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.C. and U.S. Postal Service, Curseen-Morris Mail Processing & Distribution Center, Washington, DC
Board upholds postal worker's hip claim denial and hearing abandonment (ECAB 20-1510)
A.C., a postal distribution associate, claimed a right hip injury after moving mail containers at work. The Board found that her medical evidence did not establish a diagnosed condition caused by the accepted December 24, 2019 work incident. It also found that she had missed a properly noticed…
Destiny Builders Construction Services, Inc.
Five citation items affirmed by default
OSHA issued Destiny Builders three serious and two other-than-serious citation items after inspecting a Chicago construction site. The company filed a notice of contest and eventually answered the complaint after an initial show-cause order. It then failed to register for electronic filing, respond…
F.B. and U.S. Postal Service, Bush Terminal Post Office, Brooklyn, NY
Board orders review of postal supervisor's workplace contact claim (ECAB 20-0910)
F.B., a postal supervisor, claimed physical and emotional injury after an argument with a coworker who touched her shoulder and arm. OWCP denied the claim and later refused to reopen it, finding her reconsideration request late and insufficient to show clear error. The Board found that the record…
C.G., Sr. and Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency, New Orleans, LA
Board reverses termination of FEMA worker's injury benefits (ECAB 20-0808)
C.G., a FEMA employee, received benefits for accepted right leg abrasion and lumbar sprain after a workplace fall. OWCP terminated those benefits based on an impartial medical examiner's opinion that right knee and lumbar contusions had resolved. The Board found that the examiner had assessed…
T.B. and Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Federal Correctional Institution, Fort Dix, NJ
Board orders new medical review of correctional officer's knee claim (ECAB 20-0182)
T.B., a correctional officer with an accepted back injury, sought to add a left knee condition as a consequence of that injury. He was also involved in a later vehicle collision. OWCP's medical adviser attributed the knee condition to the collision, but the Board found that the adviser had not…
I.G. and U.S. Postal Service, Maplewood Post Office, Maplewood, NJ
Board orders work availability review for postal carrier's recurrence claim (ECAB 20-0034)
I.G., a postal carrier with an accepted ankle injury, claimed a recurrence of disability beginning May 5, 2017. She said work within her restrictions was unavailable, while the Postal Service gave conflicting accounts of whether her modified assignment remained available. The Board found that the…
T.B. and Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Federal Correctional Institution, Fort Dix, NJ
Board upholds end of correctional officer's back injury benefits (ECAB 19-1736)
T.B., a federal correctional officer, sought additional wage-loss compensation after an accepted back injury sustained while restraining an inmate. The Board found he had not proved total disability from June 13 through August 17, 2018. It also found that OWCP had sufficient medical support to end…
United States Department of Veterans Affairs and National Association of Government Employees
Department of Veterans Affairs and NAGE (FLRA 0-AR-5624): Authority permits unit-wide overtime grievance to proceed
NAGE filed one grievance alleging that the Department of Veterans Affairs misclassified bargaining-unit employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act and failed to pay overtime and compensatory time. An arbitrator dismissed the grievance as to Title 38 employees but allowed the remaining unit-wide…
J.R. and U.S. Postal Service, Burlington Processing & Distribution Center, Essex Junction, VT
Board upholds denial of postal clerk's right arm claim (ECAB 20-0903)
J.R., a postal automation clerk, claimed that her work caused a right arm condition. OWCP accepted the identified work factors but denied compensation because the medical evidence did not establish that they caused the condition. The Board found that her physician did not adequately explain the…
B.S. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Benefits Administration, Detroit, MI
Board orders merits review of VA officer's emotional condition claim (ECAB 20-0555)
