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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Secretary of Labor v. Wyo-Ben, Inc.
Missing delivered assessment reopened
Wyo-Ben timely contested a citation but could not locate the later penalty assessment, which postal records showed had been retrieved from its address. When the expected assessment still had not surfaced, the vice president proactively checked MSHA's database and discovered that it had become…
Kathy Searls on behalf of Paul R. Searls v. Addington, Incorporated
Searls v. Addington (BRB 25-0043 BLA): black lung benefits denial affirmed
Kathy Searls pursued her late husband Paul Searls's black lung benefits claim. A labor judge found that the evidence did not establish a totally disabling respiratory or pulmonary impairment, so the claim did not qualify for the 15-year presumption and benefits were denied. On appeal, Searls…
D.G. and Department of Veterans Affairs, VA Boston Healthcare System, West Roxbury VA Medical Center
Board orders review of omitted VA disability reports (ECAB 25-0845)
A VA employee sought intermittent wage-loss compensation after an accepted injury. OWCP had received reports describing her restrictions and part-time work capacity but did not address them in its decision. The Board ordered OWCP to consider the reports and decide the disability claim again. A…
J.W. and U.S. Postal Service, Rochester Processing and Distribution Center
Board orders another impartial leg impairment opinion (ECAB 25-0803)
A postal worker sought a schedule award above three percent impairment of his left leg. OWCP obtained an impartial examiner to resolve conflicting ratings, but that examiner's opinion did not match the statement of accepted knee conditions. The Board found the conflict still unresolved and ordered…
D.V. and Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Border Patrol
Board upholds denial of hearing-loss schedule award (ECAB 25-0690)
A Border Patrol employee had work-related hearing loss and tinnitus, but OWCP's medical adviser rated zero percent monaural hearing loss in each ear under the applicable guides. The Board found no ratable hearing impairment warranting a schedule award and affirmed the denial. The decision leaves…
Wego Chemical Group, LP
In re Wego Chemical Group, LP (EAB CAA Appeal No. 25-13C): HFC reporting settlement approved
Wego Chemical Group, LP imports hydrofluorocarbons. EPA alleged that Wego failed to submit advance notification reports on time for the shipments listed in the settlement attachment. The agreement identifies five late advance reports and five failures to provide advance reporting, and sets a…
Shirley Batts v. Bay Area Controls, Incorporated
Batts v. Bay Area Controls (BRB 24-0139): counsel disqualification reversed and case remanded
Shirley Batts received Longshore Act death benefits after her husband's work-related asbestos exposure. A labor judge later disqualified her law firm because it had also represented her stepdaughter in separate claims arising from the same death. The Board accepted an interlocutory appeal and held…
J.P. and U.S. Postal Service, Hibiscus Carrier Annex Post Office
Board upholds foot claim denial and refusal to reopen (ECAB 25-0889)
A postal worker claimed a left foot condition from accepted work factors. The Board found the medical evidence insufficient to establish a causal link. His reconsideration submission contained physician assistant notes but no qualifying new medical opinion or legal ground for reopening. The Board…
E.J. and U.S. Postal Service, Saint Louis Post Office
Board upholds denial of added hip condition (ECAB 25-0863)
A postal worker sought to add a right hip labral tear to a claim accepted for a 2019 vehicle accident. Her physician described a possible injury mechanism, but did not explain the six-year gap before hip complaints were documented or address later nonwork accidents. The Board found the causal…
P.M. and U.S. Postal Service, San Bernardino Processing and Distribution Center
Board upholds refusal to reopen exposure claim (ECAB 25-0801)
A postal worker sought reconsideration of a denied claim involving alleged workplace COVID-19 exposure. She submitted a report about a shoulder condition, which did not address the exposure question, and offered no new legal ground for review. The Board upheld OWCP's refusal to reopen the claim's…
Robert Thomas v. CalPortland Company
Discrimination case remanded for damages
Miner Robert Thomas alleged that CalPortland suspended and terminated him because of protected safety activity. After multiple Commission and Ninth Circuit decisions, the court held that the Commission had misapplied substantial-evidence review and that the ALJ's findings established Thomas's…
Mobil Oil Mariana Islands, Inc., Mobil Saipan Terminal
In re Mobil Oil Mariana Islands, Inc., Mobil Saipan Terminal (EAB NPDES Appeal No. 25-03): petition dismissed as moot
Mobil Oil Mariana Islands, Inc. filed a petition for review concerning NPDES Permit No. MP0020397 for its Saipan Terminal. EPA Region 9 asked the Environmental Appeals Board to dismiss the petition as moot and represented that it had withdrawn the contested permit provisions under 40 C.F.R. §…
K.C. and U.S. Postal Service, Maywood Post Office
Board upholds duplicate-payment overpayment and waiver denial (ECAB 24-0459)
A postal worker received $18,748.26 in duplicate compensation payments because of a computer error. The Board agreed that he was without fault but upheld the overpayment. He did not provide supporting financial documents for his waiver request, so the Board also upheld denial of waiver.
