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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Robert S. Wood v. Avery Coal Company, Incorporated
Wood v. Avery Coal (BRB 19-0264 BLA): disability causation returned to the judge
Robert Wood sought modification of a denial of black lung benefits. The judge credited him with 13.96 years of coal mine work and found both legal pneumoconiosis and a totally disabling respiratory impairment, but denied benefits on disability causation. The Board upheld the mine work finding…
Earl F. Parsons v. Ryder Energy, Incorporated
Parsons v. Ryder Energy (BRB 19-0228 BLA): disability finding returned for review
Earl Parsons received black lung benefits after a judge found more than fifteen years of underground coal mine work and a totally disabling respiratory impairment. Ryder Energy challenged the judge's appointment, the statutory presumption, and the evidence of mine work and disability. The Board…
R.B. and Department of the Navy, Naval Installations-Inactive Facility, San Diego, CA
R.B. and Naval Installations-Inactive Facility (ECAB 20-0176): Benefits suspension for missing disclosure form upheld
R.B., a former Navy supply systems analyst supervisor, received FECA compensation for an accepted occupational condition. OWCP mailed her an EN1032 form asking about employment and earnings and warned that benefits would be suspended if she did not return it within 30 days. The Board found that the…
D.Y. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Minneapolis Veterans Administration Healthcare System, Minneapolis, MN
D.Y. and Minneapolis VA Healthcare System (ECAB 20-0112): Wrist injury denial affirmed for insufficient causation proof
D.Y., a VA dental hygienist, reported right wrist pain after a long dental cleaning that required awkward wrist positioning. OWCP accepted the November 2018 work incident but denied her injury claim for lack of medical causation proof. The Board found that her doctor's initial pain diagnosis was a…
R.B. and Department of Homeland Security, Federal Air Marshal Service, Chelsea, MA
R.B. and Federal Air Marshal Service (ECAB 20-0109): Hip claim returned for better medical opinion
R.B., a federal air marshal, claimed that repeated physical duties caused or worsened his right hip condition. OWCP denied the claim after treating its examiner's disagreement with his physician as a medical conflict and obtaining another opinion. The Board found that the first examiner's opinion…
A.M. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Colorado Springs, CO
A.M. and Colorado Springs Post Office (ECAB 20-0069): Back injury denial affirmed for missing medical explanation
A.M., a postal employee, reported back pain after bending and lifting a heavy box at work in July 2018. OWCP accepted the incident but denied the injury claim for lack of medical causation proof. The Board found that doctors who diagnosed a lumbar sprain did not explain how the lifting incident…
A.T. and U.S. Postal Service, Avondale Goodyear Post Office, Goodyear, AZ
A.T. and Avondale Goodyear Post Office (ECAB 19-1972): Foot and ankle claim remanded for medical development
A.T., a rural carrier associate, claimed that standing, walking, and carrying packages on concrete all day caused right foot and ankle conditions. OWCP denied the claim despite accepting the described work duties. The Board found that her podiatrist's explanation of how lifting and pedal use could…
D.C. and U.S. Postal Service, Highland Mills Post Office, Highland Mills, NY
D.C. and Highland Mills Post Office (ECAB 19-1093): Knee injury denial affirmed for missing causation rationale
D.C., a postal rural carrier, reported left knee pain after stepping out of her work truck in August 2017. OWCP accepted the incident but denied her injury claim. Her physician diagnosed a meniscus tear and linked it to work, but the Board found that he did not explain how stepping out of the truck…
Independent Union of Pension Employees for Democracy and Justice and Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
Independent Union of Pension Employees and PBGC (FLRA 0-AR-5490): Authority upholds dismissal of inactive grievance
The union invoked arbitration over a Joint Awards Program grievance but took no action that advanced the grievance for six months after the arbitrator denied cross-motions for summary judgment. The agreement provided that a grievance becomes null and void when the moving party does not actively…
A.G. and U.S. Postal Service, Dallas Northwest Station, Dallas, TX
A.G. and Dallas Northwest Station (ECAB 20-0290): Reconsideration refusal upheld
A.G., a postal city carrier, sought reconsideration after OWCP denied his right shoulder occupational disease claim. He disagreed with a doctor's view that degeneration and age, rather than repetitive work, explained his shoulder condition. The Board found that his statement was a lay disagreement…
S.P. and Department of Health and Human Services, Jamaica Teleservice Center, Jamaica, NY
S.P. and Jamaica Teleservice Center (ECAB 20-0196): Carpal tunnel benefit termination reversed
S.P. received wage-loss and medical benefits for accepted bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome. OWCP terminated both kinds of benefits effective October 23, 2019 after its examiner found no continuing work-related disability or residual condition. The Board found a medical disagreement between that…
S.H. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Oklahoma City, OK
