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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R.F., representative of the estate of E.S. and Department of Defense
Life insurance overpayment finding returned for documentation
After E.S. died, OWCP sought to recover a claimed $21,453.93 overpayment based on life insurance premiums it said it had failed to deduct from her compensation. Her son, representing the estate, appealed. The Board found no signed election form supporting one category of coverage and could not tell…
S.K. and Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, Richmond, VA
Unreviewed statement requires new injury decision
S.K., an IRS agent, claimed injuries from a June 12, 2017 incident. OWCP denied the claim, saying she had not supplied the factual details it requested. The record showed OWCP had received her additional information on November 6, before issuing the denial. The Board held that OWCP had to consider…
S.C. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Monroe Township, NJ
Ankle claim expansion returned for medical clarification
S.C., a city carrier assistant, rolled her ankle after tripping over a cord at work. She asked OWCP to add diastasis, cystic changes, and an intra articular bone condition to the accepted claim. OWCP’s referral physician said the additional conditions should not be accepted, but did not explain his…
R.B. and U.S. Postal Service, Priority Annex
Knee and ankle claim denied for lack of medical causation
R.B., a postal mail handler, twisted her knee in an employee parking lot at work. OWCP accepted that the incident occurred but denied her claim. Medical reports described work restrictions and disability without explaining the cause of a diagnosed knee or ankle condition. The Board found the…
I.D. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office
Wrist and hand occupational disease claim denied
I.D., a postal employee, claimed a right wrist and hand condition from her work. A physician diagnosed a sprain but gave no opinion about its cause and did not describe her mail clerk duties. The Board found no reasoned medical evidence connecting the condition to the accepted work factors. It…
I.T. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office
Carpal tunnel schedule award denied
I.T., a rural carrier, sought a schedule award for accepted carpal tunnel syndrome in both hands. Her physician said the symptoms had resolved and she could return to full duty. The reports did not state a date of maximum medical improvement or provide an impairment rating under the required…
B.B. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office
Left wrist injury claim denied for insufficient explanation
B.B., a postal distribution employee, claimed a left wrist injury from a work incident. One physician diagnosed a wrist sprain and called it work related without describing the incident or explaining how it caused the condition. Other medical reports did not fill that gap. The Board found the…
J.A. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office
Request to add shoulder conditions denied
J.A., a postal mail handler, injured his shoulder while pulling a stuck mail container. OWCP accepted a right shoulder strain. He sought to add other shoulder conditions, but the medical reports did not adequately connect those diagnoses to the accepted incident. The Board found the evidence…
J.H. and Department of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration
Loss of wage earning capacity ruling left in place
J.H., a transportation security officer with an accepted back injury, argued that OWCP calculated his earning capacity using a later job rather than only the two jobs he held when injured. The Board explained that OWCP may consider earnings from work begun after an injury when those earnings fairly…
M.F. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office
Mail handler’s neck and shoulder claim denied
M.F., a mail handler, reported neck, shoulder, arm, and head symptoms after lifting a tub of mail. A physician diagnosed several conditions, including cervical strain and shoulder bursitis, but did not explain how the lifting produced them, especially in light of earlier conditions. The Board found…
D.S. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office
Claimed injuries after workplace trip denied
D.S., a rural carrier, tripped while stepping down at her mail case and reported pain in several areas. Diagnostic studies showed degenerative and other findings but did not explain their cause. The Board found the medical reports did not adequately link the claimed conditions to the accepted…
Secretary of Labor v. Poland Sand & Gravel, LLC
Temporary equipment route required a protective berm
Poland Sand & Gravel used excavators, a wheeled tow dolly, and a backhoe on an elevated bench to install a water clarifier at its New York mine. The bench had a 6- to 8-foot drop-off and no berm along about 42 feet of its edge. Judge Jacqueline R. Bulluck held that the bench functioned as a roadway…
B.M. and Department of Veterans Affairs
Request to reopen workplace fall claim denied