L.L. and U.S. Postal Service, Marion Post Office
Board upholds denial of postal employee’s stress claim (ECAB 24-0256)
A postal employee attributed an emotional condition mainly to management and personnel actions. The Board found no sufficient evidence that the employer committed error or abuse in those actions and no established compensable employment factor. It affirmed the denial without reaching medical…
F.S. and Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Coleman Federal Correctional Complex
Board dismisses new appeal and late reconsideration petition (ECAB 25-0912)
A federal prison employee appealed a purported May 2025 OWCP decision, but the record contained no reviewable OWCP decision within the 180-day period. The May decision she identified was a Board order in a different docket. Her September filing also came too late to reconsider that Board order. The…
K.S. and U.S. Postal Service, Culloden Post Office
Board reverses reduction of postal carrier’s wage loss benefits (ECAB 25-0855)
A postal rural carrier received wage loss compensation for an accepted right foot injury. She declined a modified assignment, and OWCP reduced her compensation under the rule for temporary light duty. The Board found that the written job offer did not say whether the assignment was temporary or…
S.S. and Department of the Air Force, Wright Patterson Air Force Base
Board finds workplace volleyball injury within employment and remands claim (ECAB 25-0782)
An Air Force employee was injured during an after-hours intramural volleyball game on the base. OWCP denied her claim because it did not consider the activity part of her employment. The Board found that the employer received a substantial direct benefit from the league: a supervisor described…
W.C. and U.S. Postal Service, San Francisco Processing & Distribution Center Finance Post Office
Board upholds denial of postal worker’s stress claim (ECAB 25-0623)
A postal worker attributed a stress condition to overwork, management decisions, and harassment. The Board found that he had not substantiated his claimed excessive workload; his former manager disputed the account. It also found no evidence of error or abuse in the personnel actions and no…
Matter of M-C-C-
Fraud waiver denied and removal ordered
The respondent, a Bosnian national who entered the United States as a derivative refugee and later became a lawful permanent resident, did not disclose his service in the Bosnian Serb military during the Bosnian War on refugee and adjustment applications. The Board held that the omission was…
E.H. and Department of Defense, Defense Logistics Agency
Board reverses denial of residential elevator for injured employee (ECAB 25-0858)
An employee with accepted work-related orthopedic conditions sought an elevator to access the levels of his home that he could no longer reach by stairs. OWCP authorized other home modifications but denied the elevator. Treating physicians explained why the steep, narrow stairways made stairlifts…
J.J. and U.S. Postal Service, Southern Florida Processing & Distribution Center
Board upholds recovery of postal worker’s $33,509.77 overpayment (ECAB 25-0778)
A postal employee received FECA wage loss compensation and Social Security retirement benefits without the required offset, creating a $33,509.77 overpayment. The Board agreed that she was without fault, but that did not itself waive recovery. She had not supplied the requested financial…
J.Z. and General Services Administration, Public Building Service
Board upholds GSA worker’s overpayment recovery (ECAB 25-0885)
A GSA employee received FECA wage loss compensation and Social Security retirement benefits without the required offset. OWCP calculated an overpayment of $12,951.23, and the Board's main analysis affirmed that calculation. The Board found the employee without fault but upheld denial of a waiver…
R.E. and U.S. Postal Service, Cincinnati Post Office
Board upholds denial of postal worker’s wage loss claim (ECAB 25-0882)
A postal employee sought compensation for work disability beginning October 29, 2024, after accepted employment injuries. A later physician note said he could work without restrictions and did not address whether the accepted conditions disabled him during the claimed period. Two other medical…
R.K. and Department of the Army, U.S. Rock Island Arsenal Joint Manufacturing & Technology Center
Board denies hearing loss award and upholds refusal to reopen claim (ECAB 25-0873)
An Army arsenal employee had an accepted work-related hearing loss and tinnitus claim but sought a schedule award for permanent impairment. The Board agreed with OWCP's medical adviser that the measured loss did not reach a ratable level under the applicable impairment guide; tinnitus could not be…
B.D. and U.S. Postal Service, Champlain Post Office
Board upholds denial of postal worker’s back condition claim (ECAB 25-0852)