S.H. and Oklahoma City Post Office (ECAB 20-0113): Ankle contusion established, other foot conditions unproved
S.H., a postal rural carrier, reported that a cart struck the back of her right lower leg and ankle at work in February 2019. OWCP denied her traumatic injury claim. The Board found the physician's account and observed contusion sufficient to establish a work-related bruise on the back of the right…
R.T. and Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Deer Lodge, MT
R.T. and National Park Service (ECAB 20-0081): Chemical exposure claim returned for impartial opinions
R.T., a National Park Service employee, claimed respiratory and other conditions after chemical exposure at work in July 2009. OWCP denied the claim after an impartial medical examiner concluded that the respiratory irritation probably resolved and did not adequately link his ongoing symptoms to…
E.W. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Cleveland, OH
E.W. and Cleveland Post Office (ECAB 19-1936): Carpal tunnel claim denial affirmed
E.W., a postal mail handler, claimed bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome from repetitive hand work, including stamping and handling letters. OWCP accepted the work activities but denied the occupational disease claim. The Board found one doctor's causation conclusion unsupported by an explanation of…
L.H. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Flint, MI
L.H. and Flint Post Office (ECAB 19-1092): Ankle injury denial affirmed for insufficient causation proof
L.H., a postal city letter carrier, reported right ankle problems after falling while descending stairs at work in December 2017. OWCP accepted the fall but denied her injury claim. One physician linked her ankle conditions to the fall without explaining the medical mechanism, while another used a…
R.C. and Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, Folsom, CA
R.C. and Bureau of Reclamation (ECAB 19-0949): Hearing request deemed timely, claim returned
R.C. appealed OWCP's denial of his injury claim and its later rejection of his request for an oral hearing as late. OWCP said a carrier mark showed late mailing, but the envelope or other proof of that mark was missing from the case record. The Board therefore deemed the hearing request timely and…
United States Department of Veterans Affairs, North Florida/South Georgia Veterans Health System and American Federation of Government Employees, Local 2779
VA North Florida/South Georgia and AFGE Local 2779 (FLRA 0-AR-5554): Authority dismisses removal exceptions
The Department of Veterans Affairs filed exceptions to an arbitration award deciding whether it had just and sufficient cause to remove an employee. The agency argued that FLRA had jurisdiction because its exceptions raised issues about deference to agency interpretations and the parties'…
J.K. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Aleda E. Lutz VA Medical Center, Saginaw, MI
J.K. and Aleda E. Lutz VA Medical Center (ECAB 20-0116): Back condition denial affirmed for inadequate causation proof
J.K., a VA medical supply technician, claimed that pushing and pulling heavy carts and prolonged standing worsened her back condition. OWCP accepted those work duties but denied her occupational disease claim. The Board found that her doctor's opinion did not explain how the duties caused or…
K.B. and U.S. Postal Service, La Grange Post Office, La Grange, IL
K.B. and La Grange Post Office (ECAB 20-0037): Delayed reconsideration response sent back for merit review
K.B., a postal carrier, sought reconsideration of OWCP's denial of her carpal tunnel occupational disease claim. OWCP issued a nonmerit refusal 192 days after receiving her request, beyond its 90-day processing goal. The Board found that the delay reduced her time to seek another timely…
R.B. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, North Chicago, IL
R.B. and North Chicago VA Medical Center (ECAB 19-1919): Parking-lot fall established, injury claim returned
R.B., a VA food service worker, reported a left shoulder injury after slipping on ice in the facility parking lot in February 2019. OWCP denied the traumatic injury claim, but the Board found that the reported fall occurred as alleged. It returned the case for OWCP to decide whether the fall…
S.H. and Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection, San Diego, CA
S.H. and Customs and Border Protection (ECAB 19-1876): Benefits suspension for missing disclosure form upheld
S.H., a customs and border protection officer, received wage-loss compensation for an accepted work injury. OWCP mailed her an EN1032 form asking for employment and earnings information and warned that benefits would be suspended if she did not return it within 30 days. The Board found that the…
O.R. and Department of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration, Miami, FL
O.R. and Transportation Security Administration (ECAB 19-1234 and related dockets): One denial reversed, three claims remanded, one appeal dismissed
O.R., a transportation security officer, brought five appeals involving related back and right knee claims. The Board granted OWCP's own motion to reverse a decision that had rejected one back injury claim as untimely. It set aside three other decisions and told OWCP to combine four interrelated…
American Federation of Government Employees, Local 2145 and United States Department of Veterans Affairs, Medical Center, Richmond, Virginia
