Federal Agency Decisions
Workplace-safety cases from the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC), mine-safety cases from the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission (FMSHRC), and environmental appeals from the EPA's Environmental Appeals Board, each with a plain-English summary, the standards it cites, and whether it counts as precedent. More agencies are coming.
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Michael Neely v. The Boeing Company
Engineering retaliation claim denied after reduction in force
Boeing engineer Michael Neely raised concerns about validation of electrical-system requirements during development of the 777X and alleged that Boeing later retaliated through his evaluation and layoff. The Board assumed for its decision that he engaged in protected activity but held that…
Todd's Enviroscapes, Inc.
Mower item vacated and reporting item affirmed
A landscaping employee suffered amputations to parts of four fingers after jumping from a riding mower on a 19-degree slope, falling, and having the mower pass over his hand. OSHA cited Todd's Enviroscapes under the general duty clause for using a riding mower on hazardous slopes and separately…
James W. Tindall v. United States Department of the Treasury
TFA claim barred by sovereign immunity
IRS employee James Tindall alleged that Treasury personnel threatened to investigate him after he sought help collecting a tax-whistleblower award. The Board held that the Taxpayer First Act does not unequivocally waive the federal government's sovereign immunity for an administrative retaliation…
Lionel Verrue v. Talon Air, Inc.
Employer's petition dismissed with prejudice
Talon Air petitioned the Board for review in Lionel Verrue's AIR21 case. The company then submitted a voluntary dismissal with prejudice. The Board granted that request and dismissed the petition without deciding any substantive issue.
Kirtley Clem and Matthew Spencer v. Computer Sciences Corporation
Settlement approved and complaints dismissed
Kirtley Clem and Matthew Spencer prevailed before the ALJ on Energy Reorganization Act whistleblower complaints, and the Board later affirmed the post-remand damages decision. While the employer's court petition was pending, the parties reached a settlement through the Ninth Circuit's mediation…
Secretary of Labor obo Frank Cafego v. Civil, LLC
Equipment complaints supported temporary reinstatement
Frank Cafego alleged that Civil, LLC fired him after he repeatedly complained about equipment conditions while working as an equipment operator and truck driver. His complaints included an antifreeze leak and missing air conditioning that forced him to drive with open windows amid heavy dust. The…
Secretary of Labor v. GMS Mine Repair
Final-order dates controlled violation-history calculation
GMS Mine Repair accepted five citations and their gravity and negligence findings but disputed how MSHA calculated the contractor's violation history for penalty purposes. MSHA counted citations and orders that became final during the preceding 15 months, even if they had been issued earlier, while…
Colin DeBuse v. Corr Flight S. d/b/a Nicholas Air
Suspension findings vacated for missing protected-activity analysis
Pilot Colin DeBuse reported that a captain left the cockpit during a passenger flight, later refused to train with that captain, and was placed on unpaid leave before his employment ended. The ALJ found the safety report protected, held that it contributed to the suspension, awarded $2,703.24 in…
Darrin Muenzberg v. APL Maritime, LTD
SPA settlement approved and complaint dismissed
Darrin Muenzberg appealed after an ALJ rejected his Seaman's Protection Act retaliation complaint, and the parties settled while the appeal was before the Board. The Board reviewed only the SPA portion of the agreement because other covered claims fell outside its delegated settlement authority. It…
Administrator, Wage and Hour Division, USDOL v. E.T. Simonds Construction Company
Administrator, Wage and Hour Division v. E.T. Simonds Construction Company (DOL ARB 2021-0054): on-site truck time covered by prevailing wages
E.T. Simonds used subcontractor truck drivers to haul waste from an Illinois highway project to off-site locations. The drivers stayed in their trucks while others loaded them, but repeated trips kept them on the construction site for about 15 minutes per hour, or an estimated quarter of each…
Gary Mansell v. Tennessee Valley Authority
Summary dismissal affirmed after adequate notice
TVA truck operator Gary Mansell alleged that he received an electrical shock at work and that his foreman told him not to discuss the injury. After workers' compensation proceedings, Mansell filed an Energy Reorganization Act retaliation complaint. The ALJ converted TVA's dismissal motion into a…
American Federation of Government Employees, Local 2814 and United States Department of Transportation, Federal Railroad Administration, Washington, D.C.