A postal employee sought compensation for back and neck conditions after an accepted August 2023 work incident. The Board found that the physicians who linked her conditions to the incident had not explained the medical basis for that link, and one used tentative language. Other reports described…
L.A. and Department of Justice, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
Board declines to add knee conditions to accepted injury claim (ECAB 25-0804)
An ATF employee sought to add left knee arthritis, a meniscal tear, and effusion to an accepted work injury claim. His physicians identified additional knee conditions, but they did not explain how the accepted incident caused or aggravated them. The Board found that imaging alone did not establish…
A.P. and U.S. Postal Service, Hartford Post Office
Board upholds denial of postal worker’s hand condition claim (ECAB 25-0866)
A Hartford postal employee claimed a hand condition from accepted factors of her federal work. A physician diagnosed thumb joint arthritis and right-hand numbness but did not give an opinion linking either condition to those work factors. Hand X-rays also did not address causation. The Board…
T.G. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration
Board upholds refusal to reopen VA employee’s disease claim (ECAB 25-0859)
A VA employee timely asked OWCP to reconsider an occupational disease denial. Her request did not identify a legal error, advance a new relevant legal argument, or provide evidence addressing the disputed work exposure. The Board upheld OWCP's refusal to reopen the claim for a new merits review. It…
R.L. and Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Border Patrol
Board keeps hearing award percentage but orders review of pay rate (ECAB 25-0834)
A Border Patrol employee sought a larger schedule award for hearing loss and tinnitus. The Board accepted the physicians' calculation of 3.6 percent binaural impairment, rounded to the four percent already awarded. It nevertheless found that his reconsideration request raised a new, relevant…
C.Z. and Department of Homeland Security, Federal Aviation Marshal Service
Board upholds $23,057.58 overpayment after return to work (ECAB 25-0798)
A federal air marshal returned to full-time private-sector work but continued to receive FECA payments for total disability. The Board upheld a $23,057.58 overpayment for July through November 2024. It found him without fault for the first period but upheld denial of a waiver because he did not…
S.B. and U.S. Postal Service, Industrial West Sacramento Post Office
Board orders postal injury files combined before new decision (ECAB 25-0797)
A postal mail handler appealed denial of a claim arising from a workplace incident involving a mail cage. She had several earlier claims involving some of the same body areas, but OWCP had not combined their files. The Board held that the overlapping records needed to be considered together for a…
K.M. and Department of the Navy, Naval District Washington Fire and Emergency Medical Services
Board orders fuller medical review of firefighter’s cardiac claim (ECAB 25-0769)
A Navy firefighter claimed that accepted June 2024 work factors contributed to a cardiac condition. OWCP's second-opinion physician identified other risk factors but did not address whether the accepted work factors contributed to the condition. The Board held that the opinion did not resolve the…
D.H. and U.S. Postal Service, Gulfport Post Office
Board upholds recovery of postal worker’s $41,634.09 overpayment (ECAB 25-0867)
A postal employee received FECA wage loss compensation and Social Security retirement benefits without the required offset, resulting in a $41,634.09 overpayment. The Board found her without fault but upheld recovery because her reported assets exceeded the resource limit for a waiver and she did…
M.N. and U.S. Postal Service, New York Post Office
Board reverses termination of postal worker’s wage loss benefits (ECAB 25-0818)
A postal employee declined a modified position, and OWCP terminated her wage loss benefits under the rule for refusing temporary limited duty. The employer's job-offer worksheet, however, identified the position as permanent rather than temporary. The Board held that OWCP had not established the…
M.S. and Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Federal Correctional Institution Fort Dix
Board returns prison worker’s disability claim for medical development (ECAB 25-0770)
A federal prison employee sought wage loss compensation for disability following an accepted employment injury. OWCP arranged a second-opinion examination but denied the claim before obtaining the physician's report. The Board held that OWCP had to complete the medical development it started. It…
S.P. and U.S. Postal Service, Oakland Processing & Distribution Center
Board orders impartial examination for postal worker’s shoulder claim (ECAB 25-0669)
