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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D.M. and Department of the Navy, Marine Corps Base, Quantico, VA
D.M. and Department of the Navy (ECAB 19-1929): Back injury claim remanded
D.M., a Marine Corps base employee, claimed a back injury after slipping on ice at work in January 2019. OWCP denied the claim for lack of medical causation evidence, although medical reports in that file referred to an earlier work-related back injury claim. The Board found the related 2015 and…
T.T. and U.S. Postal Service, Tarzana Post Office, Tarzana, CA
T.T. and U.S. Postal Service (ECAB 19-1306): Late hearing request denial upheld
T.T., a retired postal employee with accepted hand, elbow, neck, and shoulder conditions, requested an oral hearing after an October 2018 OWCP decision. Her hearing request was postmarked more than 30 days after that decision. The Board found she had no hearing right at that point and that OWCP…
E.S. and Department of Justice, Bureau of Prisons, Federal Correctional Institution-Miami, Miami, FL
E.S. and Bureau of Prisons (ECAB 19-1144): Written review denial upheld
E.S., a correctional officer, filed an occupational disease claim after reporting flu symptoms that he attributed to workplace exposure. After OWCP denied the claim, he sought reconsideration and then requested a review of the written record. The Board held that the prior reconsideration request…
L.K. and Department of the Air Force, Materiel Command, Robins Air Force Base, GA
L.K. and Department of the Air Force (ECAB 18-1445): Hearing condition claim remanded
L.K., a former Air Force material handler and mechanic, sought compensation for vertigo, hearing loss, and tinnitus. She identified a 1999 workplace incident in which metal struck her head and described noise exposure in several later jobs. The Board found that OWCP had already accepted the…
Dennis M. Lloyd v. Panther Branch Coal Company, d/b/a Long Branch Energy
Lloyd v. Panther Branch Coal (BRB 19-0462 BLA): black lung benefits award affirmed
Dennis Lloyd received black lung benefits after a judge credited him with 14.93 years of underground coal mine work. That fell short of the fifteen years required for a statutory presumption, but the judge found legal pneumoconiosis, total respiratory disability, and disability caused by the…
Drucilla Hensley (Widow of Anthony Hensley) v. Ridgetop Mining, Incorporated
Hensley v. Ridgetop Mining (BRB 19-0388 BLA): subsequent survivor claim denial affirmed
Drucilla Hensley appealed the denial of a subsequent survivor claim for black lung benefits after two earlier claims had been denied. The judge found that she had not shown a change in an applicable condition of entitlement since the first denial. Hensley argued that the judge should have…
Charlie Vernon Miller v. CAM Mining, LLC
Miller v. CAM Mining (BRB 19-0369 BLA): black lung benefits award affirmed
Charlie Miller received black lung benefits on a subsequent miner claim after a judge credited thirty-nine years of underground coal mine work and found total respiratory disability. Those findings invoked the fifteen-year presumption of disability due to pneumoconiosis. CAM Mining challenged the…
Joseph C. Freeman v. Regent Allied Carbon Energy and Rockwood Casualty Insurance Company
Freeman v. Regent Allied Carbon Energy (BRB 19-0341 BLA): black lung benefits award affirmed
Joseph Freeman received black lung benefits on a subsequent miner claim after a judge credited forty years of underground coal mine work and found total disability. Regent Allied Carbon Energy and its insurer challenged the judge's appointment, the validity of the fifteen-year presumption, and the…
Shirley L. Moore (on behalf of and Widow of Vernoy W. Moore) v. Bullion Hollow Enterprises, Incorporated
Moore v. Bullion Hollow Enterprises (BRB 19-0331 and 19-0332 BLA): benefit awards upheld, carrier issue remanded
Shirley Moore pursued her late husband's black lung claim and her own survivor claim against Bullion Hollow Enterprises and its insurer, Old Republic. The Board upheld the judge's findings that the miner had qualifying coal mine work, was totally disabled, and was entitled to benefits under the…
W.Z. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Harrisburg, PA
W.Z. and U.S. Postal Service (ECAB 20-0191): Shoulder claim denial upheld
W.Z., a postal truck driver, reported shoulder pain after pulling a loading plate at work. OWCP accepted that the incident occurred but denied the claim because the medical evidence did not link his shoulder conditions to it. The physician's summary listed diagnoses without addressing causation…
