for apartment buildings with no more than four stories and a building determination…
A.B. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, New Orleans, LA
Board finds postal carrier's ramp fall occurred at work (ECAB 20-1567)
A.B., a postal carrier, reported slipping on a customer's accessibility ramp while delivering mail. OWCP found the alleged March 30, 2020 incident had not been established. The Board found her account consistent with the surrounding facts, her conduct, and the medical records, despite her…
A.W. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Seattle, WA
Board returns postal carrier's shoulder claim for review of omitted evidence (ECAB 20-1362)
A.W., a postal carrier, claimed that repetitive heavy lifting at work caused right shoulder pain. OWCP denied her occupational disease claim because it found the claimed work factors unclear. The Board found that OWCP had not addressed medical reports and physical therapy notes describing her work…
A.H. and U.S. Postal Service, Processing & Distribution Center, New York, NY
Board upholds denial of postal worker's recurrence claim (ECAB 20-1211)
A.H., a postal distribution clerk, claimed she could no longer perform limited-duty work because conditions from a 1989 workplace injury had worsened. Her physician's forms reported back and leg pain and time away from work. The Board found that the forms did not explain how the accepted conditions…
C.T. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Cleveland, OH
Board orders new impairment review of postal carrier's back injury (ECAB 20-0043)
C.T., a postal carrier, sought a schedule award after an accepted lower back strain and left leg contusion. OWCP's medical adviser found no permanent impairment, and OWCP denied the claim. The Board found that the adviser had not applied the required method for assessing whether the accepted back…
Jerry Ellis Brewster v. Olga Coal Company
Brewster v. Olga Coal Company (BRB 20-0304): Black Lung benefits denial affirmed
Jerry Brewster sought Black Lung benefits on a subsequent claim after seven years of coal mine work. The parties agreed he had clinical pneumoconiosis related to that work, but he still had to establish total respiratory disability to receive benefits. The Board upheld the judge's finding that…
John P. Walker v. Paramount Coal Corporation
Walker v. Paramount Coal Corporation (BRB 20-0293): Benefits award affirmed based on medical opinion
John Walker filed a subsequent Black Lung benefits claim after 23.60 years of underground coal mine work. Although his objective tests did not independently establish total disability, the judge credited a doctor's opinion that Walker was likely unable to perform his coal mine work because of a…
Harold R. Goble v. Pontiki Coal Corporation
Goble v. Pontiki Coal Corporation (BRB 20-0254): Benefits award and November 2016 start date affirmed
Harold Goble filed a subsequent Black Lung benefits claim after twenty years of qualifying coal mine work. The judge found total respiratory disability from two qualifying blood gas studies and medical opinions, then applied the fifteen-year presumption. The Board upheld the finding that the…
Rendell N. Bartlebaugh v. Eighty-Four Mining Company
Bartlebaugh v. Eighty-Four Mining (BRB 20-0225): Benefits award vacated over disability evidence
Rendell Bartlebaugh sought Black Lung benefits after 30.5 years of underground coal mine work. The judge found that he was totally disabled and could invoke the fifteen-year presumption, even though his lung function and blood gas studies did not independently qualify for disability. The Board held…
Sam P. Robinson v. Rum Creek Coal Sales, Incorporated
Robinson v. Rum Creek Coal Sales (BRB 20-0208): Benefits award affirmed under the fifteen-year presumption
Sam Robinson sought Black Lung benefits after at least twenty-six years of qualifying coal mine work. The judge found total respiratory disability and applied the fifteen-year presumption that pneumoconiosis caused it. The Board affirmed the disability finding, including the judge's reliance on…
Rosalie Hodge, Suzanne Quiroz-Greene and Serena Greene, Doris Henderson, and Margaret Ireland v. Dee Engineering Company et al.