A postal worker sought to add a left shoulder condition as a consequence of accepted right shoulder injuries. Her physician attributed the left shoulder problems to compensating for limited right shoulder use, while an OWCP referral physician attributed them to aging. The Board found an unresolved…
Stanley Campbell v. Ceres Marine Terminals, Incorporated
Campbell v. Ceres Marine Terminals (BRB 24-0149): hearing loss benefits denial affirmed
Stanley Campbell sought Longshore Act benefits for hearing loss he attributed to noise at the Port of Savannah. A labor judge found that Campbell invoked the work injury presumption, but that the employer's audiology evidence rebutted it. The judge then gave the greatest weight to an audiogram…
C.O. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Lyons VA Medical Center
Board accepts VA worker’s stairway incident and returns injury claim (ECAB 25-0883)
A VA employee reported twisting her ankle while descending stairs at work. Her account was consistent with the employer's report and with the injury history recorded by treating clinicians. The Board held that the workplace incident was established and reversed OWCP's contrary decision. It sent the…
C.H. and Department of Veterans Affairs, VA Hudson Valley Health Care System
Board upholds denial of claimed recurrence from older elbow injury (ECAB 25-0848)
A VA employee sought benefits for a claimed 2022 recurrence of disability from an accepted 2002 right elbow injury. Her physician linked later elbow symptoms and work restrictions to the old claim, but did not explain how the accepted fracture caused disability nearly 20 years later. The Board…
R.S. and Department of the Navy, Facilities Maintenance Division, Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton
Board orders clearer impairment rating for Navy worker’s hand conditions (ECAB 25-0843)
A Navy facilities employee sought a larger schedule award than the five percent impairment previously assigned to each arm. The Board found that neither his physician nor OWCP's first referral physician used the required impairment guide correctly, so their reports did not create a true medical…
M.B. and U.S. Postal Service, Cleveland Post Office
Board upholds denial of late written-record review request (ECAB 25-0828)
A Cleveland postal employee asked OWCP to review the written record more than 30 days after its January 2025 merits decision. The Board held that the request was too late to qualify for review as a matter of right. It also found no abuse of discretion in OWCP's decision not to grant a late review…
Steven Gannon v. Preparation Maintenance, Incorporated
Gannon v. Preparation Maintenance (BRB 25-0102 BLA): black lung benefits award affirmed
Steven Gannon sought black lung benefits after more than 21 years of underground coal mine work. On remand, a labor judge found that a totally disabling respiratory impairment qualified Gannon for the 15-year presumption and that the employer had not rebutted it. The Board upheld the judge's…
R.B. and Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Authority, Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center
Board upholds denial of late reconsideration request (ECAB 25-0849)
A federal aviation employee asked OWCP in June 2025 to reconsider a September 2023 decision refusing to add cervical conditions to his claim. The request came after the one-year filing period, so the stricter clear-evidence-of-error standard applied. The new medical reports supported a different…
J.A. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Franklin Delano Roosevelt Hospital
Board upholds denial of VA parking lot injury claim (ECAB 25-0820)
A VA employee slipped on ice in the employer's parking lot while going to preheat her car near the end of her shift. The Board accepted that she was on duty and on the premises but found that the trip to her car served a personal purpose unrelated to her job. It distinguished that activity from…
T.E. and U.S. Postal Service, Saint Paul Post Office
Board keeps lung impairment rating but orders award weeks recalculated (ECAB 25-0785)
A postal employee challenged a schedule award for permanent lung impairment. The Board agreed with the 35 percent impairment rating but found that OWCP had calculated 54.6 weeks of compensation using the schedule for one lung. The award concerned both lungs, so the Board directed OWCP to apply the…
B.S. and Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Medical Center Devens
Board upholds denial of prison worker’s lower limb condition claim (ECAB 25-0757)
A federal prison employee sought to link conditions in both lower limbs to accepted work factors. The Board credited an OWCP second-opinion physician who reviewed the work history, examination, and imaging and explained why the claimed osteoarthritis was not established as work related. It found…
Marks v. Conopco, Inc.