I.U. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Los Angeles, CA
I.U. and U.S. Postal Service (ECAB 20-0129): Overpayment and recovery upheld
I.U., a postal employee receiving FECA wage-loss compensation, also received Social Security retirement benefits attributable to federal service without the required offset. The Board upheld OWCP's $100,536.75 overpayment calculation for the periods of overlapping benefits. It agreed she was not at…
R.D., for the Estate of M.D., and Department of the Air Force, Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, TX
R.D. for the Estate of M.D. (ECAB 19-1647): Overpayment case remanded
R.D. appealed for the estate of an Air Force worker after OWCP found a $76,390.05 overpayment from overlapping FECA and Social Security retirement benefits. The worker had died before the final overpayment decision. The Board found that the record did not show OWCP had completed required steps to…
S.P. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Columbus, MS
S.P. and U.S. Postal Service (ECAB 19-1318): Overpayment and waiver denial upheld
S.P., a postal employee with an accepted back injury, received wage-loss compensation calculated using an incorrect pay rate. OWCP found a $1,232.03 overpayment for part of 2015, and the Board upheld the calculation while recognizing that she was not at fault. She disputed the amount but did not…
S.N. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, Fresno, CA
S.N. and Department of Veterans Affairs (ECAB 19-1050): Spine conditions remanded
S.N., a VA nurse, sought to add lumbar disc herniation and radiculitis and cervical disc conditions to her claim after an accepted injury involving an airbed at work. Her physician attributed the additional conditions to the incident, while OWCP's second opinion physician found no related disc or…
C.S. and Department of the Army, Installation Management Command, Fort Shafter, HI
C.S. and Department of the Army (ECAB 18-0450): Overpayment finding reversed
C.S., an Army firefighter and emergency medical technician, received wage-loss benefits for an accepted elbow injury. His doctor released him to full duty on March 22, 2017, but he did not return to work until April 5; OWCP treated compensation paid in the intervening period as an overpayment. The…
Aluminum Shapes, LLC
Nonfinal judge decision remanded for further proceedings
The Commission had previously remanded cross-motions for summary judgment involving Aluminum Shapes' equitable-estoppel defenses. The judge then issued a remand decision that left factual disputes for hearing and denied the parties' relevant summary-judgment requests. Because that decision did not…
Matter of Onesta REYES
Matter of Reyes (BIA ID 3992): alternative aggravated-felony categories can establish removability
The Attorney General reviewed a case involving an Italian lawful permanent resident convicted in New York of second-degree grand larceny. The decision held that a conviction qualifies as an aggravated felony when all of the statute's means of committing the crime correspond to one or more…
Roy C. Bentley v. Shipyard River Coal Terminal
Bentley v. Shipyard River Coal Terminal (BRB 19-0440 BLA): black lung benefits award affirmed
Roy Bentley received black lung benefits on a subsequent miner claim after a judge found qualifying coal mine work and total respiratory disability. The judge applied the fifteen-year presumption and found that Shipyard River Coal Terminal and its carrier had not rebutted it. On appeal, the…
Charles N. Williams v. Branham & Baker Coal Company, Incorporated
Williams v. Branham & Baker Coal (BRB 19-0437 BLA): black lung benefits award affirmed
Charles Williams received black lung benefits after a judge credited 13.79 years of underground coal mine work. That was too little to invoke the fifteen-year presumption, but the judge found legal pneumoconiosis and total disability caused by it under the ordinary proof rules. Branham & Baker Coal…
Albon L. Clevenger v. Bluegrass Mining Company
Clevenger v. Bluegrass Mining (BRB 19-0426 BLA): black lung benefits award affirmed
Albon Clevenger received black lung benefits on a subsequent miner claim after a judge credited 12.95 years of coal mine work. Because that was less than fifteen years, the judge decided entitlement without the statutory presumption. Bluegrass Mining and its insurer challenged findings that…