Federal Railroad Administration and AFGE Local 2814 (FLRA 0-AR-5754): Authority dismisses premature mileage exception
AFGE Local 2814 challenged the Federal Railroad Administration's unilateral change to the mileage-reimbursement rate for employees using personal vehicles for work. An arbitrator rejected a pre-implementation bargaining claim because government-wide regulations set the rate but allowed other…
United States Department of the Army, Military District of Washington, Fort Myer, Virginia and International Association of Firefighters, Local F-253
Fort Myer and IAFF Local F-253 (FLRA 0-AR-5621): Authority upholds training backpay
The president of IAFF Local F-253 requested official time for a six-week labor-relations training program. Fort Myer approved 40 hours, while the applicable local agreement allowed up to 120 annual training hours per union officer. An arbitrator found that the Union had shown additional courses…
United States Department of Veterans Affairs and American Federation of Government Employees, National Veterans Affairs Council
VA and AFGE National VA Council (FLRA 0-AR-5482): Authority upholds mutual-consent limit on midterm bargaining
The Department of Veterans Affairs proposed new procedures for requesting and tracking official time in its timekeeping system. AFGE declined midterm bargaining because existing agreements covered the subject and offered to address it in ongoing term negotiations. An arbitrator found that the…
Summit Contracting Group, Inc.
Controlling-employer fall citation vacated
Summit Contracting Group was the general contractor for a multi-building residential project where OSHA observed nine framing-subcontractor employees working without fall protection at heights of 12 to 34 feet. OSHA cited Summit as a controlling employer even though none of Summit's own employees…
Secretary of Labor v. Westfall Aggregate & Materials, Inc.
No final order without proof of a written citation
Westfall Aggregate & Materials, Inc. asked the Commission to reopen a $16,400 special assessment tied to Citation No. 6559330, about seven years after the assessment allegedly became final. The Commission majority found that the record contained MSHA's internal special-assessment documentation but…
Matter of B-Z-R-
Mental health evidence may inform particularly serious crime analysis
The Attorney General reviewed a Board decision involving a Mexican respondent who sought withholding of removal after a burglary conviction and a finding that the conviction was for a particularly serious crime. The Attorney General overruled Matter of G-G-S- and held that immigration adjudicators…
Ocean Era, Inc.
In re Ocean Era, Inc. (EAB NPDES Appeal Nos. 20-08 and 20-09): Permit remanded for ocean-degradation clarification
Ocean Era, Inc. sought an NPDES permit for a pilot-scale offshore aquaculture facility in the Gulf of Mexico. Environmental organizations challenged the permit under the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, NEPA, and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. The Environmental Appeals Board found…
Ocean Era, Inc.
In re Ocean Era, Inc. (EAB NPDES Appeal Nos. 20-08 and 20-09): permit remanded in part and review denied in part
Ocean Era, Inc. received an NPDES permit from EPA Region 4 for discharges from a pilot-scale offshore marine aquaculture facility in the Gulf of Mexico. The petitions challenged the permit under the Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, National Environmental Policy Act, and Marine Mammal…
Patrick Alston v. HH Xpress LLC
Appeal dismissed for failure to prosecute
An ALJ dismissed Patrick Alston's STAA complaint as filed beyond the 180-day deadline without grounds for equitable tolling. Alston appealed but missed the Board's December 20, 2021 opening-brief deadline and did not submit a brief until February 17, 2022 after a show-cause order. He cited…
International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Local 290 and United States Department of the Navy, Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility, Bremerton, Washington
Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Boilermakers Local 290 (FLRA 0-AR-5753): Authority upholds untimely-grievance award
Boilermakers Local 290 requested employee records from the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in October 2020, and the Shipyard denied the request that day. The Union made the identical request again in January 2021 and filed a grievance after the second denial. An arbitrator found the grievance untimely…
Matter of Jose Miguel GERMAN SANTOS
Controlled-substance identity treated as an element
The Board reviewed a Dominican respondent's challenge to removability after a Pennsylvania conviction for possessing marijuana with intent to deliver. It held that any fact that establishes or increases the permissible punishment range is an element for the federal categorical approach, even if…
American Federation of Government Employees, Local 2142 and United States Department of the Army, Corpus Christi Army Depot, Corpus Christi, Texas
Corpus Christi Army Depot and AFGE Local 2142 (FLRA 0-AR-5759): Authority upholds two-day suspension
Corpus Christi Army Depot suspended a senior mechanic for two days after a verbal altercation with a junior mechanic. An arbitrator credited testimony that the senior employee provoked the confrontation and directed demeaning and abusive language at the other employee. He found no disparate…
American Federation of Government Employees, Local 906 and United States Department of Veterans Affairs, Member Services, Health Resource Center
VA Member Services and AFGE Local 906 (FLRA 0-AR-5730): Authority sets aside disabled-veteran leave award
The VA and AFGE Local 906 had settled a dispute over medical leave for disabled veterans. The VA later required an employee to show that the disability was connected to military service, although the settlement agreement did not state that requirement. An arbitrator upheld the requirement by…
Secretary of Labor v. Stony Creek Quarry Corporation
One-year limit barred reopening
Stony Creek Quarry Corporation did not contest a proposed penalty within 30 days, so the assessment became a final Commission order on April 9, 2020. The company said it left MSHA a message about the assessment and assumed the agency's operations had been disrupted by the pandemic. MSHA later…
Secretary of Labor v. Warrior Met Coal Mining, LLC
Filing errors justified reopening a default
Warrior Met Coal Mining LLC attempted to answer the Secretary's penalty petition, but the Commission's electronic filing system rejected the submission because the caption contained a typographical error. The company believed the answer had been accepted and also said it did not receive the later…
Secretary of Labor v. Richmond Material Company
Prompt motion after a missing assessment supported reopening
Richmond Material Company did not contest a proposed penalty within 30 days, so the assessment became a final Commission order. The company said it never received the assessment and first learned of it through a delinquency letter dated November 17, 2021. It also said mail at the listed address was…
Vimalraj Manoharan v. HCL America, Inc.
