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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L.D. and U.S. Postal Service, Customer Care Center, Detroit, MI
$66,806.68 overpayment finding reversed
L.D., a postal call center employee, received wage loss payments after OWCP reduced her compensation to zero for alleged failure to cooperate with vocational testing. The Board found the second functional capacity evaluation, conducted by the same therapist after a challenged first test…
I.S. and Department of the Navy, Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, VA
Depression and PTSD not added to shipyard injury claim
I.S., a Navy rigger, sought to add depression and PTSD to an accepted physical injury claim after falling into a hole aboard a ship. His psychiatrist linked the conditions to the fall but initially omitted prior psychiatric episodes and later also described a separate workplace factor. The Board…
D.H. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, Lyons, NJ
Disability recurrence after floor fall denied
D.H., a VA housekeeping aide, returned to limited work after an accepted 2014 fall caused back strains and right leg contusions. He stopped working in April 2015 and sought total disability compensation through early June. The Board found no change in the limited job and no adequate medical proof…
R.C. and Department of Defense, Defense Logistics Agency, New Cumberland, PA
Packer nerve condition not linked to repetitive duties
R.C., a Defense Logistics Agency packer, attributed bilateral carpal tunnel and elbow nerve conditions to repetitive work duties. OWCP accepted that he performed those duties, but the Board found that his physicians did not adequately explain how the work caused or aggravated the conditions…
V.G. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, New York, NY
Continuing disability after sprains not established
V.G., a VA nurse, received benefits for neck and lumbar sprains after a workplace fall in 2011. A prior Board decision upheld termination of those benefits based on an impartial examiner’s opinion that the accepted sprains had resolved. On this appeal, her later evidence did not establish…
TMD Staffing
Machine-guarding violations affirmed
TMD Staffing supplied most of the workers at Hightower Metal Works' steel fabrication shop. TMD employees regularly operated an ironworker punch station, two press brakes, and a bending roll without required point-of-operation guards. One employee's finger was crushed while operating the bending…
B.L. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Westbury, NY
Additional spine conditions not linked to work injury
B.L., a postal clerk, was injured when a dock plate slipped and a container fell toward her, causing her to strike her head and fall. OWCP accepted face, scalp, and neck contusions. She sought to add lumbar and cervical conditions, but the Board found no reasoned medical explanation connecting…
Y.B. and Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, Mid-Pacific Region, Sacramento, CA
Emotional condition work factors not established
Y.B., who worked as a supervisory contract specialist and then a staff specialist at the Bureau of Reclamation, attributed an emotional condition to alleged assaults, supervisory actions, and other workplace stress. The Board found the alleged harassment, discrimination, and management error or…
Scott R. Gould v. Georgia Pacific Corporation and Old Republic Insurance Company
Gould v. Georgia Pacific (BRB 18-0098 and 18-0098A): disability benefits affirmed
Scott Gould injured his left shoulder while working in Georgia Pacific's carpentry shop and later underwent surgery. A judge awarded temporary and permanent disability benefits, finding that Gould could not return to his usual work but could perform suitable alternative jobs identified from July…
Aaron Gambill v. Consol, Incorporated and Consol Energy, Incorporated
Gambill v. Consol (BRB 17-0320 BLA): denial vacated for another breathing test
Aaron Gambill appealed the denial of his black lung benefits claim without a lawyer. The judge had rejected the breathing test from Gambill's Department of Labor examination as invalid and, as a result, discounted the examining doctor's opinion on total disability. The Board held that the governing…
R.A. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Corpus Christi, TX
Two percent left leg impairment award upheld
R.A., a postal mail handler, sought a larger schedule award for accepted left knee chondromalacia and a lateral meniscus tear. The Board found the medical rating supported two percent permanent impairment of the left leg and the record did not establish a higher current rating. It affirmed the…
D.B. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Administration Medical Center, Mountain Home, TN
Bilateral foot condition not linked to bed washing duties
D.B., a VA housekeeping aide, attributed foot blisters, ulcers, and calluses to work that included washing beds. OWCP accepted those duties, but the Board found that his physician did not adequately explain how they caused or aggravated the diagnosed foot conditions, including diabetic ulcers. It…
T.N. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Culver City, CA
Ankle injury incident not established