Dorsie Wireman (on behalf of Donald Wireman) v. HBK Corporation
Wireman v. HBK Corporation (BRB 19-0391 BLA): black lung benefits denial affirmed
Dorsie Wireman pursued her late husband's black lung claim after a judge again denied benefits on remand. An earlier Board ruling had required the judge to explain his treatment of biopsy evidence and a medical opinion about clinical pneumoconiosis. The Board held that the judge reasonably found…
Luke Lapotsky v. Pagnotti Enterprises, Incorporated
Lapotsky v. Pagnotti Enterprises (BRB 19-0367 BLA): denial of modification and benefits affirmed
Luke Lapotsky sought to modify the denial of his black lung claim for a third time. The record established clinical pneumoconiosis and total respiratory disability, but the judge found he had not proved that pneumoconiosis substantially contributed to the disability. Lapotsky relied on reports from…
Shaun Getty v. Academi and Starr Indemnity & Liability Company
Getty v. Academi (BRB 19-0359): attorney fee rates and travel expenses remanded
Shaun Getty's counsel appealed a $64,942.12 attorney fee and cost award in his Defense Base Act case against Academi and its insurer. The Board vacated the hourly rates because the judge did not explain how she weighed the submitted market evidence and considered case complexity in setting the…
Patricia J. Hale (Widow of Johnnie M. Hale) v. Consolidation Coal Company
Hale v. Consolidation Coal (BRB 19-0342 BLA): survivor benefits award affirmed
Patricia Hale received survivor benefits after a judge found that her late husband's coal dust-related emphysema hastened his death from bronchopneumonia. The judge did not apply either statutory presumption because the evidence did not establish complicated pneumoconiosis or total disability…
Vada Higgins (Widow of Howard D. Higgins) v. Higgins Coal Company
Higgins v. Higgins Coal (BRB 19-0327 BLA): survivor benefits award vacated in part and remanded
Vada Higgins received survivor benefits after a judge found her late husband had a totally disabling respiratory condition and applied the fifteen-year presumption. Higgins Coal and its insurer challenged that finding. The Board majority held that the judge had not adequately explained how the…
Vera Thomas (Widow of Herbert Thomas) v. Island Creek Coal Company
Thomas v. Island Creek Coal (BRB 19-0326 BLA): survivor benefits award affirmed
Vera Thomas received survivor benefits after a judge found that x-rays established her late husband had complicated pneumoconiosis. That finding invoked an irrebuttable presumption that his death was due to the disease. Island Creek Coal argued that evidence of lung cancer undermined the x-ray…
Helen Faye Ford (on behalf of and Widow of Jerry W. Ford) v. Chevron Mining, Incorporated/Pittsburg & Midway Coal Mining Company
Ford v. Chevron Mining (BRB 15-0373, 17-0189, and 19-0214 BLA): miner and survivor benefits affirmed
Helen Ford pursued her late husband's black lung claim and her own survivor claim against Chevron Mining. The miner had 14.25 years of coal mine work, so the judge evaluated disability and its cause without the fifteen-year presumption. After an earlier Board remand, the judge again awarded miner…
Vudhamari v. Advent Global Solutions
H-1B wage case remanded for proper notice
H-1B systems analyst Naveen Vudhamari challenged a Wage and Hour Division determination awarding him $2,463.97 in back wages from Advent Global Solutions. Advent moved to dismiss, and both sides submitted evidence outside the pleadings. The ALJ treated the request as a motion for summary decision…
Administrator, Wage and Hour Div. v. Wyrick & Sons Pine Straw
Four worker-protection penalties reversed and one remanded
Wyrick & Sons used contractor-supplied laborers to rake, bale, and load pine straw after the company prepared the fields. The Board agreed that cultivated pine straw is an agricultural commodity, but held that field work is not automatically seasonal work under the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural…
V.P. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Princeton, NJ
V.P. and U.S. Postal Service (ECAB 20-0415): Spine claim remanded
V.P., a postal letter carrier, claimed cervical and lumbar conditions from repeated bending, twisting, and lifting at work. His physician described those tasks and gave a biomechanical explanation for how they could affect spinal discs. The Board found the opinion insufficient to establish the…
K.J. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Hammond, IN