Hodge and related cases (BRB 20-0189): counsel disqualification orders vacated
Four families pursuing Longshore Act claims challenged orders that barred their law firm from representing them because of a potential conflict involving related third-party settlements. A later Ninth Circuit decision changed the law on which the administrative law judge had relied. The Board…
Burt v. National Railroad Passenger Corp. (Amtrak)
Retaliation finding affirmed, two remedies reversed
Amtrak electrical technician William Burt reported improperly installed battery chargers to his supervisors and OSHA. Four years later, a foreman referenced Burt's related ethics complaint during a dispute and then canceled the shift's overtime, which the ALJ found was retaliation for the earlier…
A.J. and U.S. Postal Service, Atlanta Performance Cluster, North Metro, GA
Board orders combined review of postal clerk's wrist claims (ECAB 21-0031)
A.J., a postal finance station clerk, claimed that repetitive work caused carpal tunnel syndrome. OWCP denied the claim because it found no medical diagnosis connected to the accepted work factors. The Board noted an earlier claim involving her right wrist and directed OWCP to combine the files…
S.V. and U.S. Postal Service, Arizona Performance Cluster, Phoenix, AZ
Board finds postal custodian's mopping incident occurred at work (ECAB 21-0027)
S.V., a postal custodian, reported lower back pain after mopping rooms during a shift. OWCP denied her claim after questioning whether the reported June 6, 2020 work incident occurred. The Board found her account and the medical histories sufficient to establish the incident despite the…
S.O. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Bowling Green, KY
Board upholds denial of postal carrier's eye injury claim (ECAB 21-0002)
S.O., a postal carrier, reported a left eye hemorrhage while delivering a package. OWCP accepted that the October 2, 2019 work incident occurred but denied the injury claim. The Board found that his ophthalmologist had not adequately explained how the work activity caused the hemorrhage in light of…
M.L. and Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs & Border Protection, Dulles International Airport, Sterling, VA
Board orders combined review of border officer's hand claim (ECAB 20-1176)
M.L., a Customs and Border Protection canine supervisor, reported left hand symptoms that he attributed to computer work and handling and training dogs. OWCP denied the claim, finding the alleged work factors unproven. The Board found that M.L. had an earlier accepted claim involving his left…
C.W. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, River Grove, IL
Board orders review of retraining in postal worker's wage capacity claim (ECAB 20-0645)
C.W., a postal distribution clerk, sought to change an earlier determination of her wage-earning capacity after an accepted back injury. OWCP rejected her request based on its assessment of the original determination and her medical evidence. The Board found that OWCP had not considered whether her…
United States Department of Veterans Affairs and American Federation of Government Employees, National Veterans Affairs Council #53
Department of Veterans Affairs and AFGE National VA Council #53 (FLRA 0-AR-5536): Authority remands pre-hearing-brief dispute
The Department of Veterans Affairs began sending arbitrators short pre-hearing briefs about discipline procedures under 38 U.S.C. § 714. AFGE challenged that practice as both a contract violation and an unlawful unilateral change, and an arbitrator sustained the grievance and ordered the Agency to…
Terry D. Reese, Sr. v. Virginia International Terminals, LLC and CP & O, LLC
Reese v. Virginia International Terminals (BRB 21-0100): settled claims remain closed
Terry Reese settled several injury claims against Virginia International Terminals and CP & O for $140,000, then sought to reopen them nearly a year later. He argued that the settlement was inadequate and had been obtained through fraud or duress. The Board held that the approved settlement had…
Thomas Klett v. SSA Terminals and Homeport Insurance Company
Klett v. SSA Terminals (BRB 21-0067): employer-paid attorney fee reversed
Thomas Klett sought Longshore Act compensation for hearing loss. SSA Terminals paid some compensation within 30 days of notice and later agreed to a higher rate after Klett challenged the wage calculation. The district director ordered the employer to pay part of Klett's attorney fee. The Board…
David Franzen v. Georgia-Pacific, LLC and Old Republic Insurance Company
Franzen v. Georgia-Pacific (BRB 20-0476): injury compensation award affirmed
David Franzen worked as a warehouseman and barge unloader and sustained a lower back injury while driving a forklift in 2017. He also claimed that years of forklift work injured his left shoulder. Georgia-Pacific argued that a 2010 settlement barred the back claim and disputed the connection…
Lisa D. Lewis v. Dixie Labor Services, LLC
Lewis v. Dixie Labor Services (BRB 20-0298): Survivor's benefits award affirmed