B.M., a VA food service supervisor, claimed injuries after tripping over a coworker’s walker. She sought reconsideration of an earlier claim denial and said she had not received OWCP’s development questionnaire. The Board found the notice had been properly mailed to her address of record and that…
E.B. and Department of Defense
Late reconsideration of benefit termination denied
E.B. sought reconsideration of an earlier termination of benefits for an accepted knee injury. OWCP received his request more than one year after its March 16, 2017 merit decision. He maintained that medical reports showed continuing injury residuals and disability. The Board found the request late…
L.A. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office
Reconsideration of benefit termination denied
L.A., a city carrier assistant, had accepted injuries after a work vehicle accident. OWCP later terminated her wage loss compensation and medical benefits. She requested reconsideration of that termination. The Board found her request did not satisfy the rules for reopening the merits and affirmed…
M.N. and Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons
Claimed injuries from stuck door denied
M.N., a federal prison cook supervisor, felt pain while opening a stuck food service door. His physician recorded M.N.’s account and diagnosed conditions but did not give an independent, reasoned opinion that the door incident caused them. The Board found a repeated patient history insufficient to…
C.W. and U.S. Postal Service, Cincinnati Network Distribution Center
Schedule award request returned for merit review
C.W., a postal mail handler, sought a schedule award for an accepted right foot fracture. His original request lacked medical evidence, but he later submitted a physician’s rating of one percent right lower extremity impairment. OWCP treated the submission as an untimely reconsideration request and…
M.S. and Department of Justice, Bureau of Prisons
Wage loss suspension for missing earnings form upheld
M.S., a federal prison teacher receiving benefits for an accepted lumbar strain, was asked to complete an EN1032 form reporting employment and earnings. OWCP mailed the form and warned that benefits would be suspended if it was not returned within 30 days. The record did not show a completed form…
A.S. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Pasco, WA
Reconsideration of postal injury claim denied
A.S., a letter carrier, had accepted neck and back sprains after slipping in a postal parking lot. He requested reconsideration and referred to a separate OWCP claim. The Board found he did not present a new relevant legal argument or pertinent evidence meeting the requirements for reopening this…
K.L. and Department of the Air Force, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base
Toxic exposure occupational disease claim denied
K.L., a retired Air Force aerospace engineer, attributed several health conditions to workplace metals including mercury, lead, and cadmium. A physician generally stated that toxic exposure had compromised her health but did not explain how specific work exposures caused the claimed diagnoses. The…
M.V. and Department of Homeland Security, Citizenship and Immigration Services
Claim expansion for additional spine conditions denied
M.V., an immigration records analyst, slipped on a wet floor at work. OWCP accepted cervical and lumbar sprains. Her physician later identified degenerative cervical changes and a lumbar disc herniation, but did not explain that the fall caused or aggravated those additional conditions. The Board…
Wrangler Pumping, Inc. dba Garbage Gators
Settlement reopening request dismissed
OSHA cited Wrangler Pumping for twenty alleged violations and proposed penalties totaling $64,868. After initially contesting the citations, the company negotiated and signed an informal settlement agreement with the assistance of an attorney and a safety consultant. The agreement became a final…
P.B. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Alexandria, VA
Emotional condition claim after workplace assault denied
P.B., a city carrier, claimed an emotional condition after an incident with another employee at work. Some medical reports gave no opinion on cause. Another physician attributed depression, anxiety, and post traumatic stress symptoms to the incident but did not provide adequate medical reasoning…
S.K. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, St. Petersburg, FL
FECA wage loss ended after election of VA disability benefits
S.K., a former postal carrier and Marine, had an accepted work related aggravation of foot and other conditions. He also received VA disability benefits. The Board found that his election of VA benefits for the same disability barred concurrent FECA wage loss compensation from December 14, 2014. It…
S.G. and Environmental Protection Agency, Region VI, Dallas, TX
Emotional condition claim lacked compensable work factor
S.G., an EPA branch secretary, attributed stress and aggravated myalgia to alleged harassment, bullying, and unfair treatment by managers. The Board reviewed the incidents she identified, including grievances and an equal employment opportunity complaint. It found the record did not substantiate…
Magnum Contracting, Inc.