K.J. and U.S. Postal Service (ECAB 20-0414): Hearing abandonment upheld
K.J., a postal carrier with an accepted back injury, requested a hearing after OWCP denied a period of wage-loss compensation. OWCP mailed her notice of a scheduled telephone hearing, but she did not call in or explain her absence within the required period. The Board found the notice properly…
R.M. and Department of the Army, Tobyhanna Army Depot, Tobyhanna, PA
R.M. and Department of the Army (ECAB 20-0342): Carpal tunnel claim remanded
R.M., an Army Depot sheet metal worker, assembled hundreds of helmet brackets each day using repeated hand movements. He developed bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome and underwent surgery. His physicians linked the condition to the repetitive work, and his supervisor confirmed the assembly duties…
K.F. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Edward Hines, Jr. VA Hospital, Hines, IL
K.F. and Department of Veterans Affairs (ECAB 20-0232): Knee award denial upheld
K.F., a VA health technician, sought a schedule award after an accepted right knee and leg injury. Her physician said she had reached maximum medical improvement but did not provide an impairment percentage because he was not trained to rate it. The Board found that the record lacked an evaluation…
C.C. and Department of Labor, Mine Safety & Health Administration, Marquette, MI
C.C. and Mine Safety & Health Administration (ECAB 20-0151): Hearing loss claim remanded
C.C., a Mine Safety and Health Administration inspector, claimed hearing loss from workplace noise exposure. OWCP's examining physician found little change from the baseline hearing tests and rejected work causation. C.C.'s treating physician identified an audiogram pattern he considered…
B.S. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Charles George VA Medical Center, Asheville, NC
B.S. and Department of Veterans Affairs (ECAB 19-1854): Back claim denial upheld
B.S., a VA medical instrument technician, reported lower back pain while adjusting a patient's mask at work. OWCP accepted the incident but denied his injury claim for insufficient medical evidence of causation. The Board found that several treatment summaries lacked identifiable physician…
D.P. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Albany Stratton Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Albany, NY
D.P. and Department of Veterans Affairs (ECAB 18-1213): Knee claim rescission reversed
D.P., a VA program manager, slipped on a wet floor and struck his left knee at work. OWCP initially accepted a knee contusion but later withdrew that acceptance because it thought the doctor's examination findings conflicted with the diagnosis. The Board found that OWCP had not clarified the…
Randall Mechanical, Inc.
Late-contest case remanded for an excusable-neglect hearing
OSHA issued Randall Mechanical a serious citation under 29 C.F.R. § 1926.350(a)(10), but the company filed its notice of contest after the statutory deadline. After an earlier appeal, the judge dismissed the case on the ground that the Commission lacked jurisdiction to grant relief from the final…
C.S. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Griffith, IN
C.S. and U.S. Postal Service (ECAB 19-1809): Knee claim remanded as occupational disease
C.S., a postal carrier, reported right knee pain while delivering mail and had filed a traumatic injury form. Her doctor's reports connected quadriceps tendinitis to prolonged standing and walking with a loaded mail satchel, which described exposure over more than one workday. The Board found OWCP…
E.W. and U.S. Postal Service, Indian Trail Post Office, Indian Trail, NC
E.W. and U.S. Postal Service (ECAB 19-1711): Suitable work termination reversed
E.W., a postal carrier with an accepted left shoulder injury, was offered a modified carrier job. His treating physician later added restrictions against prolonged reaching or lifting with the left arm, but the offered job included reaching duties. The Board found that OWCP had not obtained a clear…
D.D. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Poland, OH
D.D. and U.S. Postal Service (ECAB 19-1676): Leg impairment ratings upheld
D.D., a postal carrier, sought schedule awards for leg impairment related to accepted lumbar conditions. His physician rated the left leg at 13 percent, while OWCP's physicians disagreed. An impartial examiner rated the left leg at six percent and found no ratable right leg impairment using the…
