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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V.P. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Apopka, FL
19-0921 (ECAB): Back disability claim returned for specialist evaluation
V.P., a postal rural carrier, sought disability compensation following an accepted back injury. His physicians linked work limits to lumbar conditions, one of which OWCP had accepted. The Board found their reports insufficient to prove disability but sufficient to raise an uncontroverted inference…
L.W. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Louis Stokes Veterans Administration Medical Center, Cleveland, OH
19-0787 (ECAB): Overpayment upheld, fault finding reversed
L.W., a VA employee, received FECA wage-loss compensation and Social Security retirement benefits attributable to federal service for the same period. The Board upheld OWCP’s calculated $102,330.08 overpayment but found that the record did not establish she knew an offset was required. It reversed…
C.M. and Department of the Navy, Navy Reserve Forces Command, Bremerton, WA
19-0666 (ECAB): Late emotional condition reconsideration denied
C.M., a Navy program specialist, sought reconsideration of OWCP’s February 2017 denial of her emotional condition claim. OWCP received a reconsideration request in November 2018, beyond the one-year deadline. The Board rejected her argument that earlier correspondence counted as a timely request…
G.L. and U.S. Postal Service, River District Post Office, Portland, OR
19-0297 (ECAB): Life insurance premium overpayment upheld
G.L., a postal employee, owed unpaid premiums after electing postretirement basic life insurance coverage without a reduction. OWCP had not withheld the correct premiums from compensation for November 2017 through April 2018, creating a $771.36 overpayment. The Board upheld the debt, the denial of…
A.H. and Department of the Navy, Naval Facilities Enginering CMD-Station, San Diego, CA
19-0144 (ECAB): Shoulder impairment dispute sent to impartial examiner
A.H., a Navy electrician apprentice, sought a larger schedule award for a left shoulder injury. OWCP’s examiner rated the condition at three percent using the diagnosis-based method, while A.H.’s physician calculated four percent. The Board found an unresolved medical conflict over the rating and…
D.L. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Meyersdale, PA
18-0449 (ECAB): Duplicate reports did not reopen claim
D.L., a postal city carrier, requested reconsideration of an earlier OWCP claim decision. His request did not identify a new legal error or argument, and the attached medical reports were copies OWCP had already reviewed. The Board found that duplicate evidence did not satisfy the requirements for…
United States Department of Defense Education Activity and Federal Education Association, Stateside Region
Defense Education Activity and FEA Stateside Region (FLRA 0-AR-5406): Salary corrections upheld, fees remanded
The Defense Education Activity refused to count graduate coursework completed before a master's degree when placing educators in salary lanes. An arbitrator found that the agreement required credit for all qualifying degree-plus hours, ordered salary corrections and backpay, and awarded attorney…
Margaret Anne Clay (on behalf of and widow of Wayne A. Clay) v. Armco, Incorporated/AK Steel Corporation
Clay v. Armco/AK Steel (BRB 18-0473 and 18-0474 BLA): Miner and survivor awards upheld
Margaret Clay pursued benefits on behalf of her late husband Wayne Clay and sought survivor benefits for herself. After an earlier remand, the labor judge again found that Wayne's disabling chronic obstructive lung disease was related to coal mine dust exposure and awarded both claims. The employer…
Judy Wagner (on behalf of and widow of Joe H. Wagner) v. Guest Mountain Mining Corporation and Chartis Casualty Company
Wagner v. Guest Mountain Mining (BRB 18-0260 and 18-0416 BLA): miner award affirmed, survivor claim remanded
Judy Wagner pursued her late husband's black lung claim and her own survivor claim against Guest Mountain Mining and its carrier. The labor judge awarded benefits in both claims. The Board affirmed the miner's award because the employer's medical opinions did not adequately address evidence of…
Judy Wagner (on behalf of and widow of Joe H. Wagner) v. Guest Mountain Mining Corporation and Chartis Casualty Company
Wagner v. Guest Mountain Mining (BRB 18-0260 and 18-0416 BLA): Miner award upheld, survivor claim remanded
Judy Wagner pursued her late husband's black lung claim and her own survivor claim. The Board upheld the miner benefits award, finding that the labor judge reasonably rejected the employer's attempt to rebut the statutory presumption. The employer had also timely challenged the judge's appointment…
M.M. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Santa Ana, CA
19-1171 (ECAB): Late hearing request denied
M.M., a postal employee, requested an oral hearing more than a year after OWCP’s February 2018 decision. FECA provides a hearing as of right only when requested within 30 days. The Board found that OWCP also considered whether to grant a hearing in its discretion and reasonably declined because…
W.D. and Department of Homeland Security, Customs & Border Protection, Los Angeles, CA