Lisa Lewis sought survivor's Black Lung benefits after her husband's death. The judge found thirty-six years of underground coal mine work and total respiratory disability, invoking the presumption that pneumoconiosis caused his death. The employer's doctors attributed his obstructive lung disease…
Edward G. Piper v. Eighty Four Mining Company
Piper v. Eighty Four Mining Company (BRB 20-0278): Benefits award affirmed after remand
Edward Piper's widow pursued his Black Lung benefits claim after his death. The miner had invoked the fifteen-year presumption that his total respiratory disability was due to pneumoconiosis. After an earlier Board remand, the judge again awarded benefits, finding the employer had not rebutted the…
Randy M. Stiltner v. Director, Office of Workers' Compensation Programs
Stiltner v. Director, OWCP (BRB 20-0248): Partial overpayment waiver affirmed
Randy Stiltner received interim Black Lung benefits that were later found to be overpaid. The judge waived recovery of $14,427.40 after Stiltner's underlying benefits claim was denied, but refused to waive $2,267.50 tied to his late reporting of a state workers' compensation settlement and his…
Joann Hurley v. Maranatha Mining & Leasing, Incorporated
Hurley v. Maranatha Mining (BRB 20-0242): Survivor's claim remanded over autopsy evidence
Joann Hurley sought survivor's Black Lung benefits after the death of her husband, who had eighteen years of underground coal mine work. The judge found no total respiratory disability or proof that pneumoconiosis caused his death, and the Board affirmed those findings. But two pathologists…
Jelani A. Garrett v. Dyncorp International, Allied World National Assurance Company, and Insurance Company of the State of Pennsylvania
Garrett v. Dyncorp International (BRB 20-0167): injury rulings partly reversed and remanded
Jelani Garrett challenged rulings on several injuries and medical expenses from his work in Afghanistan. The Board found his calf injury claim timely and awarded compensation for a two percent permanent impairment of his right leg. It also held his eosinophilic esophagitis work related because the…
Charlie G. Meade v. Eastover Mining Company
Meade v. Eastover Mining Company (BRB 20-0153): Benefits case remanded to identify the liable operator
Charlie Meade was awarded Black Lung benefits after work for several coal mine operators. The district director named Eastover Mining as the operator liable for payment, although Meade later worked for Gatt Mining and Bodie Mining. Eastover challenged that designation because the record did not…
J.A. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Somerset, KY
Board upholds denial of postal clerk's foot impairment award (ECAB 20-1676)
J.A., a postal processing clerk, sought a schedule award after accepted fractures in his left foot. An orthopedic examiner and OWCP's medical adviser each rated his resulting left leg impairment at zero percent under the applicable impairment guides. The Board found that both opinions explained…
R.S. and U.S. Postal Service, South Suburban Processing & Distribution Center, Bedford Park, IL
Board orders combined review of postal supervisor's award claim (ECAB 20-1232)
R.S., a postal distribution supervisor, sought an increased schedule award after receiving an award for four percent permanent impairment of her right leg. She also had an earlier accepted back injury claim. The Board found that OWCP had not combined the two files despite an earlier direction to do…
D.G. and Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Secret Service, Communications Center, Washington, DC
Board upholds refusal to reopen Secret Service injury claim (ECAB 20-1203)
D.G., a Secret Service investigator, sought to reopen a claim after a collision in a government vehicle. OWCP had accepted that the work incident occurred but denied the injury claim for lack of a medical diagnosis. The Board found that the additional emergency department report still supplied no…
M.D. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Melville, NY
Board orders explanation of postal clerk's late reconsideration request (ECAB 20-0868)
M.D., a postal clerk, sought reconsideration after her back injury claim was denied. The Board agreed with OWCP that her September 10, 2019 request was untimely. It found, however, that OWCP had not explained whether her submission showed clear evidence of error, the standard for considering a late…
E.M. and Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, Suitland, MD
Board rejects Census worker's recurrence claim after new work activity (ECAB 20-0668)
E.M., a Census Bureau materials handler, sought compensation for renewed back disability after an accepted 2002 injury. He reported pain while handling computer equipment at work in 2018. The Board found that his physicians attributed the later inability to work to a new work event, rather than a…
B.G. and Department of the Navy, Bureau of Medicine & Surgery, Civilian Management Department, Naval Hospital, San Diego, CA
Board upholds recovery of Navy worker's $6,043.46 overpayment (ECAB 20-0541)