Immediate appeal of ALJ recusal denial rejected
Russell Marks sought immediate review of an ALJ’s refusal to recuse herself from his Taxpayer First Act case against Conopco, doing business as Unilever. He alleged bias based on the judge’s involvement in a previous case he had filed. The Board denied the interlocutory appeal after he failed to…
B.S. and U.S. Postal Service, South Saint Paul Post Office
Board accepts postal key-turning work factors and remands arm claim (ECAB 25-0842)
A postal carrier attributed a right arm condition to repeated sorting and to turning an arrow key to open apartment mailboxes. OWCP rejected the claim after finding his account of those duties unproven. The Board found that the employer's own response confirmed key use and did not seriously refute…
J.C. and U.S. Postal Service, Baltimore Post Office
Board upholds existing lower limb impairment awards (ECAB 25-0827)
A Baltimore postal employee sought more compensation than the previously awarded 12 percent right-leg and 61 percent left-leg impairment ratings. The Board found that the current medical ratings followed the applicable impairment guide and showed no greater loss than those prior awards. It affirmed…
I.D. and U.S. Postal Service, Westside Post Office
Board upholds denial of postal worker’s late reconsideration request (ECAB 25-0807)
A postal employee asked OWCP to reconsider a February 2024 denial more than one year after that decision. Her request therefore had to show clear evidence of error. The Board held that later medical reports supporting a different outcome did not clearly establish that OWCP's earlier decision was…
E.S. and U.S. Postal Service, North Shepherd Post Office
Board upholds denial of schedule award for postal worker (ECAB 25-0791)
A Houston postal employee sought a schedule award based on accepted spinal conditions. Several medical reports identified diagnoses but did not rate permanent impairment of a covered body part. An examination found no arm sensory or motor deficits, and OWCP's medical adviser explained why the…
Matter of B-S-H-
VAWA motion to reopen denied
The Board denied an Indian respondent's motion to reconsider and motion to reopen proceedings to pursue adjustment of status and special-rule cancellation of removal under the Violence Against Women Act. The Board held that the statutory waiver for extraordinary circumstances or extreme hardship…
C.D. and Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Border Patrol
Board keeps two percent left leg impairment award (ECAB 25-0838)
A Border Patrol employee sought a larger schedule award for left leg impairment after a knee procedure. The attending physician and OWCP's medical adviser each rated the impairment at two percent under the applicable guide. The Board found that the medical adviser applied the rating method…
L.A. and U.S. Postal Service, Lamar Station
Board upholds existing awards for both arms and legs (ECAB 25-0744)
A Memphis postal employee sought larger schedule awards for permanent impairment in both arms and legs. The Board reviewed range-of-motion and diagnosis-based ratings for the shoulders, hips, and knees under the applicable impairment guide. It found no supported rating above the percentages already…
D.H. and U.S. Postal Service, Chicago International Service Center
Board upholds denial of postal worker’s foot condition claim (ECAB 25-0743)
A Chicago postal employee sought to connect a serious left foot condition to an accepted July 2024 workplace incident. Hospital records documented the foot diagnoses and treatment, but the physicians did not give an opinion linking those conditions to the work incident. A later physician form…
C.B. and Department of Homeland Security, Federal Law Enforcement Training Center
Board upholds denial of left ear hearing loss claim (ECAB 25-0598)
A former federal law enforcement training employee attributed left ear hearing loss and tinnitus to work noise. Treating and OWCP physicians disagreed, so an impartial examiner reviewed the history and hearing tests. He explained that the loss began years after employment ended and its pattern did…
Monk v. Hubbell Inc.
Pipeline appeal closed because no petition for review was filed
Nathaniel Monk sent the Board a copy of an ALJ’s decision denying his pipeline safety retaliation complaint against Hubbell. The Board explained that a copy of the decision did not satisfy the requirement for a written petition identifying specific objections. It gave Monk a deadline to file a…
A.W. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Montana VA Health Care System Community Care
Board upholds denial of VA worker’s left arm condition claim (ECAB 25-0841)
A VA employee attributed left hand and arm conditions, including carpal tunnel syndrome, to typing and computer work. Several physicians diagnosed conditions or stated they were work related, but their reports did not give a reasoned explanation connecting the accepted duties to those diagnoses…
D.H. and Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Border Patrol, Artesia
Board upholds denial of Border Patrol worker’s medical claim (ECAB 25-0816)
A Border Patrol employee sought to connect chest symptoms and other medical findings to an accepted March 2025 work incident. Hospital reports documented diagnoses and tests but did not say that the incident caused a condition. A later report also did not address medical causation. The Board…
T.S. and U.S. Postal Service, City of Industry Post Office
Board orders second opinion on postal worker’s hip condition (ECAB 25-0808)
A postal employee attributed a right hip condition to repetitive work duties. His physician explained a possible path from repeated strain to deterioration of the hip but did not provide enough to prove the claim outright. The Board found the report sufficient to require further medical…
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.