Unsecured forklift platform violation affirmed
Two Magnum Contracting foremen used a rough-terrain forklift to raise an employee on a work platform for welding. They did not secure the platform with the provided chain and moved the occupied forklift horizontally, causing the platform to slide off the forks and fall about 12 feet. The judge held…
Secretary of Labor obo Delbert Leimbach v. Huber Carbonates, LLC
Temporary reinstatement granted
Delbert Leimbach testified that he assisted MSHA in another miner's discrimination investigation, reported concerns about dust-sampling practices, and was later excluded from safety matters before Huber Carbonates suspended and terminated him. Huber disputed the reasons for the termination and…
D.F. and Department of the Navy, Marine Corps Air Station Camp Lejeune
Firefighter’s back incident established; medical issue remanded
D.F., a firefighter and paramedic, was on a 48 hour duty shift at a fire station when he bent to stretch his sore back and felt a pop. OWCP denied his claim because it doubted the incident occurred as described. The Board found his account sufficiently consistent and accepted the incident. OWCP had…
C.C. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, St. Louis, MO
Back injury claim after mail tray lifting denied
C.C., a letter carrier, said she injured her lower back while lifting trays of mail. OWCP accepted that the incident occurred but denied the injury claim. The Board found the medical reports did not sufficiently explain how the lifting caused or aggravated her lumbar condition. It affirmed the…
H.C. and U.S. Postal Service, Suburban Processing and Distribution Center
Back claim denial upheld on different ground
H.C., a postal tractor trailer operator, felt a pull in his back while lifting a defective trailer door. OWCP denied the claim on the ground that no condition had been diagnosed. The Board found the record included a diagnosis, but the physician’s reports did not adequately explain how the door…
B.J., son of W.H. and Department of the Army, Red River Army Depot
Survivor claim denied as untimely
B.J. filed a survivor claim in May 2017 following his father’s death in December 2001. The Board applied FECA’s filing deadline and found the claim arrived too late. It found no basis in the record to treat the delayed filing as timely and affirmed OWCP’s denial.
G.E. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office
Wage loss reduction for receptionist work reversed
G.E., a postal mail handler with an accepted back condition, was assessed for alternate work. OWCP selected a sedentary receptionist position, but its second opinion physician limited G.E. to two hours of sitting. The job required sitting most of the workday, and OWCP had not asked the physician…
J.L. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office
Claimed injury from moving mail bags denied
J.L., a postal express mail clerk, felt leg and hip pain while moving heavy mail bags into a container. The Board had previously found earlier evidence insufficient. A new physician report did not provide a reasoned explanation connecting a diagnosed injury to the accepted incident. The Board…
C.S. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Administration Medical Center, Leavenworth, KS
Carpal tunnel occupational disease claim denied
C.S., a VA medical administration officer, attributed hand symptoms and carpal tunnel syndrome to increased keyboard work. Medical records documented diagnoses and earlier conditions. The Board found the physicians did not adequately explain how the accepted duties caused or aggravated the claimed…
S.E. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office
Suitable work refusal termination upheld
S.E., a letter carrier with accepted hand and wrist conditions, disputed OWCP’s termination of compensation after she refused a job offer. The Board found the work suitable under the record and upheld the termination. Her reconsideration request repeated material OWCP had already considered and did…
United States Environmental Protection Agency, Region 5 (Agency) and American Federation of Government Employees, Council No. 238, Local 704 (Union)
EPA Region 5 and AFGE Local 704 (FLRA 0-AR-5335): Promotion discrimination award vacated