Repeated reconsideration arguments denied
Vimalraj Manoharan challenged H-1B wage and retaliation rulings involving his former employer, HCL America. The Board had affirmed the ALJ's back-wage summary decision, denial of two recusal motions, and dismissal of the retaliation claim for failure to prosecute. Manoharan sought reconsideration…
Knock Out Homes Incorporated
Default reinstated and citations affirmed
OSHA issued Knock Out Homes seven citation items involving housekeeping, tools, electrical safety, ladders, fall protection, and training, with proposed penalties totaling $41,349. The company timely contested but did not file an answer or respond to a show-cause order and default motion, leading…
Bergelectric Corp.
Wet-cement eyewash citation vacated
Bergelectric employees watched another contractor pour wet cement over electrical conduit at a casino construction project. OSHA cited the electrical contractor for allegedly lacking a suitable emergency eyewash where employees could be exposed to corrosive cement. The compliance officer did not…
Secretary of Labor v. Consol Pennsylvania Coal Company, LLC
Runaway rail cars showed safeguard violations
Six fully loaded supply cars separated from a brakeman car at Consol Pennsylvania Coal Company's Bailey Mine and traveled about 1,600 feet down a slope before crashing at the bottom. Two safeguards issued after a similar 2011 accident required properly maintained safety chains and couplers, along…
Administrator, Wage and Hour Division, USDOL v. Broadgate, Inc.
Administrator, Wage and Hour Division v. Broadgate, Inc. (DOL ARB 2022-0009): 14 willful H-1B posting violations affirmed
Broadgate placed H-1B workers at client sites but failed to post labor-condition application notices at the places where they actually worked. The Board held that the failures were willful because Broadgate knew the rule and had received repeated legal advice about client-site posting, while the…
National Treasury Employees Union and United States Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection
NTEU and Customs and Border Protection (FLRA 0-NG-3528): Authority rejects remote-work and separation proposals
Customs and Border Protection planned to move 47 employees to new duty stations as part of a revised training model. NTEU proposed letting current employees remain at their locations through remote work and requiring the agency to offer early retirement or separation incentives. The Authority found…
Matter of Bao Quoc DANG
Domestic-abuse battery was not a crime of violence
The Board reviewed a Vietnamese lawful permanent resident's challenge to removability based on a Louisiana misdemeanor domestic-abuse battery conviction. It held that the Louisiana statute reached mere offensive touching and therefore did not categorically require the physical force required for a…
National Treasury Employees Union and United States Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service
NTEU and IRS (FLRA 0-NG-3586): Authority rejects unlimited temporary-promotion proposal
NTEU proposed retroactive temporary promotions for IRS employees who performed higher-graded work for at least one pay period. The proposal was intended to remove the 120-day cap on backpay for noncompetitive promotions or details. A government-wide regulation requires competitive procedures for…
American Federation of Government Employees, Local 2338 and United States Department of Veterans Affairs, John J. Pershing Veterans Administration Medical Center, Poplar Bluff, Missouri
John J. Pershing VAMC and AFGE Local 2338 (FLRA 0-AR-5699): Authority expands backpay and remands attorney fees
An arbitrator found that the John J. Pershing VA Medical Center failed to pay eligible employees a Saturday premium and issued individualized backpay amounts. He denied interest, possible overtime and shift differentials, and attorney fees. The Authority held that the Back Pay Act requires interest…
Secretary of Labor v. Cactus Canyon Quarries, Inc.
