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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S.M. and U.S. Postal Service, Chicago Processing & Distribution Center, Chicago, IL
18-0837 (ECAB): Knee and elbow award claim remanded for medical rating
S.M., a postal tractor trailer operator, sought schedule awards for accepted left knee and right elbow conditions. Her physician supplied impairment ratings and said those conditions had reached maximum medical improvement. OWCP denied the claim based on planned back surgery without sending those…
B.B. and Department of the Interior, Sequoia National Park Services, Three Rivers, CA
18-0782 (ECAB): Denial of larger right leg award and reconsideration denial affirmed
B.B., a park firefighter, sought more than the 20 percent right leg impairment award already paid. The Board found the new rating evidence did not establish greater impairment under the required guide. His later reconsideration request expressed disagreement and repeated an earlier report without…
J.D. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Albany Veterans Hospital, Albany, NY
18-0616 (ECAB): Claimed recurrence of total disability denied
J.D., a VA employee with an accepted lumbar sprain, claimed total disability beginning August 13, 2014. The Board had previously found the medical evidence insufficient for that period. Her additional reports attributed disability to disc and nerve conditions that OWCP had not accepted, but did not…
Jacobs Field Services, North America
Electrical PPE violation affirmed
An apprentice electrician suffered an arc flash while terminating wiring in a 480-volt disconnect after removing protective gloves, a face shield, and a hood under the employer’s work practice. The load side was de-energized, but energized line-side components remained inches away and the arc…
Mallisia M. Palmer v. Huntington Ingalls Industries, Incorporated
Palmer v. Huntington Ingalls (BRB 18-0572): lay representative disqualification upheld
Mallisia Palmer sought increased longshore disability benefits and asked for Lamarr Brown to represent her in the administrative hearing. On an earlier appeal, the Board required the judge to explain why Brown did not qualify as a lay representative. On remand, the judge again denied the request…
Jerry Lee Brock v. Cloverlick Coal Company, LLC
Brock v. Cloverlick Coal (BRB 18-0067): modified benefits award upheld
Jerry Brock requested modification of an earlier black lung benefits denial. The judge found complicated pneumoconiosis arising from coal mine work, triggering the irrebuttable presumption of total disability due to the disease, and awarded benefits. Cloverlick challenged both its responsibility…
Joshua Harmon v. Coal Carriers, Incorporated
Harmon v. Coal Carriers (BRB 18-0045): black lung benefits award upheld
Joshua Harmon received a black lung benefits award after a remand for reconsideration of lung function studies and medical opinions. The judge found at least 15 years of qualifying mine work and total respiratory disability, triggering the statutory presumption. Coal Carriers challenged the…
B.K. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Ozark, AL
Rural carrier duties established, but shoulder claim denied
B.K., a rural mail carrier, said repetitive casing and reaching to mailboxes caused right shoulder pain. OWCP denied his occupational disease claim, finding that he had not established the alleged work factors. The Board found his account consistent with his supervisor’s report and accepted the…
R.B. and Department of the Army, Corpus Christi Army Depot, Corpus Christi, TX
Shoulder impairment award returned for a complete rating
R.B. sought a larger schedule award for his left shoulder. OWCP rejected his physician’s rating because it lacked three separate range of motion measurements and concluded that his total impairment did not exceed earlier awards for his shoulder and injured fingers. The Board found that OWCP had not…
D.A. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Administration Medical Center, Dallas, TX
Lung impairment upheld; schedule award pay rate remanded
D.A., a VA vocational nurse, challenged both the lung impairment percentage and the pay rate used for her schedule award. The Board found no evidence supporting more than the four percent impairment OWCP had already awarded. OWCP had used June 2, 2008 as the pay rate date even though the employer…
F.C. and Department of Defense, Defense Logistics Agency, Fort Belvoir, VA
Right eye loss warrants full 160-week schedule award