B.S., a VA human resources officer, sought to reopen a claim for an emotional condition she attributed to work events. OWCP focused on whether medical evidence linked a condition to an already accepted work factor. The Board found that her new argument about her actual job responsibilities and a…
E.R. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Savannah, GA
Board upholds denial of postal clerk's late reconsideration requests (ECAB 19-1553)
E.R., a former postal clerk, sought reconsideration of a long-standing denial involving an occupational disease claim. The Board found his March and June 2019 requests untimely. It also found that his evidence and arguments did not demonstrate clear error in the earlier merits decision, the…
E.A. and Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, Richmond, VA
Board orders medical review of IRS advocate's stress claim (ECAB 19-0582)
E.A., an IRS case advocate, claimed an emotional condition related to her work. The Board found that difficulty fully performing her regular assigned duties was a compensable employment factor. It did not find sufficient evidence to establish her separate harassment allegations. Because OWCP had…
American Federation of Government Employees, Local 3525 (Union) and United States Department of Justice, Executive Office for Immigration Review, Bureau of Immigration Appeals (Agency)
AFGE Local 3525 and the Bureau of Immigration Appeals (FLRA 0-NG-3491): Performance plan proposals dismissed as moot
AFGE Local 3525 proposed delaying the Bureau of Immigration Appeals' new employee performance plans until the next rating period, the end of local stay-at-home orders, or employee training. The Authority dismissed the union's negotiability petition because both parties had agreed during a…
United States Department of Veterans Affairs, John J. Pershing Veterans Administration Medical Center and American Federation of Government Employees, Local 2338
John J. Pershing VA Medical Center and AFGE Local 2338 (FLRA 0-AR-5541): Authority denies reconsideration of late arbitration ruling
AFGE filed a grievance that the VA medical center granted in a written response, then invoked arbitration more than a year later over alleged noncompliance with that resolution. An arbitrator treated the dispute as a continuing violation and found that the Agency had waived its timeliness…
National Treasury Employees Union and United States Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service
NTEU and IRS (FLRA 0-AR-5510): Authority upholds telework performance-data change
The IRS changed how it could use phone-system data to evaluate customer-service representatives participating in a telework pilot. NTEU argued that an earlier agreement barred numerical use of the reports and that the Agency implemented the change without completing bargaining. An arbitrator found…
K.M. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Ithaca, NY
Board upholds denial of postal worker's toe fracture claim (ECAB 21-0016)
K.M., a postal support employee, said a heavy package fell onto her right foot at work on June 20, 2020. OWCP denied her injury claim. The Board found that an x-ray established a toe fracture but did not explain whether the work incident caused it. Reports from a nurse practitioner and a physician…
J.A. and Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, Miami, FL
Board upholds refusal to reopen FAA worker's injury claim (ECAB 20-1595)
J.A., an FAA airway transportation systems specialist, sought reconsideration of a denied injury claim arising from a work vehicle incident. OWCP found that his request was late and did not show clear evidence of error. The Board found that the request arrived more than one year after OWCP's merits…
J.M. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Jamaica Plain, MA
Board upholds suspension of postal carrier's compensation (ECAB 20-1310)
J.M., a postal letter carrier with an accepted knee injury, received wage-loss compensation. OWCP suspended those benefits after he did not fully complete a requested EN1032 disclosure form. It also suspended the extra compensation rate for a dependent because he had not supplied information…
J.B. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Houston, TX
Board upholds refusal to reconsider postal supervisor's knee claim (ECAB 20-0630)
J.B., a retired postal supervisor, sought reconsideration of the denial of her knee condition claim. OWCP found her request late and found no clear evidence of error in the prior decision. The Board agreed that the request was filed beyond the one-year deadline. It found that the submitted records…
D.H. and U.S. Postal Service, Beverly Post Office, Beverly, MA