EPA Region 5 selected another applicant for a senior counsel position. The union grieved the decision, alleging that the agency passed over its employee because of his Mexican-American national origin, and an arbitrator found discrimination. The Authority vacated the award after reviewing the…
Matter of A.J. VALDEZ and Matter of Z. VALDEZ
Signed applications presume knowledge of their contents
The Board reviewed the removal case of a Venezuelan husband and wife whose applications for permanent resident status falsely said that the husband worked as a minister at a Catholic church. The respondents argued that they did not know what they signed because the applications were in English and…
Department of the Navy, Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, New Hampshire (Agency) and New England Regional Council of Carpenters, Local 3072 (Petitioner/Labor Organization) and Portsmouth Federal Employees Metal Trade Council, AFL-CIO (Incumbent/Labor Organization)
Portsmouth Naval Shipyard unions (FLRA BN-RP-16-0020): Authority orders severance election
Plastic fabricators and shipwrights at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard belonged to a large metal-trades bargaining unit but had historically relied on a Carpenters local for day-to-day representation. After the Carpenters' parent organization left the AFL-CIO, the incumbent council removed the local…
R.A. and Department of the Army, Red River Army Depot
Right hand occupational disease claim denied
R.A., an Army equipment repairer, claimed carpal tunnel syndrome and trigger finger from his work. Two physicians did not explain whether work caused the conditions, and a third physician opined that the carpal tunnel syndrome was not work related. The Board found the medical causation evidence…
G.C. and Office of Personnel Management
Termination of long standing injury benefits reversed
G.C. had accepted neck and shoulder conditions from a 1979 work vehicle collision. OWCP ended benefits using an impartial orthopedic examination meant to resolve conflicting medical opinions. The Board found the examiner had received an inaccurate statement of accepted facts that misstated her…
T.R. and Department of Justice
Shoulder impairment rating needs complete motion measurements
T.R. sought an increased schedule award for an accepted left shoulder condition. The examining physicians’ range of motion readings differed and lacked the required three sets of measurements. OWCP’s medical adviser recommended a new independent examination, but OWCP issued its decision without…
A.T. and Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection, Corpus Christi, TX
Right leg impairment award remained at two percent
A.T., a customs officer, injured his right knee after stepping into a hole and later underwent surgery. One physician estimated a three percent impairment, while OWCP’s medical adviser calculated two percent under the applicable guides. The Board found no adequate basis for an additional schedule…
J.N. and Department of the Navy, Naval Sea Systems Command
Social Security offset overpayment and recovery upheld
J.N., a Navy employee, received FECA compensation and Social Security retirement benefits without the required offset for August 2008 through November 2016. The Board upheld OWCP’s $57,434.82 overpayment finding. It also reviewed his income, expenses, and assets and found the $500 deduction from…
T.G. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office
Shoulder claim after pushing container denied
T.G., a postal clerk, reported shoulder pain after pushing a mail container through a partly blocked doorway. A physician diagnosed a sprain and later called the shoulder condition work related. The Board found the opinion lacked sufficient medical reasoning explaining how the pushing caused the…
R.C. and Department of Veterans Affairs
Occupational disease and reconsideration denials upheld
R.C., a VA employee, attributed several physical and emotional symptoms to increased casework and a performance plan. OWCP denied the claim for lack of adequate medical evidence of a diagnosed condition linked to the work factors. Her reconsideration request repeated earlier arguments and submitted…
Ovation Plumbing, Inc.