F.C. sought more than the 32 weeks of compensation OWCP awarded for a 20 percent right eye impairment. OWCP’s medical adviser had used a measure for the entire visual system rather than the single eye. Although F.C. retained light perception, the medical evidence showed more than 80 percent vision…
A.J. and Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, Pedricktown, NJ
Missed telephone hearing request held abandoned
A.J. requested a telephone hearing after OWCP granted a schedule award for her left upper extremity. OWCP mailed notice to her address of record more than 30 days before the scheduled February 14, 2018 hearing and supplied a number to call. She did not call in, request postponement, or explain the…
Z.B. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Knoxville, TN
Claimed recurrence of total disability denied
Z.B., a postal clerk, claimed renewed total disability after an accepted aggravation of spondylolisthesis. Her physician described back pain and several other medical conditions, but did not adequately explain how the accepted injury caused total disability in January 2016. Work excuse notes and…
Secretary of Labor obo Jason Wylie v Allegheny Mineral Corporation and Secretary of Labor v. Allegheny Mineral Corporation
Secretary of Labor obo Jason Wylie v. Allegheny Mineral Corporation (FMSHRC PENN 2018-275): Confidential settlement conference scheduled
The Judge had separated Jason Wylie's discrimination-relief claim from the related civil-penalty proceeding after the Secretary withdrew from a proposed combined settlement. Allegheny Mineral then asked to approve the same compensatory-relief terms with Wylie, but the record conflicted on whether…
K.R. and U.S. Postal Service, Network Distribution Center, Jersey City, NJ
Mail handler’s traumatic injury claim denied
K.R., a postal mail handler, attributed neck, shoulder, and hand conditions to throwing mail into containers at work. OWCP accepted that the September 8, 2016 incident occurred but denied her injury claim. Her physician diagnosed several conditions but initially gave no opinion tying them to that…
M.B. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Oshkosh, WI
Left knee injury claim denied for insufficient medical evidence
M.B., a mail carrier, fell on cement while putting on grippers and sought treatment for her left knee. OWCP accepted that the incident occurred but denied the injury claim. The Board found that a physician assistant’s report could not supply a medical opinion under FECA. The physician reports did…
N.C. and Department of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration, Los Angeles, CA
Compensation overpayment and denial of waiver upheld
N.C. received wage loss compensation calculated from an incorrect pay rate over several years. OWCP recalculated the payments and found a $73,961.51 overpayment for October 30, 2005 through April 29, 2017. The Board upheld the amount. Although N.C. was without fault, he did not provide the…
K.L. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Melville, NY
Left shoulder claim denied for lack of medical causation
K.L. claimed a left shoulder injury after an accepted work incident. Her emergency treatment documented a sprain but did not explain its cause. Another physician diagnosed a rotator cuff strain and tear, but mainly repeated K.L.’s account and checked a causation box without medical reasoning. The…
S.B. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Louisville, KY
Knee benefit termination reversed; other medical terminations upheld
S.B., a postal carrier, had accepted injuries from a work vehicle collision. OWCP ended benefits after a second opinion examination. The Board found no remaining symptoms or examination findings requiring treatment for the accepted abdomen and neck conditions. The second opinion physician, however…
R.L. and Department of the Navy, Space and Naval War Systems Command, North Charleston, SC
Late reconsideration request properly denied
R.L. sought reconsideration of an earlier denial of her emotional condition claim. Her request reached OWCP more than one year after the Board’s July 27, 2015 merit decision. The Board found the request untimely and held that her later statements and evidence did not show clear error in the prior…
J.H. and Department of the Army, Sustainment Command, Fort Richardson, AK
Schedule award, wage loss, and late hearing rulings upheld
J.H., an Army mechanic, sought a schedule award and challenged the end of wage loss benefits after accepted neck and back injuries. The Board found no medical rating of impairment to a scheduled body member under the required guides. It gave weight to an impartial physician’s examination finding…
Ontario Exteriors, Inc.