Board upholds refusal to reopen postal worker's disability claim (ECAB 20-0420)
D.H., a former postal machine operator with accepted work conditions, sought reconsideration of a denied disability claim. OWCP refused to reopen the claim. The Board found that his request did not identify a relevant legal error or present a new legal argument. It also found that the submitted…
S.J. and U.S. Postal Service, Huntley Post Office, Huntley, IL
Board upholds denial of rural carrier's wage loss claim (ECAB 20-0310)
S.J., a rural carrier with an accepted right knee injury, sought wage-loss compensation for November 3 and December 8 through 11, 2018. OWCP denied payment for those dates. The Board found that the medical reports did not address whether the accepted injury kept her from working during the claimed…
S.S. and U.S. Postal Service, Auburn Post Office, Auburn, AL
Board orders more fact finding on postmaster's overwork claim (ECAB 19-1021)
S.S., a postmaster, claimed that understaffing, excessive hours, and unattainable work goals caused an emotional condition. OWCP denied his claim. The Board found that the Postal Service had not fully responded to his allegations of overwork, including his claimed hours and staffing levels. OWCP…
Diamond 3S, LLC
In re Diamond 3S, LLC (EAB CWA Appeal No. 21-(01)): Board declines review and initial decision becomes final
Diamond 3S, LLC was the respondent in an EPA Clean Water Act penalty proceeding. On March 12, 2021, the Presiding Officer issued an Initial Decision and Default Order. Neither party appealed that decision. The Environmental Appeals Board declined to review the case on its own initiative under 40…
Alfred L. Brewer v. Clinchfield Coal Company
Brewer v. Clinchfield Coal Company (BRB 20-0291): Black Lung benefits award affirmed
Alfred Brewer sought Black Lung benefits after at least fifteen years of underground coal mine work. The judge found total respiratory disability and applied the fifteen-year presumption that the disability was due to pneumoconiosis. The employer relied on a doctor's opinion attributing Brewer's…
Administrator, Wage and Hour Division, USDOL v. Spate Business Solutions, LLC
H-1B enforcement order affirmed
The Wage and Hour Division found that Spate committed several H-1B program violations involving required wages, labor condition application information, notices, records, and cooperation with the investigation. The ALJ presumed that the Detroit District Director had authority to issue the…
Administrator, Wage and Hour Division, USDOL v. Broadgate, Inc.
Notice remedies remanded
The Wage and Hour Division found that Broadgate willfully failed to post notices for H-1B labor condition applications and imposed civil penalties and debarment. An ALJ found that the violations occurred but reversed the agency determination because the record did not prove that the Detroit…
D.E. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Palmdale, CA
Board dismisses postal worker's late appeal (ECAB 21-0043)
D.E. appealed a March 27, 2020 OWCP decision on October 2, 2020. The Board calculated the 180-day appeal deadline as September 23, 2020. It found the appeal late and found no documented compelling circumstances explaining the delay. The Board dismissed the appeal for lack of jurisdiction and did…
J.B. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Floral Park, NY
Board upholds denial of letter carrier's left knee claim (ECAB 21-0011)
J.B., a postal letter carrier, said his left knee gave out while he was walking his route on July 2, 2018. OWCP accepted that the incident occurred but denied his injury claim. His orthopedic surgeon diagnosed a sprain, arthritis, and a meniscal tear and linked the conditions to the incident. The…
C.B. and U.S. Postal Service, Processing & Distribution Center, St. Louis, MO
Board upholds knee impairment award and denial of late record review (ECAB 20-1678)
C.B., a postal mail processing clerk, injured both knees in a fall and later underwent left knee replacement surgery. OWCP awarded compensation for 21 percent permanent impairment of her left leg. The Board found that the second-opinion examination and district medical adviser used the applicable…
M.M. and U.S. Postal Service, Cambridge-Central Square Main Post Office, Cambridge, MA
Board returns postal worker's knee claim for a new impartial medical opinion (ECAB 20-1524)
M.M., a postal clerk, claimed that years of standing, lifting, and turning at work worsened arthritis in both knees; he had also injured them in an earlier nonwork accident. His doctor attributed part of the worsening to his work, while an OWCP physician disagreed. OWCP used an impartial…