19-1124 (ECAB): Knee injury claim lacked medical explanation
W.D., a Customs and Border Protection officer, reported hitting his knee against a metal surface at work. OWCP accepted the incident but denied his right knee condition claim. The Board found that a physician named a contusion and internal derangement without explaining how the incident caused the…
J.K. and Department of the Navy, Navy Installations Command, Portsmouth, VA
19-1009 (ECAB): Spinal surgery dispute sent to impartial examiner
J.K., a Navy substance abuse counselor with an accepted back injury, requested authorization for lumbar surgery. The Board found that OWCP had wrongly treated an earlier speculative report as creating a medical conflict. A later second-opinion report did conflict with his treating surgeon’s view of…
A.A. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Manistee, MI
19-0957 (ECAB): Disability recurrence claim lacked causal proof
A.A., a postal associate with an accepted 2016 back injury, claimed a later recurrence of disability and stopped work in December 2017. The Board found that the submitted reports did not explain how the accepted injury caused disability during the claimed period. One physician discussed a later…
C.H. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Wanamaker Branch, Indianapolis, IN
19-0642 (ECAB): Hand injury claim returned for complete case files
C.H., a postal rural carrier, claimed a right hand and wrist injury after lifting mail. OWCP denied the claim while relying on medical history from earlier cases, but the supporting records were missing from the file sent to the Board. The Board could not review evidence that had not been placed in…
J.M. and Department of the Navy, Naval Supply Systems Command, Gulfport, MS
19-0601 (ECAB): Missing examination page requires new arm rating review
J.M., a Navy materials handler, sought a larger right arm schedule award. OWCP awarded nine percent impairment, offset by seven percent previously paid, but the second-opinion report in the record lacked a page with examination findings. The Board found it could not review the rating on that…
D.T. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Teterboro, NJ
19-0579 (ECAB): Suitable-work benefit termination reversed
D.T., a postal mail handler, refused an offered modified job that OWCP deemed suitable. OWCP ended her wage-loss compensation and schedule award eligibility based on a second-opinion physician’s work restrictions. That physician had also requested further nerve testing, and OWCP had not clarified…
L.D. and Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, Dallas, TX
19-0350 (ECAB): Claim expansion denied, wage loss question returned
L.D., an IRS employee, sought to add back, shoulder, and hip conditions to an accepted injury claim and requested intermittent wage-loss compensation. The Board found that her doctor listed additional diagnoses without explaining how the accepted injury caused them. OWCP had denied the wage-loss…
D.M. and Department of the Navy, Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southwest, San Diego, CA
19-0340 (ECAB): Disability claim returned for combined case records
D.M., a Navy mechanic, claimed that a workplace fall aggravated previously accepted neck and shoulder injuries and caused disability. OWCP denied compensation after considering an earlier claim file, but that file was not included in the record before the Board. The Board could not assess whether…
G.T. and Department of the Army, Madigan Army Medical Center, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, WA
18-1302 (ECAB): Benefit termination upheld for some conditions, reversed for others
G.T., an Army medical center employee, challenged the termination of wage-loss compensation and medical benefits for several accepted conditions. The Board upheld ending medical benefits for cubital tunnel syndrome and de Quervain’s tenosynovitis, and ending wage-loss compensation for the accepted…
L.S. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Sevierville, TN
18-0340 (ECAB): Late wage calculation reconsideration denied
L.S., a postal employee, challenged an earlier OWCP finding that he had not established a 40-hour workweek before his injury. His September 2017 reconsideration request came more than a year after the March 2016 merit decision. A newly signed statement repeated a general claim about his hours but…
Edward M. Lannon v. Chevron Mining, Incorporated, self-insured through Chevron
Lannon v. Chevron Mining (BRB 19-0001 BLA): Attorney fee award upheld
Edward Lannon's counsel sought fees and expenses after a black lung benefits award. The labor judge reduced the request and awarded $6,604.58. Chevron Mining appealed, arguing that the judge should have waited until the Board decided the employer's separate appeal of the benefits award. The Board…
Elmer Madden v. Leemike Coal Company
Madden v. Leemike Coal (BRB 18-0540 BLA): Black lung benefits award upheld
Elmer Madden was awarded black lung benefits after a labor judge found 28 years of qualifying coal mine work and a totally disabling respiratory impairment. The employer argued that the judge should not have counted some surface work as comparable to underground work and that its medical experts…
K.K. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Marshall, MI