AFGE Local 2145 and VA Medical Center Richmond (FLRA 0-AR-5518): Authority upholds suspension award
The Department of Veterans Affairs suspended an employee for three days after investigating inappropriate workplace conduct. The union argued that the discipline was discriminatory because the employee had requested intermittent leave and a reasonable accommodation for a diagnosed mental health…
M.K. and U.S. Postal Service, Tucker Post Office, Tucker, GA
Seizure diagnosis established; causation returned to OWCP
M.K., a city carrier, was involved in a head-on vehicle collision while working. OWCP denied the claim on the ground that no diagnosed medical condition had been established. The Board found medical reports diagnosing a seizure, so that basis for denial could not stand. It returned the case to OWCP…
R.R. and Department of the Navy, Military Sealift Command, Norfolk, VA
Left-ear hearing-loss award rounded to 8 percent
R.R., a retired boatswain, challenged his schedule award for work-related hearing loss. OWCP had calculated 7.5 percent monaural impairment of the left ear. The Board found that the governing procedure rounded that figure to 8 percent, but the record did not establish impairment greater than 8…
B.C. and Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Berlin Federal Correctional Institution, Berlin, NH
Knee injury denial affirmed for insufficient physician evidence
B.C., a correctional officer, landed on his right knee while restraining an inmate. The Board accepted the May 13, 2019 incident but found no sufficient physician opinion explaining how it caused a diagnosed condition. Reports from a physician assistant and knee imaging did not meet that causation…
L.B. and Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services, Philadelphia, PA
Ankle injury denial affirmed for insufficient medical causation
L.B., an immigration services assistant, rolled her right foot while stepping down from a ladder at work. The Board accepted that the May 9, 2019 incident happened. It found that a checked causation box and the remaining medical reports did not sufficiently explain how the incident caused the…
M.L. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Greensboro, NC
Shoulder injury denial affirmed for lack of reasoned causation
M.L., a city carrier, fell onto her right shoulder after tripping over a curb during work. The Board accepted the May 21, 2019 incident but found that the medical evidence did not adequately explain how it caused the diagnosed shoulder conditions. It upheld OWCP’s denial for lack of a reasoned…
M.D. and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Arlington, VA
Untimely reconsideration request requires clear-error review
M.D., a financial analyst, requested reconsideration after a prior Board decision on his injury claim. OWCP treated his August 7, 2018 request as timely and denied modification on the merits. The Board found the request arrived more than one year after the last merit decision. It directed OWCP to…
G.J. and Department of the Army, Womack Army Medical Center, Fort Bragg, NC
Upper- and lower-extremity schedule awards affirmed
G.J., a former nursing assistant, sought larger schedule awards for his right arm and right leg. The Board found that the evidence did not establish more than 16 percent permanent impairment of the right upper extremity or more than 6 percent of the right lower extremity. It therefore upheld both…
S.S. and U.S. Postal Service, Baker Main Post Office, Baker, LA
Overlapping wage-loss claims returned for combined review
S.S., a city carrier with accepted 2007 and 2013 injuries, sought wage-loss compensation for a period in 2013. OWCP had considered substantially overlapping disability periods under two separate claim files without combining them. The Board directed OWCP to combine those files, develop the record…
R.N. and U.S. Postal Service, Boston Processing & Distribution Center, Boston, MA
Reconsideration denial affirmed
R.N., a postal electronic technician, sought reconsideration after OWCP denied his right shoulder injury claim. He described the work incident and his missed work, but the Board found that his request did not identify a legal error, advance a new relevant legal argument, or provide relevant new…
Matter of R. I. Ortega
Sham engagement triggers the marriage-fraud bar
The Board reviewed the revocation of a visa petition filed for a Dominican beneficiary after immigration authorities found that his earlier engagement to a United States citizen was not bona fide. The Board held that the INA's marriage-fraud bar applies when an alien conspires to enter a marriage…
Ryan Voltzke v. Canadian National Railway
Voltzke v. Canadian National Railway (BRB 20-0084): en banc reconsideration denied
Canadian National Railway and its carrier asked the Benefits Review Board to reconsider its May 22, 2020 decision in Ryan Voltzke's case en banc. No party responded to the motion. A majority of the Board's permanent members did not vote to vacate or change the decision. The Board denied the motion…
United States Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Federal Correctional Complex, Coleman, Florida and American Federation of Government Employees, Local 506, Council of Prisons Local #33
Federal Bureau of Prisons, FCC Coleman and AFGE Local 506 (FLRA 0-AR-5517): Authority vacates expired-agreement award