Case remanded for settlement review
An administrative law judge had affirmed a fall-protection violation and assessed a $1,000 penalty, and that decision became a final Commission order. Ovation Plumbing petitioned the Tenth Circuit for review. The court granted the parties’ joint request for a limited remand so their settlement…
United States Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Federal Correctional Institution, Phoenix, Arizona (Agency) and American Federation of Government Employees, Local 3954, Council of Prison Locals #33 (Union)
FCI Phoenix and AFGE Local 3954 (FLRA 0-AR-5318): Fifteen-minute shift award vacated
Facing an overtime-budget shortfall, FCI Phoenix assigned non-custody officers to cover custody posts and moved a small group of their start times fifteen minutes earlier. An arbitrator agreed that the agreement allowed augmentation but found that the unannounced fifteen-minute change violated an…
H.C. and U.S. Postal Service, Shared Services Center
Shoulder impairment rating returned for complete evidence
H.C., a postal clerk with accepted left shoulder conditions, sought an increased schedule award. OWCP’s medical adviser calculated a lower rating without receiving the most recent physician report. OWCP also had not sought complete range of motion measurements under its rating procedures. The Board…
Y.K. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Hunter Holmes McGuire Hospital, Richmond, VA
Back injury claim from patient transfer denied
Y.K., a VA nurse, reported low back pain after transferring a patient. A physician diagnosed lumbar ligament sprain and called it a work injury but did not explain how the transfer caused the sprain. Other notes came from physician assistants and did not supply a qualifying physician opinion. The…
S.J. and Department of Veterans Affairs
Hand and arm occupational disease claim denied
S.J., a VA nurse, attributed right arm and hand symptoms to federal work including frequent typing. A physician diagnosed carpal tunnel syndrome and possible nerve entrapment. He did not explain how the work tasks caused or aggravated those conditions. The Board found the medical causation evidence…
R.R. and Department of the Air Force
Right shoulder impairment remained at 23 percent
R.R. had accepted right shoulder conditions and surgery after a work injury. He sought a schedule award beyond the 23 percent already granted. The Board found his submitted evidence did not establish greater impairment under the applicable guides. It affirmed OWCP’s denial of an increased award.
S.J. and Department of Veterans Affairs
Late reconsideration of benefit termination denied
S.J., a VA food service worker, sought reconsideration after OWCP ended compensation for an accepted injury. OWCP received her request more than one year after the last merit decision. She said additional medical evidence was attached, but the record contained no such evidence. The Board found no…
M.J. and Department of Veterans Affairs
Left ankle impairment award remained at five percent
M.J., a VA social worker, fractured her left ankle after falling on ice in an employee parking lot and later had surgery. She sought a larger schedule award, supported by a physician’s 14 percent rating. The Board found that rating did not properly apply the required impairment guides and gave…
K.M. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office
Driving accident claim returned for duty facts
K.M., a postal customer service supervisor, crashed her personal vehicle after taking mail to a processing plant. OWCP treated the accident as off duty. She said delivery to the plant was required work, she remained on the clock, and she was returning toward her postal facility rather than heading…
E.B. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office
Claims for further total disability denied
E.B., a rural carrier associate, was injured in a work vehicle accident. She later sought wage loss for two periods in 2014 and 2015 and again from June 2016. Some supporting notes came from a nurse practitioner, and the physician reports did not adequately explain disability caused by the accepted…
R.R. and U.S. Postal Service, West Scranton Post Office
Back injury claim and reconsideration denied
R.R., a city carrier assistant, reported a back injury after slipping on ice while working. OWCP accepted that the February 7, 2018 incident occurred but found the medical evidence insufficient to connect a back condition to it. The Board agreed that the medical reports did not establish causation…
B.W. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office
Finger condition claim denied
B.W., a customer care agent, claimed a condition affecting the fingers of both hands from her work. OWCP accepted that she used a keyboard and mouse during her duties. The Board found that the medical reports did not adequately explain how those activities caused or aggravated a diagnosed…
J.V. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office
Compensation terminated after refusal of suitable work
J.V., a letter carrier, had accepted lumbar conditions and had received compensation after several surgeries. The Postal Service offered work within the restrictions identified by an impartial medical examiner; OWCP found the position suitable. The Board found that the offered position was suitable…
A.G. and Department of Justice, U.S. Marshals Service
Additional hearing loss award affirmed
A.G., a retired U.S. Marshal, received a schedule award for work-related hearing loss. He sought a larger award than the 32 percent binaural impairment already recognized. The Board found that the medical evidence did not establish greater permanent impairment. It affirmed OWCP’s schedule award…
E.H. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office
Additional right leg impairment award denied
E.H., a letter carrier, had an accepted aggravation of right hip osteoarthritis and underwent hip replacement surgery. He sought a larger schedule award for permanent impairment of the right lower extremity. The Board found that the medical evidence did not establish more than the 31 percent…
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.