19-1193 (ECAB): Tenosynovitis injury claim lacked medical explanation
K.K., a postal employee, claimed an injury from a February 9, 2019 work incident. His physician diagnosed tenosynovitis and attributed it to the incident but did not describe the incident or explain how it caused the condition. The Board found that the medical report did not establish the necessary…
W.C. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Hinesburg, VT
19-1117 (ECAB): Schedule award denied without impairment rating
W.C., a postal sales and service associate, sought a schedule award for permanent impairment. OWCP gave him an opportunity to submit a rating under the sixth edition of the A.M.A. Guides. He did not provide a medical report establishing permanent impairment of a scheduled body member or function…
M.A. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Layton, UT
19-1085 (ECAB): Shoulder occupational disease claim lacked work facts
M.A., a postal mail carrier, claimed that her work duties caused a left shoulder condition. OWCP asked for a fuller description of the duties she believed caused or aggravated the condition. She did not supply the requested details about the work factors, so the Board found it unnecessary to assess…
M.B. and U.S. Postal Service, LAX International Service Center, Los Angeles, CA
M.B. (ECAB 19-1049): Appointments outside the shift did not qualify for wage loss
M.B., a postal clerk, requested wage-loss compensation for October 29 and December 11, 2018, and January 3, 2019, saying she attended medical appointments. The Board found that her appointments occurred outside her scheduled 11:00 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. shift. Treatment outside scheduled work hours did…
E.F. and Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Medford, OR
19-1008 (ECAB): Shoulder injury claim returned for medical review
E.F., a Bureau of Land Management employee, reported a fall onto rocks at work and claimed a right shoulder injury. OWCP denied the claim, saying no qualified physician had diagnosed a condition connected with the incident. The Board found that a physician had diagnosed an anterior shoulder sprain…
E.G. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Middleburg Heights, OH
19-0997 (ECAB): Foot condition claim lacked work-causation explanation
E.G., a postal employee, claimed that his work caused a left foot condition. His physician diagnosed a lesion of the left plantar nerve but did not identify the specific duties alleged to cause it or explain the medical mechanism. The Board found the report insufficient to link the condition to…
K.K. and U.S. Postal Service, Processing & Distribution Facility, Abilene, TX
19-0978 (ECAB): Overpayment upheld, first deposit fault finding set aside
K.K., a postal employee, received wage-loss payments after returning to work on October 9, 2018. The Board upheld the $4,310.21 overpayment. It found no proof that she knew the first direct deposit was wrong when received, but found that she should have recognized the error by the later deposit…
Z.G. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Jonesboro, GA
19-0967 (ECAB): Knee condition claim lacked medical causation proof
Z.G., a postal letter carrier, felt right knee pain while descending stairs to deliver a package. OWCP accepted the December 19, 2017 incident but denied her injury claim. The Board found that the medical reports described knee symptoms and diagnoses without a reasoned explanation of how that…
P.P. and Department of Veterans Affairs, W.G. (Bill Hefner) Veterans Administration Medical Center, Salisbury, NC
19-0738 (ECAB): Old occupational claim returned for timeliness findings
P.P., a retired VA nursing assistant, filed a 2018 occupational disease claim about work she had left in 2007. OWCP treated the claim as timely without explaining why, even though the filing came more than three years after her last exposure. The Board also could not tell whether it duplicated an…
K.F. and Department of Defense, Camp Lejeune School, Camp Lejeune, NC
19-0554 (ECAB): Back disease claim returned for combined records
K.F., a Defense Department custodial worker, claimed that repeated work over years caused a back condition. OWCP had already accepted three separate lumbar sprain claims, but their records were missing from the current occupational disease file. The Board held that the related records were needed…
S.T. and Department of Homeland Security, Federal Air Marshal Service, East Elmhurst, NY
19-0037 (ECAB): Knee claim returned after OWCP missed prior remand instruction
S.T., a federal air marshal, claimed a left knee ACL injury after a workplace fall. In an earlier decision, the Board had ordered OWCP to develop medical causation because his surgeon’s reports strongly suggested a link. OWCP instead asked S.T. for more evidence and denied the claim again without…
R.C. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Baton Rouge, LA
18-1441 (ECAB): Late reconsideration requests did not reopen claim
R.C., a postal employee, sought reconsideration of earlier OWCP claim decisions. The Board found that the requests came after the one-year filing limit. The material he supplied did not clearly show error in the prior merit decision. It affirmed OWCP’s refusal to reopen the claim.