A local agreement required the Federal Bureau of Prisons to provide suitable cover where correctional officers exchanged weapons at a prison perimeter. The union filed a 2017 grievance alleging that the rear gate lacked that cover, and an arbitrator found the requirement still enforceable. The…
Horn v. University First Federal Credit Union
Procedural complaints were not protected activity
Credit union loan representative Bryan Horn suggested operational improvements, raised internal process concerns, and objected after another branch took credit for a loan he had worked on. He later resigned after the credit union told him he could resign or be terminated. The ALJ did not credit…
D.S. and U.S. Postal Service, Philadelphia Logistics & Distribution Center, Swedesboro, NJ
Denial of additional lumbar surgery affirmed
D.S., a postal clerk with an accepted low back condition, sought authorization for another lumbar operation. Her treating physician and an OWCP referral physician disagreed, so OWCP obtained an impartial medical examination. A two-judge majority gave special weight to the examiner’s opinion that…
T.K. and Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, San Diego, CA
Earlier letter made reconsideration request timely
T.K., an internal revenue agent, sought reconsideration of a denied right elbow occupational disease claim. OWCP used a March 2019 date and rejected the request as untimely. The Board found that her letter received June 21, 2018 was a constructive reconsideration request, even without using that…
C.W. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Bronx, NY
Bilateral knee claim denied for insufficient medical causation
C.W., a mail carrier, attributed bilateral knee conditions to lifting, bending, standing, and walking at work. The Board found that a physician’s statement that work likely contributed to a right knee condition was speculative and that the other medical evidence did not adequately explain causation…
P.M. and Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs & Border Protection, Santee, CA
Overpayment finding reversed
P.M., a border patrol agent, had received a schedule award for right lower extremity impairment under an earlier injury claim. OWCP later compared that award with a lower current impairment rating and declared an overpayment. The Board held that this comparison did not establish that the earlier…
American Federation of Government Employees, Local 1738 and United States Department of Veterans Affairs, Regional Office, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
AFGE Local 1738 and VA Winston-Salem Regional Office (FLRA 0-AR-5489): Authority upholds maximum payable rate
A Department of Veterans Affairs employee moved voluntarily from a GS-9 position to a GS-7 veterans service representative position after being told she would keep her existing pay. The arbitrator found that the agency lacked authority to honor that promise above the new grade's maximum rate but…
Matter of A-M-R-C-
Attorney General review and briefing ordered
The Attorney General directed the Board of Immigration Appeals to refer its decision in the respondent's case for review. The order asked the parties and interested amici to brief whether the delayed referral would prejudice the respondent, whether the Board correctly evaluated the…
M.B. and U.S. Postal Service, Hillsboro Post Office, Hillsboro, OR
Thumb and arm diagnosis established; causation returned to OWCP
M.B., a postal clerk, reported left thumb numbness and tingling while handling packages and using scanning equipment. OWCP denied the claim for lack of a diagnosed condition. The Board found that a physician diagnosed radial tunnel syndrome and anesthesia of skin, satisfying that part of fact of…
S.H. and U.S. Postal Service, Jackson Delta Station, Jackson, MS
Left-leg schedule award denied
S.H., a city carrier, sought a schedule award after an accepted left ankle sprain. His physician rated impairment based on ankle arthritis, but OWCP had not accepted that condition as work related. The Board found that the submitted evidence did not establish permanent impairment of the left lower…
B.P. and Social Security Administration, Office of Anti-Fraud Programs, Baltimore, MD
Injury and reconsideration denials affirmed
B.P., a Social Security Administration program analyst, sought compensation for a condition he attributed to a May 9, 2019 work incident. The Board found no competent medical evidence diagnosing a condition linked to the accepted incident; the concussion reports came from physician assistants, who…
A.P. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Miami, FL
Refusal to reopen benefits claim affirmed
A.P., a letter carrier, sought reconsideration after OWCP terminated compensation for her accepted injury. The Board found that her new submission did not satisfy the requirements for reopening the merits of the termination decision, which depended on medical evidence of continuing residuals or…
C.R. and U.S. Postal Service, Little Rock Processing & Distribution Center, Little Rock, AR
Emotional-condition claim returned for medical review
C.R., a postal mail handler, alleged emotional stress from work events and conditions. OWCP found no compensable employment factor. The Board found sufficient support for his overwork allegation and specified supervisor conduct on September 28 and 29, 2017. It directed OWCP to consider whether…
P.G. and Department of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration, Fort Lauderdale, FL
Receptionist wage-earning capacity finding affirmed