B.G., a former Navy secretary, received FECA wage-loss benefits and Social Security retirement benefits based on federal service during the same period. The Board upheld OWCP's finding that she received a $6,043.46 overpayment from March 1, 2016 through May 25, 2019, though she was without fault…
A.E. and Department of the Army, Commissary, Fort Bliss, TX
Board upholds denial of commissary worker's recurrence claim (ECAB 20-0259)
A.E., an Army commissary cashier, claimed that disability beginning January 31, 2016 was caused by an accepted 1991 knee injury. She submitted treatment records and a form saying she was disabled. The Board found that the medical reports did not explain how the accepted injury caused disability…
United States Department of the Army, Moncrief Army Health Clinic, Fort Jackson, South Carolina and National Federation of Federal Employees, Local 1214
Moncrief Army Health Clinic and NFFE Local 1214 (FLRA 0-AR-5667): Authority ends unit-wide overtime grievance
NFFE Local 1214 filed a unit-wide grievance alleging that Moncrief Army Health Clinic misclassified employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act and failed to pay required overtime. An arbitrator found the grievance arbitrable under the contract's union-employer procedure even though any eventual…
R.J. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Newark, NJ
Board upholds denial of postal carrier's fainting injury claim (ECAB 20-1630)
R.J., a postal carrier, reported dizziness, nausea, and fainting while delivering mail on a hot day. OWCP accepted that the June 22, 2020 incident occurred but denied the injury claim. The Board found that the medical reports did not provide a sufficiently explained diagnosis and causal link to the…
J.S. and Department of Defense, Defense Logistics Agency, El Toro, CA
Board upholds denial of consequential heart attack claim (ECAB 20-1484)
J.S., a Defense Logistics Agency employee, sought to connect heart attacks in 2003 and 2007 to accepted work-related anxiety and a temporary aggravation of angina. The Board reviewed medical opinions offered to support that connection. It found that the opinions did not adequately explain how the…
H.T. and U.S. Postal Service, Curseen-Morris Processing & Distribution Center, Washington, DC
Board upholds hearing and reconsideration denials in postal award dispute (ECAB 20-1318)
H.T., a postal mail handler, sought a larger schedule award for leg impairment after an accepted back injury. After OWCP denied an increase, H.T. requested reconsideration and then an oral hearing. The Board held that a prior reconsideration request meant there was no hearing entitlement as of…
W.H. and U.S. Postal Service, Capitol Hill Annex Post Office, Denver, CO
Board orders combined review of postal collector's arm claims (ECAB 20-0986)
W.H., a postal collector, sought compensation for right carpal tunnel syndrome. She also had an accepted right shoulder claim arising from a truck door striking her arm. OWCP denied the carpal tunnel claim for lack of a proven causal link. The Board found that the earlier shoulder claim file was…
United States Department of Veterans Affairs, John J. Pershing VA Medical Center, Poplar Bluff, Missouri and American Federation of Government Employees, Local 2338
John J. Pershing VA Medical Center and AFGE Local 2338 (FLRA 0-AR-5622): Authority vacates probationary-employee reinstatement
A probationary nursing assistant alleged that the VA medical center failed to protect her from race-based harassment, and she was later removed after extensive absence without leave. An arbitrator found that the hostile work environment caused her absences, concluded there was no just cause for…
United States Department of Education and American Federation of Government Employees, Council 252 and Local 3899
Department of Education and AFGE Council 252 (FLRA 0-AR-5453, 0-AR-5466): Authority remands union-office grievances
AFGE filed separate grievances after the Department of Education required the Union to leave agency-provided offices in Chicago, Washington, and San Francisco. Arbitrators placed both matters on hold while an earlier unfair-labor-practice charge over the Agency's imposition of a successor agreement…
Vudhamari v. Advent Global Solutions
Summary dismissal adopted
Naveen Vudhamari brought claims against Advent Global Solutions under the H-1B worker provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act. The Board had earlier remanded because the pro se complainant was not notified that Advent's motion would be treated as a summary-decision motion. On remand, the…
M.F. and Department of Homeland Security, Customs & Border Protection, McAllen, TX
Board orders new review of border agent's foot impairment award (ECAB 20-1434)
M.F., a border patrol agent, sought an additional schedule award after a work-related left foot injury. OWCP compared a new 13 percent leg impairment rating with earlier awards totaling 26 percent and denied another award. The Board held that this comparison alone did not establish whether the new…