A.G. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Campbellsport, WI
18-1257 (ECAB): Shoulder claim expansion and disability denied
A.G., a postal employee, asked OWCP to add right shoulder conditions to an accepted 2010 injury claim and sought wage-loss compensation for a December 2017 work absence. The Board found that the medical reports did not sufficiently explain how the accepted injury caused the additional shoulder…
D.K. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Coatesville Veterans Medical Center, Coatesville, PA
18-0604 (ECAB): Early knee disability recurrence returned under correct rule
D.K., a VA firefighter, claimed renewed disability shortly after returning to modified work following an accepted knee injury and surgery. OWCP asked him to prove a material worsening under a rule for recurrences after a longer return to work. The Board found that his claim arose within 90 days and…
Matter of Fernando CORDERO-GARCIA
Matter of Cordero-Garcia (BIA ID 3964): witness dissuasion treated as an aggravated felony
The Board reviewed the appeal of a respondent whose California conviction involved dissuading a witness from reporting a crime. The Board held that violating section 136.1(b)(1) of the California Penal Code is categorically an aggravated felony relating to obstruction of justice under the…
L.L. and Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, Kansas City, MO
19-1106 (ECAB): Lower back occupational disease claim denied without medical evidence
L.L., an IRS file clerk, attributed lower back pain to repeated lifting, bending, stooping, and pushing heavy carts. OWCP accepted that she performed those duties but denied her occupational disease claim. The Board affirmed because she supplied no medical report diagnosing a condition or…
J.M. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Administration Healthcare System, Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis, MO
19-1024 (ECAB): Shoulder injury incident established; medical causation remanded
J.M., a VA plumber, reported hurting his right shoulder while pushing and pulling a cable through a sewer main. OWCP rejected his account of the May 11, 2017 incident. The Board found his account sufficiently consistent and noted that his supervisor acknowledged the incident. It set aside the…
R.N. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, El Monte, CA
19-1004 (ECAB): Total disability claim denied for lack of medical rationale
R.N., a mail carrier, injured his left knee after sliding down stairs at work and sought compensation for total disability beginning March 14, 2018. OWCP accepted the injury but denied the disability claim. The Board found that his physician did not explain how the accepted injury kept him from…
J.J. and Department of the Navy, Marine Corps Logistics Base, Albany, GA
19-0984 (ECAB): Late reconsideration request rejected
J.J. sought to revisit a 2009 schedule award decision in January 2019. OWCP treated his submission as a reconsideration request, and the Board agreed because it contained no relevant evidence supporting increased permanent impairment. The request was more than one year late, and the submitted…
E.G. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Middleburg Heights, OH
19-0914 (ECAB): Plantar nerve diagnosis recognized, but work causation unproved
E.G., a letter carrier, attributed knee problems to standing, walking, climbing, bending, and lifting at work. OWCP denied the claim in part because it found no valid diagnosis. The Board’s analysis found that a podiatrist had diagnosed a left plantar nerve lesion, but neither physician explained…
B.L. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Solvang, CA
19-0852 (ECAB): Additional four hours of wage loss denied
B.L., a postal employee with accepted cervical conditions, requested wage-loss compensation for eight hours on November 30, 2018. OWCP authorized four hours but denied the other four. Her physician described pain and flare-ups but did not explain why the accepted conditions disabled her for the…
B.W. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Trenton, NJ
19-0718 (ECAB): Emotional condition claim denied for lack of reasoned causation opinion
B.W., a mail carrier, reported anxiety after discovering two people removing packages from his mail truck on December 7, 2017. OWCP accepted the incident as a compensable work factor. The Board found that Dr. Nitti supported a causal link but did not explain how the accepted incident caused the…
J.P. and Department of Labor, Mine Safety and Health Administration, Norton, VA
19-0501 (ECAB): Hearing-loss award start date affirmed
J.P. received a schedule award for nine percent binaural hearing loss and sought an earlier payment start date. OWCP began the award on August 6, 2018, the date of the audiogram the physicians used to determine maximum medical improvement. The Board found no persuasive evidence that he reached that…
S.V. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Wantagh, NY
19-0349 (ECAB): Termination for refusal of suitable work affirmed
S.V., a postal worker with accepted lumbar conditions, was offered a modified city carrier position. OWCP found the position suitable under a second-opinion physician’s restrictions and terminated benefits after she refused it. The Board found the physician’s opinion well reasoned and the competing…
A.C. and U.S. Postal Service, Aiken Post Office, Aiken, SC
18-1306 (ECAB): One percent right-leg impairment award affirmed