Contest filing triggered Commission jurisdiction
Cactus Canyon Quarries appealed an order that gave the Secretary more time to file a penalty petition and argued that the Commission lacked jurisdiction before that petition was filed. Judge Richard W. Manning rejected that position and held that Commission jurisdiction attached when Cactus Canyon…
S & R Enterprises, LLC
Steel-hoisting citations vacated
S & R Enterprises attempted to hoist a five-ton steel grappler into a renovated power plant so it could hang as a decorative hotel-lobby feature. A padeye tore through an old overhead-crane girder during the lift, causing the load and rigging to fall and seriously injure three employees. OSHA cited…
LaRonda Phox v. The Savoy at 21C
Reconsideration of untimely appeal denied
An ALJ denied LaRonda Phox's Food Safety Modernization Act complaint and later denied her motions to stay or reconsider that ruling. The Board then dismissed Phox's petition for review as untimely. Phox requested reconsideration of the Board's dismissal. The Board found no previously unavailable…
Secretary of Labor v. JMAC Resources
Lost contest mail supported reopening
JMAC Resources mailed its notice contesting a proposed penalty on April 22, 2021, within the Mine Act's 30-day deadline. MSHA did not receive the notice, and the assessment became a final Commission order on May 6. JMAC said the notice was lost in the postal system and noted that delivery of the…
Secretary of Labor v. Thermocal Minerals of Idaho, LLC
Management transition supported reopening
Thermocal Minerals of Idaho LLC did not contest a proposed penalty within 30 days, so the assessment became a final Commission order in September 2020. The mine had recently changed management, and the departing manager did not pass the assessment paperwork to the new manager. Thermocal learned of…
Secretary of Labor v. Mach Mining, LLC
Isolated processing mistake supported reopening
Mach Mining LLC did not contest a proposed penalty within 30 days, so the assessment became a final Commission order. Its Director of Safety and Compliance failed to follow the usual procedure of immediately forwarding the assessment for review and processing. Mach Mining said this type of mistake…
Secretary of Labor v. Kerford Limestone Company
Counsel's filing error supported reopening
Kerford Limestone Company did not contest a proposed penalty within 30 days, so the assessment became a final Commission order. Kerford's counsel prepared the contest paperwork on time and emailed it to the firm's administrative staff, but the paperwork was apparently never filed. The Secretary did…
Matter of Shelley Vanessa DINGUS
Nunc pro tunc correction given effect
The Board reviewed a lawful permanent resident's challenge after a Virginia court corrected the subject matter of her controlled-substance conviction through a nunc pro tunc order. It held that the correction was based on a defect in the underlying criminal proceedings, so the original conviction…
American Federation of Government Employees, Council of Locals 222 and United States Department of Housing and Urban Development
HUD and AFGE Council of Locals 222 (FLRA 0-AR-5728): Authority upholds split bad-faith-bargaining award
AFGE Council of Locals 222 alleged that HUD bargained in bad faith during official-time negotiations and mishandled related information requests. An arbitrator found bad-faith bargaining on the official-time article but found that the evidence did not establish bad faith in responding to the…
Quentin La Grande v. Owens Corning
Reconsideration of voluntary dismissal denied
Quentin La Grande withdrew his appeal of OSHA's dismissal after reporting that he and Owens Corning had reached a mutual settlement. He changed his mind after the ALJ dismissed the case and unsuccessfully asked the ALJ and then the Board to reopen it. Two days after the Board affirmed the voluntary…
JRD, LLC dba Maslonka Powerline Services
Loader design-limits citation vacated
Two Maslonka Powerline Services employees were killed when a multi-ton utility-pole section fell from a loader's fork attachment during unloading. OSHA alleged that the loader was operated outside its design limitations because the pole was not cradled against the carriage and because the carriage…
Secretary of Labor v. Lo Down Energy, Inc.
Staff illness supported reopening
Lo Down Energy, Inc. did not contest a proposed penalty within 30 days, so the assessment became a final Commission order. The employee responsible for penalty contests was out sick when the assessment arrived and later left the job because of the illness. Lo Down said the staffing disruption…
Secretary of Labor v. Las Vegas Paving Corp.