P.N. and Department of the Army, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Fort Worth, TX
Board upholds $54,446.67 FECA overpayment and recovery plan (ECAB 20-1159)
P.N., a former Army Corps of Engineers chemist, received FECA wage loss compensation while also receiving Social Security retirement benefits attributable in part to her federal service. OWCP found that it had failed to offset those benefits from February 2016 through February 2020, creating a…
R.W. and Department of the Navy, Military Sealift Command, Norfolk, VA
Board upholds denial of Navy electrician's back injury claim (ECAB 20-0843)
R.W., a chief electrician, said she hit her lower back on a ledge while climbing out of a ship's bilge well on June 26, 2019. OWCP accepted that the incident happened but denied the injury claim. The Board found that later physicians' records described back pain and degenerative disease without…
K.M. and Department of Justice, U.S. Marshals Service, District of Columbia Superior Court, Washington, DC
Board upholds refusal to reopen deputy marshal's disability claim (ECAB 19-1784)
K.M., a deputy U.S. Marshal, sought wage loss compensation for much of 2014 after an accepted aggravation of a lower back condition. OWCP denied the disability claim, and he later asked it to reconsider. The Board found that his November 2018 request raised no new legal argument and that his…
G.B. and Department of the Army, Defense Commissary Agency, Fort Sill, OK
Board upholds refusal to reopen Army worker's recurrence claim (ECAB 19-1545)
G.B., a former Army commissary worker, had an accepted 1978 injury to his head and left shoulder and later sought compensation for a recurrence of disability. After OWCP denied that claim, he repeatedly sought reconsideration. His May 2019 request argued that earlier requests had been timely, while…
United States Department of Health and Human Services, Food & Drug Administration, San Antonio, Texas and National Treasury Employees Union, Chapter 254
FDA San Antonio and NTEU Chapter 254 (FLRA 0-AR-5608): Authority upholds recurring telework agreement
An FDA employee who spent substantial time in the field requested a recurring telework agreement after years of satisfactory telework. The Agency denied that request and maintained that an episodic agreement was the better fit. An arbitrator found that the employee's regular opportunity to work…
Secretary of Labor v. Consol Pennsylvania Coal Company, LLC
Three serious-hazard findings affirmed
Consol Pennsylvania Coal did not dispute three violations at the Harvey Mine but challenged whether they were significant and substantial. One violation involved missing reflectorized signs required to warn miners about unsupported roof, and two involved badly damaged hoisting cables left available…
Edin Catal v. Fluor Conops, Limited and Starr Indemnity and Liability Company
Catal v. Fluor Conops (BRB 21-0318): discovery appeal dismissed for settlement review
Fluor Conops and its carrier appealed an administrative law judge's order compelling discovery in Edin Catal's case. They then asked to dismiss the appeal after the parties reached a settlement. The Board granted the request without prejudice and sent the settlement agreement to the district…
Christy Meeks v. Bis Salamis, Inc. and Signal Mutual Indemnity Association, Ltd.
Meeks v. Bis Salamis (BRB 21-0269): fee appeal dismissed for settlement review
Christy Meeks appealed a district director's attorney fee award. She then asked to dismiss the appeal because she and the employer had agreed to settle the fee dispute. The Board granted the request without prejudice and directed the district director to address the agreement. If the agreement is…
Wanda L. Oliver v. Ceres Marine Terminals, Incorporated
Oliver v. Ceres Marine Terminals (BRB 20-0453): shoulder injury benefits affirmed
Wanda Oliver injured her left shoulder while driving a shuttle truck for Ceres Marine Terminals. The administrative law judge awarded temporary total disability and medical benefits after weighing conflicting medical opinions. The Board upheld the finding that her shoulder conditions were work…
Kenneth R. Thompson v. Laurel Run Reclamation Company
Thompson v. Laurel Run Reclamation (BRB 20-0252): Black Lung denial remanded over work history and medical opinion