A.C. sought a schedule award greater than one percent for his right leg after an accepted calf strain. His treating physician rated impairment at five percent but did not explain that rating under the required medical guides. OWCP’s medical adviser rated the leg at one percent using the documented…
Willie J. Benson v. BD Long Products, LLC and Travelers Property and Casualty Company of America
Benson v. BD Long Products (BRB 19-0195): temporary total disability award upheld
Willie Benson operated a crane for BD Long Products and experienced worsening back pain. After a second flare-up, he stopped working and sought Longshore Act benefits. The labor judge found his work aggravated his back condition, that further treatment could improve it, and that he could not…
Russell L. Herndon v. Hiope Mining, Incorporated and West Virginia Coal Workers’ Pneumoconiosis Fund
Herndon v. Hiope Mining (BRB 19-0049 BLA): black lung award affirmed
Russell Herndon received a black lung benefits award after the employer conceded total disability and the labor judge found more than 24 years of underground coal mine work. That combination triggered a presumption that pneumoconiosis caused his disability. The employer argued that medical opinions…
Clora Jean Mahon v. Pikeville Coal Company
Mahon v. Pikeville Coal (BRB 18-0605 BLA): survivor benefits denial affirmed
Clora Jean Mahon sought survivor benefits after the death of her husband, who had worked underground in coal mines for 29 years. The labor judge found that the evidence did not establish total respiratory disability, so the 15-year presumption of death due to pneumoconiosis did not apply. The Board…
Jo Ann Watts v. Diamond May Coal Company
Watts v. Diamond May Coal (BRB 18-0537 BLA): survivor benefits affirmed
Jo Ann Watts sought survivor benefits after her husband, a coal miner, died. The labor judge found almost 20 years of underground work and a totally disabling respiratory impairment, then applied the presumption that his death was due to pneumoconiosis. Diamond May Coal challenged the presumption…
Estate of Marvin E. Edwards v. R & R Trucking Company and Brickstreet Mutual Insurance Company
Estate of Edwards v. R & R Trucking (BRB 18-0477 BLA): Trust Fund liability upheld
Marvin Edwards's estate received an award of black lung benefits. The Director appealed the finding that R & R Trucking was not the responsible operator and that the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund must pay. The Board held that the labor judge reasonably credited evidence of Edwards's later…
Edwin L. Freeman v. Lexie Coal Corporation and West Virginia Coal Workers’ Pneumoconiosis Fund
Freeman v. Lexie Coal (BRB 18-0439 BLA): black lung award sent back for disability findings
Edwin Freeman sought black lung benefits after working as a roof bolter and, later, a bathhouse attendant. The labor judge treated roof bolting as his usual coal mine work, found him totally disabled, and awarded benefits under the 15-year presumption. The Board's majority found that the judge had…
M.H. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Crystal Lake, IL
19-1087 (ECAB): Late hearing request denied
M.H. requested a hearing in March 2019 concerning OWCP’s June 2017 claim denial. The request came more than 30 days after that decision, so she had no hearing right. The Board found that OWCP reasonably declined a discretionary hearing because reconsideration remained available. It affirmed the…
T.M. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Madera, CA
19-0929 (ECAB): Intermittent disability claim denied
T.M. sought wage-loss compensation for intermittent periods in 2017 and 2018 and a continuous period from March to June 2018. OWCP had accepted employment injuries but found the disability evidence insufficient. The Board found that the physician’s report addressed the conditions without explaining…
H.R. and Tennessee Valley Authority, Division of Fossil & Hydro Power, Tuscumbia, AL
19-0860 (ECAB): Hearing impairment rating remanded for tinnitus review
H.R. challenged a schedule award based on one percent right-ear hearing loss. The medical evaluations also recorded tinnitus, but OWCP did not obtain a reasoned medical-adviser opinion applying the rating guides to it. The Board found that it could not decide the degree of impairment on the…
E.C. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Administration Medical Center, Canandaigua, NY
19-0854 (ECAB): Respiratory exposure claim returned for causation review
E.C. attributed respiratory problems to workplace exposure to cleaning agents. OWCP denied her claim because it found no valid medical diagnosis. The Board identified a physician’s diagnosis of airway hyperreactivity induced by chemical inhalation in the record. It set aside the denial and directed…
D.C. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Charles City, IA
19-0846 (ECAB): Parking lot injury claim returned for premises findings
D.C. reported a left leg injury in a parking lot near his postal workplace. OWCP denied the claim without enough information about whether the lot was part of the employer’s premises. The Board identified facts to investigate, including ownership, control, reserved use, and public access. It…
L.J. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Giddings, TX
19-0800 (ECAB): Duplicate payment found; overpayment amount remanded
L.J., a city carrier recovering from a shoulder injury, returned to modified work and received overlapping wage-loss payments. The Board agreed that the duplicate payment created an overpayment. OWCP’s $1,567.15 figure did not match the documented work hours, and its treatment of another duplicate…
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.