Strong filing record supported relief from default
Las Vegas Paving Corporation did not answer the Secretary's penalty petition, and a second show-cause order became a default order. The company said it never received the petition, could not determine why, and acknowledged that a mistake occurred. It described a methodical system for tracking…
Secretary of Labor v. LRock Industries
Split-docket confusion supported relief from default
LRock Industries received citations written one minute apart, but the related penalties were placed in two separate dockets without the operator realizing it. LRock answered the petition in the first docket but not the petition in the second, and the second case went into default. The plant manager…
Vorbeck Materials
In re Vorbeck Materials (EAB TSCA 22-01Q): export-notice penalty settlement approved
EPA alleged that Vorbeck Materials violated Section 12(b) of the Toxic Substances Control Act and the Notice of Export rule requirements in 40 C.F.R. part 707, Subpart D. The complaint sought an $8,277 penalty. Vorbeck paid the penalty in full, which waived its right to contest the allegations and…
Secretary of Labor v. Lehigh Cement Company, LLC
Timely contest sent to the wrong office was reopened
Lehigh Cement Company LLC tried to contest part of a proposed penalty assessment within the Mine Act's deadline. It mistakenly mailed the contest with payment for uncontested citations to MSHA's St. Louis payment office instead of the correct office in Arlington, Virginia. Lehigh supplied proof of…
Secretary of Labor v. Cactus Canyon Quarries, Inc.
Brake alarm violation affirmed, wiper citations vacated
Cactus Canyon Quarries operates a small Texas mine that produces marble for the terrazzo industry. Judge David P. Simonton found that a dump truck's nonfunctioning low brake-pressure alarm violated the rule requiring every braking-system component to remain functional, even though the truck's…
Amiel Gross v. Saint-Gobain Corp. et al.
Media-statement retaliation theory remanded
Former in-house counsel Amiel Gross alleged that Saint-Gobain retaliated after he raised drinking-water contamination concerns. The Board left intact the dismissal of five untimely acts and agreed that a March 2021 settlement email was a routine communication rather than an adverse action. A…
Administrator, Wage and Hour Division, USDOL v. Five M's, LLC and John Morgavan
Administrator, Wage and Hour Division v. Five M's, LLC and John Morgavan (DOL ARB 2019-0014): late penalty reconsideration denied
The Wage and Hour Division assessed Five M's businesses and owner John Morgavan $38,500 in penalties for underpaying 35 employees, the ALJ reduced that amount to $8,750, and the Board previously set it at $19,250. Morgavan sought reconsideration nearly 16 months after the Board's decision. The…
Midwest Equipment Company
Three crane-assembly items affirmed
A Midwest Equipment employee was seriously injured when a 3,400-pound crane jib separated from the boom during assembly and fell on him. The Commission affirmed that Midwest failed to follow the manufacturer's lifting-strap and pivot-pin procedures, failed to ensure crew members understood their…
BC Quarries, LLC v. Secretary of Labor and Secretary of Labor v. BC Quarries, LLC
Most withdrawal orders upheld, two vacated
BC Quarries operates the Shirvan Quarry, a Pennsylvania surface mine that produces dimension stone. Judge Thomas P. McCarthy dismissed eight citation contests because BC Quarries did not timely contest the related penalty assessments, which had already become final Commission orders. Of the eleven…
Vimalraj Manoharan v. HCL America, Inc.
Wage period and retaliation dismissal affirmed
Vimalraj Manoharan sought H-1B wages for periods before he reported to HCL America and after the end of his latest approved employment petition. The Board held that he entered employment on July 17, 2015, when he first reported for work, and that his authorized employment ended March 1, 2017 under…
Quentin La Grande v. Owens Corning
Voluntary withdrawal and dismissal affirmed
Quentin La Grande withdrew his appeal of OSHA's environmental whistleblower findings after telling the ALJ that he and Owens Corning had reached a settlement. The ALJ dismissed the case with prejudice, and La Grande changed his mind a week later and sought to vacate the dismissal. The Board held…
Secretary of Labor v. Knight Hawk Coal, LLC
S&S removal authority accepted for review
A judge denied a proposed settlement because the Secretary did not provide enough information to support removing a significant and substantial designation. The judge certified the denial for interlocutory review. The Commission granted review to decide whether the Secretary has unreviewable…
What these documents are
- The agencies: Workplace-safety cases from the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC), mine-safety cases from the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission (FMSHRC), and environmental permit and penalty appeals from the EPA's Environmental Appeals Board (EAB). Each decision page names its agency.
- Commission and Board decisions: Rulings by the agency's highest review level (the Commission at OSHRC and FMSHRC, 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.