P.G., a transportation security officer with an accepted wrist injury, challenged a reduction in wage-loss benefits. OWCP found that she could perform a constructed receptionist position within her medical restrictions. The Board found that OWCP met its burden to establish the position’s vocational…
M.H. and Department of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration, Las Vegas, NV
TSA incident date required more fact finding
M.H., a transportation security officer, reported tripping on torn carpet and injuring his knee and back. He later corrected the reported date from April 6 to April 5, 2018. OWCP had reviewed surveillance information for April 6 but had not sought comparable information for April 5. The Board…
DeNucci Constructors, LLC
Cave-in protection violation affirmed after training item withdrawn
Two DeNucci Constructors employees entered an eight-to-nine-foot-deep trench to hand dig around existing pipes. The Type B soil trench had vertical side walls, inadequate partial benching at one end, no benching at the other, and no trench box. The superintendent and foreman saw the employees…
Secretary of Labor v. Canyon Fuel Company, LLC
Related contest and assessment reopened
Canyon Fuel intended to contest a citation, a related order, and the resulting penalty assessment. It timely contested the citation but mistakenly mailed the penalty contest with its partial payment to MSHA's St. Louis payment office instead of the Arlington contest office. An ALJ dismissed the…
D.J. and Department of the Navy, Marine Corps Logistics Base, Barstow, CA
Reconsideration denial affirmed
D.J., a computer assistant with an accepted right knee injury, requested reconsideration of a prior OWCP decision. The Board found that the request did not show a legal error, offer a new relevant legal argument, or supply relevant new evidence requiring merit review. It upheld the nonmerit denial…
J.H. and U.S. Postal Service, Miami Post Office, Miami, OK
Overpayment established; amount returned for recalculation
J.H. received Social Security retirement benefits and FECA payments. The Board found that concurrent retirement and FECA wage-loss benefits after February 26, 2014 created an overpayment. Earlier schedule-award payments could lawfully overlap the retirement benefits, so OWCP had included periods…
B.W. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Lithia Springs, GA
Termination of wage-loss and medical benefits reversed
B.W., a rural carrier, had an accepted injury from a 2011 vehicle collision. OWCP terminated her benefits based on a referral physician’s opinion that work-related residuals and disability had ended. The Board found an unresolved conflict between that opinion and her treating physician’s opinion…
W.W. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Boston, MA
Related knee claims returned for combined review
W.W., a postal tractor trailer operator, claimed that a left knee condition followed a right knee replacement for an earlier work injury. OWCP had combined the current claim with an earlier left knee file but had not combined it with his right knee files. The Board required those files to be…
National Treasury Employees Union and United States Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection
NTEU and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (FLRA 0-NG-3387): Authority grants road-mile proposal on remand
The union proposed defining employees' duty stations for travel-compensation purposes by points within fifty road miles rather than a fifty-mile straight-line radius. After a federal appeals court rejected the Authority's earlier ruling against the proposal, the Authority reconsidered it on remand…
Secretary of Labor v. Consol Pennsylvania Coal Co., LLC
Unlocated gas-well citation vacated
Consol's Enlow Fork longwall intersected an old gas-well borehole that the company and its contractor had been unable to locate from the surface. Their search included maps and databases, aerial photographs, a closely spaced metal-detector grid, and hand excavation, and the cut-through produced no…
S.L. and U.S. Postal Service, Processing & Distribution Center, Indianapolis, IN
Two left-knee claims returned for combined review
S.L., a postal distribution supervisor, reported a left knee injury after tripping at work in January 2019. OWCP accepted the incident and a diagnosis but denied a causal relationship. The Board found that an earlier accepted left knee injury file was absent from the current record. It ordered OWCP…
D.F. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Queenstown, MD
Lumbar injury claim denied for insufficient medical causation
D.F., a rural carrier, reported back pain after moving a box at work. Her medical history included an earlier lumbar disc condition. The Board found that the submitted opinions used tentative language and did not adequately explain how the accepted May 16, 2018 incident caused or aggravated a…
J.T. and Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Coleman Federal Correctional Complex, Coleman, FL
Bilateral knee claim denied for insufficient causation evidence
J.T., a correctional counselor, reported injuring both knees while responding to a prison riot. The Board accepted the July 23, 2018 work incident but found that the medical evidence did not sufficiently explain how it caused the diagnosed knee conditions. A temporal connection between symptoms and…
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.