J.H. and Department of Labor, Mine Safety & Health Administration, Barbourville, KY
Board orders merits review of mine inspector's hearing loss claim (ECAB 20-1312)
J.H., a mine safety inspector, claimed hearing loss from machinery noise during mine inspections. OWCP declined to reopen the claim after denying it. The Board found that J.H.'s argument about which 2006 audiogram should have served as the baseline was new and relevant to whether his hearing loss…
M.A. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Administration Medical Center, East Orange, NJ
Board upholds denial of VA nursing assistant's back and leg claim (ECAB 20-1201)
M.A., a VA nursing assistant, reported back and right leg symptoms after catching a resident who fell backward. An earlier Board decision had established that the August 21, 2017 work incident occurred. In this appeal, the Board found that the medical reports did not adequately explain how the…
M.W. and U.S. Postal Service, Land O’ Lakes Carrier Annex Post Office, Land O’ Lakes, FL
Board awards postal carrier wage loss for two disputed periods (ECAB 20-0722)
M.W., a postal carrier, sought wage-loss compensation for two gaps in payments after an accepted left shoulder rotator cuff injury. Her treating physician and an OWCP examiner reported that she could not perform the lifting required by her usual job. The Board found the medical evidence sufficient…
V.I. and U.S. Postal Service, Lanier Carrier Annex, Cumming, GA
Board denies wage loss for postal carrier's migraine absences (ECAB 20-0593)
V.I., a postal carrier with an accepted head injury and headache condition, sought wage-loss compensation for absences in July and August 2019. The Board found that her emergency room records documented migraine treatment but did not explain whether the accepted work injury caused disability on the…
P.J. and Department of Commerce, U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, Patent Publications Office, Arlington, VA
Board reverses termination of patent office worker's injury benefits (ECAB 20-0550)
P.J., a Patent and Trademark Office employee, received benefits for accepted conditions including carpal tunnel syndrome and cervical injuries. OWCP terminated those benefits, relying on a medical opinion that she had no remaining work-related condition. The Board found that OWCP had not resolved…
M.T. and U.S. Postal Service, Rancho Park Post Office, Los Angeles, CA
Board orders new medical review of postal carrier's knee surgery request (ECAB 20-0321)
M.T., a postal carrier with accepted left knee conditions, sought authorization for a total left knee replacement. OWCP denied the request after a second-opinion examiner discussed whether surgery would treat nonwork-related osteoarthritis. The Board found that the examiner had not answered whether…
K.S. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Mt. Vernon, NY
Board upholds denial of postal carrier's back injury claim (ECAB 19-1433)
K.S., a postal carrier, was in a vehicle collision while working and sought compensation for a lower back condition. OWCP accepted that the September 26, 2017 collision occurred but denied the injury claim. The Board found that the medical record lacked a sufficiently explained physician's opinion…
Secretary of Labor obo Roger Cook v. Rockwell Mining, LLC
Temporary reinstatement affirmed
Roger Cook, a fire boss at Rockwell Mining's Eagle #3 Mine, reported to MSHA that a pump's ground-monitor protection had been bypassed. Rockwell suspended him the next day and terminated him four days later, while asserting that separate misconduct involving a scoop's defective panic bar caused the…
J.C. and U.S. Postal Service, Planetarium Post Office, New York, NY
Board upholds denial of postal carrier's knee injury claim (ECAB 20-1584)
J.C., a postal carrier, reported right knee symptoms while carrying a bucket at work and later underwent knee surgery. OWCP accepted that the December 10, 2019 incident occurred. The Board found that the medical reports either omitted a causation opinion or used an unexplained checkbox, while…
U.P. and U.S. Postal Service, North Carrier Annex Post Office, Long Beach, CA
Board orders merits review of postal carrier's back claim (ECAB 20-1581)
U.P., a postal carrier, claimed that regular lifting, walking, standing, and stair use caused or aggravated lumbar conditions. OWCP declined to reopen his claim. The Board found that physician reports supplied new, relevant explanations addressing why the work activities might have caused or…
T.C. and Department of Veterans Affairs, VA Salt Lake Healthcare System, Salt Lake City, UT
Board upholds refusal to reopen VA therapist's stress claim (ECAB 20-1536)
T.C., a VA respiratory therapist, sought to reopen a claim for an emotional condition and other symptoms he attributed to work events. The Board found that his reconsideration request raised no qualifying new legal argument or evidence about whether a compensable work factor caused the claimed…
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.