Kenneth Thompson sought Black Lung benefits after underground coal mine work. The judge credited him with 14.17 years of work, short of the fifteen years needed for a presumption, and denied benefits. The Board found the work history calculation unexplained and internally inconsistent: the years…
Garnette R. Woods v. Clinchfield Coal Company
Woods v. Clinchfield Coal Company (BRB 20-0236): Survivor's benefits denial remanded
Garnette Woods sought survivor's Black Lung benefits after her husband, Scott Woods, died. The judge found more than fifteen years of underground coal mine work and total respiratory disability, which invoked the presumption that pneumoconiosis caused his death. The Board left that finding in place…
Donald R. Baker v. Virginia Crews Coal Company
Baker v. Virginia Crews Coal Company (BRB 20-0233): Benefits award vacated for a new rebuttal analysis
Donald Baker filed a subsequent Black Lung benefits claim after thirty years of coal mine work. The Board left in place the judge's findings that he had at least fifteen qualifying years, was totally disabled, and invoked the fifteen-year presumption. It vacated the benefits award because the judge…
Gary Owsley v. Enterprise Mining Company, LLC
Owsley v. Enterprise Mining (BRB 20-0206): Black Lung benefits denial affirmed
Gary Owsley sought Black Lung benefits after at least fifteen years of qualifying coal mine work. The judge found that the evidence did not establish complicated pneumoconiosis or a totally disabling respiratory impairment, and the Board affirmed. It upheld the judge's weighing of conflicting X-ray…
Thomas Benchley v. Service Employees International, Incorporated and Insurance Company of the State of Pennsylvania
Benchley v. Service Employees International (BRB 20-0188): pulmonary benefits denial affirmed
Thomas Benchley said his pulmonary conditions resulted from dust, fumes, and burn pit smoke he encountered while driving trucks in Iraq. An administrative law judge applied the statutory presumption connecting an injury to work but found the employer's medical evidence rebutted it. The Board upheld…
Brent Francis Little v. Eagle Coal Company
Little v. Eagle Coal (BRB 20-0152): Black Lung benefits and start date affirmed
Brent Little received Black Lung benefits after a judge accepted Eagle Coal's stipulation to thirty-seven years of qualifying mine work and found a totally disabling respiratory impairment. Eagle Coal challenged the disability finding and the January 2017 start date. The Board upheld the judge's…
Odias Jude, Jr. v. Coal Mac, Incorporated
Jude v. Coal Mac (BRB 20-0114): Black Lung benefits award affirmed
Odias Jude, Jr. spent thirty-five years at surface coal mines in conditions the judge found comparable to underground mining. The judge found him totally disabled by a respiratory impairment and awarded Black Lung benefits under the fifteen-year presumption. Coal Mac challenged the disability…
Gary K. Flanner v. Consol of Kentucky, Incorporated
Flanner v. Consol of Kentucky (BRB 20-0099): Black Lung benefits award affirmed
Gary Flanner received Black Lung benefits after a judge found at least twenty-one years of underground coal mine work and a totally disabling respiratory impairment. Consol of Kentucky disputed the validity of pulmonary function tests that supported disability. The Board upheld two qualifying tests…
Bobby C. Knight v. Heritage Coal Company, LLC
Knight v. Heritage Coal (BRB 19-0435): reconsideration denied
Heritage Coal and Peabody Energy asked the Benefits Review Board to reconsider its December 15, 2020 decision in Bobby Knight's Black Lung case. The motion was timely. No member of the Board panel voted to grant reconsideration, so the Board denied the motion. This order does not revisit the merits…
R.J. and Department of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration, Federal Air Marshal Service, East Elmhurst, NY
Board sends air marshal's back claim for further medical review (ECAB 20-1571)
R.J., a federal air marshal, reported back pain during a required fitness test in April 2019 and later received diagnoses including a herniated lumbar disc and radiculopathy. OWCP denied his injury claim. His orthopedic surgeon explained how force during the exercise could have torn the disc and…
P.S. and U.S. Postal Service, Ruleville Post Office, Ruleville, MS
Board upholds 10 percent right arm impairment award (ECAB 20-1541)
P.S., a rural postal carrier, injured his right shoulder while placing mail in a mailbox and later had shoulder surgery. OWCP awarded compensation for 10 percent permanent impairment of his right arm. His surgeon proposed a 25 percent rating, but the Board found that the report did not document how…