Roof fall citation affirmed with lower penalty
Ontario Exteriors directed employees to cross a steep second-story roof without fall protection when moving between the eave and peak at the start and end of each workday. The judge held that the residential construction fall-protection rule applied during those brief movements and that the company…
Melvin L. Copeland, Jr. v. Ceres Marine Terminals, Incorporated
Copeland v. Ceres Marine Terminals (BRB 18-0188): reconsideration of late modification denied
Melvin Copeland asked the Board to reconsider its decision upholding the dismissal of his untimely longshore modification request. His new motion alleged problems with advice from his prior attorney but did not address why the request was found late. The Board held that the motion supplied no basis…
Matthew Martin v. Aegis Defense Services, LLC
Martin v. Aegis Defense Services (BRB 18-0122 and 18-0122A): injury benefits award upheld
Matthew Martin fractured his neck during employer training, returned to work protecting a U.S. embassy in Afghanistan, and later had a work-related aggravation of that injury. A judge awarded disability benefits and assigned liability for the later period to Allied World, the insurer when the…
A.E. and Department of Defense, Defense Commissary Agency, Fort Bliss, TX
Claimed recurrence of knee disability denied
A.E., a commissary cashier, had an accepted 1991 knee injury and later returned to work. She claimed renewed total disability after stopping work in January 2016. Her physician described knee pain, swelling, and examination findings, but did not explain that the accepted injury caused total…
P.S. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Almont, MI
Postal worker’s back condition claim denied
P.S., a mail processing clerk, attributed back problems to years of lifting, reaching into hampers, and pushing mail containers. OWCP accepted that she performed those tasks but denied the new claim for lack of a reasoned medical causation opinion. The Board noted her separate earlier accepted…
W.B. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Administration Medical Center, Austin, TX
Claimed workplace fall lacked essential details
W.B., a VA accounting technician, reported ankle, knee, head, and neck injuries after a fall. The record gave different brief descriptions of where and how she fell while entering work. Her claim referred to an email that was not received, and she did not answer OWCP’s request for a fuller account…
B.B. and Department of Justice, Federal Correctional Institution, Greenville, IL
Termination of injury benefits reversed
B.B., a federal prison sports specialist, was struck in the face by a soccer ball while supervising a tournament. OWCP later ended her benefits based on an impartial physician’s opinion that her injury had resolved. The Board found that physician’s report used an inaccurate account of the accepted…
A.M. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Indianapolis, IN
Request to reopen shoulder claim denied
A.M., a postal clerk with accepted right shoulder conditions, requested reconsideration after OWCP found her injury related disability and residuals had ended. Her request repeated that she still had symptoms and could not perform regular work, but did not present a new legal argument. The medical…
J.D. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Conyers, GA
Termination of emotional condition benefits reversed
J.D., a postal supervisor, received compensation for accepted work related post traumatic stress disorder and depressive conditions. OWCP ended benefits based on a referral physician’s reports. The Board found that physician had not adequately explained why J.D.’s continuing major depression was…
Steve B. Conley v. National Mines Corporation
Conley v. National Mines (BRB 17-0435): reconsideration denied and counsel awarded fees
National Mines sought reconsideration of a Board decision in Steve Conley's black lung case. The Board denied it because no panel member voted to change the decision; the employer's new Appointments Clause argument was raised too late. Conley's counsel also requested $1,562.50 for work before the…
Mary Virginia Clark, on behalf of Larry Ronald Clark v. Mountain Mining Company, Incorporated
Clark v. Mountain Mining (BRB 17-0423): reconsideration denied and attorney fees awarded
Mountain Mining asked the Board to reconsider its earlier decision in Larry Clark's black lung case. No panel member voted to change it, and the employer's Appointments Clause challenge was raised only after the merits decision. Counsel for Clark's estate requested $3,562.50 for work before the…
P.Y. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Attica, MI
Right hip occupational disease claim denied
P.Y., a postal sales and distribution clerk, attributed right hip pain and arthritis to her work duties. Her physician instead related her hip problems to earlier left knee injuries and noted hip joint narrowing. The Board found the reports did not provide a firm diagnosis and reasoned explanation…
C.L. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, South Euclid, OH
Right wrist claim denied for lack of reasoned causation
C.L., a letter carrier, reported wrist burning, swelling, and hand cramps while delivering mail. Her physician diagnosed de Quervain’s tenosynovitis and described mail sorting and delivery as potential causes of overuse. The Board found that the reports did not explain how the movements in the…