M.J. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Captain James F. Lovell Federal Health Care Center, North Chicago, IL
M.J. and Department of Veterans Affairs (ECAB 19-1665): Overpayment upheld, fault reversed
M.J., a VA medical support assistant, received a schedule award for a right arm impairment. OWCP made an additional direct deposit after the award period ended, creating a $2,651.85 overpayment. The Board agreed the extra payment was owed back in principle, but found no evidence she knew it was…
D.K. and U.S. Postal Service, Greensboro Processing & Distribution Center, Greensboro, NC
D.K. and U.S. Postal Service (ECAB 19-1178): Wage loss termination reversed
D.K., a postal mail processing clerk, received wage-loss compensation for accepted physical and emotional conditions. The Postal Service offered temporary modified work, and OWCP stopped his benefits when he did not take it. His treating psychiatrist said he could not work at all, while OWCP's…
S.K. and Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys, Buffalo, NY
S.K. and Department of Justice (ECAB 18-0705): Emotional condition claim remanded
S.K., a victim witness coordinator, attributed an emotional condition and physical symptoms to work demands and alleged harassment. The Board found that required after-hours availability and substantiated overwork were compensable work factors. It did not find sufficient proof of abuse in…
Asmore v. Amtrak
Railroad whistleblower settlement approved
An ALJ found that Amtrak violated the Federal Railroad Safety Act's whistleblower provisions, and Amtrak appealed. While the appeal was pending, Tracy Asmore and Amtrak reached a confidential settlement and asked the Board to approve it. The Board limited its review to the federal railroad claim…
S.D. and U.S. Postal Service, San Diego MLS Post Office
S.D. and U.S. Postal Service (ECAB 20-0413): Lifting injury claim denied
S.D., a postal clerk, reported shoulder and arm symptoms after moving about 60 boxes weighing approximately 40 pounds each. The Board accepted that he lifted the boxes at work. One physician linked shoulder pain to the lifting but did not explain how the incident caused the diagnosed strain. Other…
J.P. and Department of Veterans Affairs, New York Harbor Health Care System
J.P. and Department of Veterans Affairs (ECAB 20-0381): Vehicle collision injury claim denied
J.P., a Veterans Affairs social worker, reported head, shoulder, and back pain after her work vehicle was struck from behind. OWCP accepted that the collision occurred during her work, but denied the injury claim. The Board found that the physician described symptoms without diagnosing a specific…
R.B. and U.S. Postal Service, North Texas Processing & Distribution Center
R.B. and U.S. Postal Service (ECAB 19-1256): Emotional condition denial affirmed
R.B., a postal registry clerk, attributed stress and other symptoms to workplace bullying, threats, retaliation, and management actions. The Board found insufficient corroboration for the claimed threats, harassment, retaliation, or interference with her mail dispatch duties. It also found no…
J.Z. and Department of Labor, Mine Safety & Health Administration, Manchester, NH
J.Z. and Mine Safety & Health Administration (ECAB 19-1156): Threat claim remanded for medical review
J.Z., a mine safety inspector, sought compensation for a stress-related condition that he attributed to threats from a mine operator. OWCP rejected his claim because it found no compensable work factor. The Board found that the operator's written and online statements amounted to a credible bodily…
R.G., claiming for the children of K.G., and U.S. Postal Service, Michigan Metroplex Processing & Distribution Center
R.G., claiming for the children of K.G. (ECAB 19-1059): Death claim remanded for workplace exposure evidence
R.G. sought survivor benefits for the children of a postal employee who died after an asthma attack. She alleged that the employer kept the employee from using her medication and that methane at the workplace contributed to her death. The Board found the record did not establish that the employer…
U.S. Postal Service
Injury-reporting retaliation case remanded for credibility findings
OSHA cited the U.S. Postal Service under 29 C.F.R. § 1904.35(b)(1)(iv) for allegedly retaliating against two mail carriers who reported work-related injuries. USPS issued each carrier a seven-day working suspension, later rescinded, and OSHA proposed a $5,432 penalty. The judge vacated the citation…
Angel Brothers Enterprises, Ltd.