V.G. and Department of the Air Force, Hill Air Force Base, UT
Board returns Air Force worker's impairment award for full evidence review (ECAB 20-1526)
V.G., an Air Force management assistant, fell at work and injured her left wrist and both knees. OWCP awarded compensation for six percent permanent impairment of her left arm. At a later hearing, she also sought consideration of left leg impairment. The Board found that OWCP's hearing decision did…
G.C. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, New Haven, CT
Board upholds $87,813.63 FECA overpayment and recovery plan (ECAB 20-1408)
G.C., a retired postal letter carrier, received FECA wage loss compensation and Social Security retirement benefits based partly on federal service during the same period. OWCP found that the missing offset produced an $87,813.63 overpayment from January 2015 through December 2019. The Board upheld…
O.M. and U.S. Postal Service, Camden Post Office, Camden, SC
Board upholds equipment denial but returns mattress request to OWCP (ECAB 20-0640)
O.M., a retired postal carrier with an accepted back condition, asked OWCP to pay for a smart bed, a power lift chair, and replacement mattresses for a bed it had previously funded. The Board upheld denial of the new bed and chair because his doctor's reports did not adequately explain their…
A.D. and Department of Justice, Immigration & Naturalization, Rio Grande City, TX
Board returns former border agent's leg impairment claim for a new examination (ECAB 20-0553)
A.D., a former border patrol agent, sought a higher schedule award for leg impairments after an accepted spinal injury from a fall. He had received awards for two percent impairment of each leg. The Board found that the impartial examiner's opinion relied on other supposed injuries that were not…
H.C. and Department of the Treasury, Bureau of Engraving & Printing, Washington, DC
Board upholds denial of officer's cervical disability recurrence claim (ECAB 20-0344)
H.C., a police officer at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, had an accepted cervical disc injury from a 1998 training exercise. He later stopped work in October 2015 and claimed a recurrence of disability from that injury. The Board found that his medical reports did not adequately explain the…
F.F. and U.S. Postal Service, Processing & Distribution Center, Los Angeles, CA
Board upholds $82,137.37 FECA overpayment and recovery plan (ECAB 19-1198)
F.F., a postal mail processing clerk, received FECA wage loss compensation while also receiving Social Security retirement benefits attributable partly to federal service. OWCP found that the missing offset created an $82,137.37 overpayment from January 2012 through June 2018. The Board upheld that…
Secretary of Labor v. The Creator's Stone
Small stone quarry held subject to Mine Act
The Creator's Stone removed layered stone from a small Arkansas site, broke and sorted pieces, stacked them on pallets, and sold the stone. The owner argued that the operation was a borrow pit rather than a mine and therefore did not need to notify MSHA or provide new-miner training. Judge William…
R.R. and U.S. Postal Service, Patterson Processing & Distribution Center, Kentwood, MI
Board returns postal worker's disability recurrence claim for medical review (ECAB 20-1338)
R.R., a postal distribution worker, had an accepted right arm condition and worked in a limited-duty position for years. She stopped work in February 2018 and claimed a recurrence of disability through May. OWCP denied the claim. The Board found that her treating doctor's reports did not prove the…
L.R. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Deltona Pines, FL
Board reverses $11,390.25 FECA overpayment finding (ECAB 20-0340)
L.R., a postal letter carrier with accepted shoulder injuries in separate claims, received partial wage loss compensation while working a reduced schedule. OWCP found an $11,390.25 overpayment in one claim. The Board found that OWCP had not combined or adequately reconciled the other shoulder…
R.P. and Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Chicago, IL
Board reverses finding that Labor Department worker abandoned hearing (ECAB 20-0207)
R.P., a Bureau of Labor Statistics worker, requested a hearing after OWCP denied his injury claim. He told OWCP before the hearing was scheduled that military duty and family leave would make him unavailable during the summer and asked for a date after September 15, 2019. OWCP scheduled a June…
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.