G.G. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Monsey, NY
Late reconsideration of forfeiture ruling denied
G.G. sought reconsideration of a compensation forfeiture decision involving eBay sales earnings she had not reported on required EN1032 forms. Her request reached OWCP more than one year after the Board’s January 9, 2015 merit decision. She repeated that the sales belonged to a friend and were not…
M.C. and Department of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration, Ronkonkoma, NY
Shoulder injury claim denied despite accepted lifting incident
M.C., a transportation security screener, felt a pull in her right shoulder while lifting baggage at work. OWCP accepted that the incident occurred. Her doctors described shoulder symptoms and diagnosed conditions, but the Board found their reports lacked a sufficiently reasoned explanation…
B.E. and Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, Philadelphia, PA
Termination of wage loss and medical benefits upheld
B.E., an IRS employee, received benefits after an accepted lumbar injury from a fall on stairs. Her attending physician and an OWCP referral physician disagreed about continuing injury residuals and disability. OWCP sent her to an impartial orthopedic surgeon. The Board found his examination and…
Y.C. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Philadelphia, PA
Request to add right shoulder condition denied
Y.C., a letter carrier, sought to add a right shoulder condition to a claim for an accepted 2001 work injury. A physician later identified a rotator cuff tear and attributed shoulder problems to the old work injury. The Board found the medical evidence did not adequately explain how the 2001 injury…
A.T. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Gaithersburg, MD
Termination of postal worker’s benefits upheld
A.T., a postal clerk, received benefits for accepted right shoulder, arm, wrist, and hand conditions. Her treating physician and an OWCP referral physician disagreed about whether those conditions still caused disability. OWCP obtained an impartial orthopedic examination. The Board found that…
D.B. and U.S. Postal Service, Trenton Carrier Annex, Trenton, NJ
Letter carrier’s leg injury claim denied
D.B., a postal letter carrier, reported ankle and shin pain and swelling while walking his route. OWCP accepted the reported work incident but denied his injury claim. The physician reports used a different onset date and described several possible leg and knee conditions without a clear causal…
C.M. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Warren, MA
Reduced wage loss based on data entry work upheld
C.M., a postal clerk with an accepted shoulder injury, had been receiving compensation for total disability. A second opinion physician found she could work full time within lifting and arm use limits, and her treating physician agreed. OWCP used vocational rehabilitation and identified data entry…
P.L. and Department of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration, Oakland, CA
Reconsideration of wage loss claim denied
P.L., a transportation security screener, had an accepted hand fracture and sought wage loss for medical appointments and physical therapy. He argued on reconsideration that OWCP should pay for time attending treatment. The Board noted his employment had ended before the claimed appointment dates…
M.E. and U.S. Postal Service, Elmhurst Post Office, Elmhurst, IL
Bilateral knee occupational disease claim denied
M.E., a mail carrier, attributed knee arthritis to decades of standing, carrying mail, walking, and climbing stairs. Her physician linked knee changes to both her postal duties and earlier knee surgeries. The Board found that his affirmative causation opinion did not explain the medical mechanism…
N.B. and U.S. Postal Service, Williamsbridge Station, Bronx, NY
Social Security offset overpayment and repayment upheld
N.B. received Social Security age benefits while also receiving FECA compensation, producing an offset related overpayment. The Board upheld OWCP’s $69,227.73 calculation. His financial records showed monthly income exceeded allowable monthly expenses by about $1,000, and he did not show…
J.W. and Department of the Army, Expeditionary Contracting Command
Workplace assault found within duty; injury question remanded
J.W., an Army quality assurance specialist, reported being hit and shoved into a filing cabinet during an altercation with a coworker at a deployed work site. OWCP denied his claim because it viewed the dispute as personal. The Board found that the employees’ work setting and close contact created…
D.P. and Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration
Termination of long running benefits upheld
D.P., a former air traffic controller, received benefits for accepted asthma aggravation, fatigue, and fibromyositis. OWCP ended those benefits after medical review. The Board found the termination supported and assessed later reports claiming continued symptoms. Those reports did not adequately…
E.M. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, Loma Linda, CA
Claimed recurrence of shoulder disability denied
E.M., a VA maintenance mechanic supervisor, had an accepted clavicle fracture after a case fell onto his shoulder. He returned to modified work and later claimed a recurrence of disability. He did not show a change in the light duty job and needed medical evidence of worsening of the accepted…
C.L. and Social Security Administration, Northeastern Program Service Center, Jamaica, NY