Willful cave-in protection violation affirmed
Angel Brothers installed drainage pipe in Type C soil and initially protected workers by benching the excavation walls. A safety manager told the foreman that a trench box would be required the next day because the work was approaching an intersection. The foreman knowingly allowed an employee to…
The Lane Construction Corp.
Pile-driving citation vacated for lack of feasible abatement proof
A Lane Construction employee was fatally struck by a 90-pound pile cushion that was ejected during a bridge pile-driving dry run. OSHA cited the general duty clause for exposing employees to struck-by hazards near the hammer and proposed a $6,300 penalty. The Secretary proposed keeping workers at…
Clean Fuels of Indiana, Inc.
General-industry items vacated because tank cleaning was construction work
Clean Fuels prepared newly installed underground tanks for a gas station that was still under construction. During the work, an employee was found unresponsive in a turbine-pump well and later died from gasoline inhalation. OSHA cited manhole, respiratory-protection, and permit-required…
United States Department of Defense Education Activity and Antilles Consolidated Education Association
DoDEA and Antilles Consolidated Education Association (FLRA 0-AR-5427): Authority vacates Hurricane Maria evacuation award
After Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico, the Department of Defense did not authorize evacuation allowances for teachers at agency-operated schools, and some employees evacuated at their own expense. An arbitrator found that the agency director had been unaware of his authority to approve an…
T.B. and U.S. Postal Service, Main Post Office, Cincinnati, OH
T.B. and U.S. Postal Service (ECAB 20-0426): Reconsideration denials remanded for explanation
T.B., a former mail processor, challenged OWCP's denial of wage-loss compensation and sought reconsideration twice in 2019. OWCP rejected both requests as untimely and insufficient to show clear error. The Board found that OWCP had not addressed her supporting arguments and evidence or explained…
C.B. and U.S. Postal Service, Owingsville Post Office
C.B. and U.S. Postal Service (ECAB 20-0031): Retirement benefit overpayment affirmed
C.B., a retired rural carrier, received FECA wage-loss compensation and Social Security retirement benefits based partly on federal service during the same period. The Board agreed that this created a $37,099.61 overpayment, although she was without fault. It upheld the denial of waiver because her…
A.C. and Department of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration, Fort Lauderdale, FL
A.C. and Transportation Security Administration (ECAB 19-1522): Wage-loss termination reversed
A.C., a Transportation Security Administration manager, received wage-loss benefits for an accepted right shoulder injury. OWCP ended those benefits based on a referral physician's opinion that he could perform a sedentary manager job. The Board found that the physician had not adequately examined…
E.T. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Monroe, WA
E.T. and U.S. Postal Service (ECAB 19-0948): Ankle claim expansion denied
E.T., a rural mail carrier, sustained an accepted right ankle sprain while delivering a package. She sought to expand her claim to include complex regional pain syndrome, also called reflex sympathetic dystrophy. The Board credited an OWCP referral neurologist's examination and conclusion that the…
Tutor Perini Building Corp.
Scaffold guardrail citation vacated for lack of employer knowledge
Tutor Perini was the general contractor for a casino expansion where OSHA found guardrails missing from two upper scaffold platforms. The condition was unrelated to the fatal roof fall that prompted the inspection. OSHA cited Tutor Perini as the controlling employer under 29 C.F.R. §…
Angelica Textile Services, Inc.
Case dismissed as moot after bankruptcy
Angelica Textile Services filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy while the case was pending before the Commission. The Secretary did not file a proof of claim before the deadline for government claims, and the company did not appear through counsel on appeal. The Second Circuit therefore dismissed the…
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.