Workplace fall claim lacked medical diagnosis
C.L., a Social Security contact representative, slipped on a wet floor while entering work. OWCP accepted the fall but denied the injury claim. An emergency room work excuse and discharge instructions did not identify a specific diagnosis or tie one to the incident. The Board found the medical…
S.H. and Social Security Administration, Richmond, CA
Right shoulder impairment rating upheld at 10 percent
S.H. sought a larger schedule award for an accepted shoulder condition. An earlier physician had rated 26 percent impairment using shoulder range of motion, but a later examination found normal motion. OWCP’s medical adviser explained that the rating rules required selecting the most significant…
D.W. and Federal Reserve Board, Washington, DC
Carpenter’s injury claim lacked physician diagnosis
D.W., a Federal Reserve carpenter, claimed a muscle strain or pinched nerve after a work incident. OWCP accepted that the event occurred but denied the injury claim. The Board found that the submitted medical material did not contain a signed physician report diagnosing an injury in connection with…
M.V. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Minneapolis, MN
Elbow and thumb conditions not linked to delivery incident
M.V., a rural mail carrier, reported pain in both elbows and his left thumb after work. His treating physician documented symptoms and diagnoses but did not adequately explain how the particular accepted incident caused or aggravated those conditions. The Board found the reports insufficient to…
G.M. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Buffalo, NY
Shoulder claim denied for insufficient causation evidence
G.M., a mail handler, heard a pop in her shoulder while lifting or carrying a heavy object at work. An emergency physician diagnosed rotator cuff tendinitis but did not give an opinion on its cause. Later treatment reports did not supply the reasoned causal explanation needed to establish the…
R.M. and Department of Veterans Affairs, White City Domiciliary, White City, OR
Lung cancer claim denied for lack of asbestos causation opinion
R.M., a retired VA housekeeping officer, claimed that workplace asbestos exposure caused lung cancer. OWCP accepted the exposure, and medical records documented the cancer and surgery. His treating physicians did not give an opinion explaining the cause of the cancer. The Board found that…
A.B. and Department of Justice, U.S. Marshals Service, Washington, DC
Overpayment upheld; fault finding set aside
A.B., a Deputy U.S. Marshal, received one extra direct deposit after his hearing loss schedule award expired. The Board agreed that the $5,547.86 payment was an overpayment. It found OWCP had not shown that A.B. knew the first incorrect electronic payment was wrong when it arrived. The Board set…
M.H. and Department of the Army, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Wage loss reduction based on quality assurance work upheld
M.H., an Army Corps mechanic with accepted shoulder and neck conditions, had received wage loss benefits. A medical assessment found he could perform sedentary work despite limits on overhead activity. A vocational counselor identified quality assurance manager work available in his commuting area…
P.B. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Coram, NY
Shoulder injury and reconsideration denials upheld
P.B., a city carrier, felt pain in his left shoulder while lifting a parcel from a hamper. OWCP accepted the incident but denied the claim because the medical evidence did not sufficiently link a shoulder condition to it. The Board upheld that assessment. P.B. also sought reconsideration without a…
P.D. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Poland, OH
No increased left leg schedule award
P.D., a letter carrier, had an accepted knee strain and quadriceps tendon rupture after a work fall. He sought additional schedule compensation, supported by a physician’s 13 percent impairment rating. An OWCP medical adviser disagreed, and an impartial orthopedist rated current impairment at seven…
C.H. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Administration Medical Center
Compensation reduction for nonparticipation in rehabilitation upheld
C.H., a VA nursing assistant with accepted back conditions, received disability compensation. OWCP directed her to participate in vocational rehabilitation after medical evidence indicated she could work within limits. The rehabilitation counselor had difficulty reaching her and continuing the…
T.R. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Georgetown, KY
Wrist and thumb occupational disease claim denied
T.R., a rural mail carrier, attributed carpal tunnel syndrome and a trigger thumb to years of sorting, loading, and delivering mail. Her physician checked a box saying the carpal tunnel condition was most likely aggravated by work. The Board found that opinion speculative and insufficiently…
C.O. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Administration Medical Center
Termination of vocal cord injury benefits reversed
C.O., a VA nurse, had an accepted vocal cord paralysis claim after exposure to airborne irritants at work. OWCP terminated benefits based on an impartial doctor’s opinion that irritants could not have caused the paralysis. The Board held that this opinion challenged whether the accepted injury had…
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.