T.N., a postal processing clerk, said a mail container hit her right ankle at work in March 2017. The Board found her account lacked enough detail about the time, place, and manner of the incident and that the supporting records did not fill those gaps. It affirmed denial of the traumatic injury…
A.P. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Warrendale, PA
Forklift facial cut accepted, neck claim denied
A.P., a postal mail handler, struck his head against a forklift safety guard when the vehicle stopped abruptly at work. A paramedic documented a forehead cut at the scene, so the Board found the facial laceration established and reversed that part of OWCP’s denial. The medical record did not link a…
M.F. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Inkster, MI
Emotional condition after workplace argument denied
M.F., a postal carrier acting as a supervisor, attributed stress and chest pain to an argument with a union steward she supervised. Witnesses described the steward as loud and rude but did not support her account that he threatened bodily harm. The Board found the documented verbal dispute did not…
C.W. and U.S. Postal Service, Processing & Distribution Center, Hartford, CT
Cervical disc claim lacked medical causal explanation
C.W., a postal mail handler, felt neck pain while pulling a container toward a tow motor at work. OWCP accepted the incident and a diagnosis of cervical disc protrusion or herniation. The Board found the medical reports did not adequately explain how the work movement caused that condition. It…
R.C. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Mobile, AL
Claimed month of back disability denied
R.C., a postal sales and distribution employee, sought wage loss for September 8 through October 4, 2016 after an accepted back sprain and aggravation of lumbar degeneration. His treating physician said he could not work, but gave no examination findings or medical reasoning tying total disability…
S.B. and Department of the Army, 108th Training Command, Charlotte, NC
Fall injury not medically linked to restroom incident
S.B., an Army employee, reported becoming dizzy and falling in a workplace restroom in May 2015. OWCP accepted the incident, but the Board found no reasoned medical explanation connecting her claimed head and back contusions or neck strain to it, especially given her prior conditions. It affirmed…
G.S. and U.S. Capitol Police, Washington, DC
Late knee claim hearing request denied
G.S., a Capitol Police firearms instructor, requested an oral hearing after OWCP denied a claim involving knee and leg symptoms from prolonged standing at work. His request arrived after the 30 day deadline. The Board found that OWCP reasonably declined to grant a discretionary hearing because…
G.H. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Atlanta Medical Center, Decatur, GA
Arm and neck claim not reopened
G.H., a VA nursing assistant, sought reconsideration of a denied left arm and neck claim after a patient pulled on her hands. Her later physician report repeated earlier findings and the new imaging did not address whether the incident caused the conditions. The Board found no relevant new argument…
C.L. and Department of Defense, Education Activities, Alexandria, VA
Back condition not linked to student incident
C.L., a teacher, fell backward after a student pushed and pulled against her at work. OWCP accepted the incident, but the Board found that her physician’s report of low back pain did not adequately establish a diagnosed condition caused by it. The Board also found that a physician’s lumbar sprain…
C.F. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Lakewood, NJ
Neck and back claim not reopened
C.F., a postal carrier, sought reconsideration of a denied claim for neck and back symptoms after mail delivery work. She argued that OWCP should combine this claim with an earlier lumbar injury file. The Board found that administrative combination did not address the missing medical causal link…
A.N. and Department of Agriculture, Food & Safety Inspection Service, Fresno, CA
Left arm impairment comparison returned
A.N., a consumer safety inspector, sought an increased left arm schedule award for an accepted distal biceps injury. OWCP rejected a seven percent current rating because he had already received an 11 percent award for the same arm. The Board found that the earlier award concerned his thumb and OWCP…
W.M. and Tennessee Valley Authority, Chattanooga, TN
Hearing loss claim returned for omitted statement
W.M., a TVA custodian, attributed hearing loss to turbines, welding, grinding, and cleaning equipment at work. OWCP denied the claim in part because it said his requested supplemental statement had not arrived. The Board found that OWCP had received the statement before deciding the case and had to…
C.H. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Derry, NH
Bilateral hip claim returned for medical development
C.H., a postal rural carrier, attributed bilateral hip osteoarthritis to decades of lifting and repeated movement at work. His physician explained a potential mechanism of cartilage wear but had not supplied enough reasoning to prove the claim. The Board found the opinion sufficient to require OWCP…
S.H. and U.S. Postal Service, Carrier Annex, Frisco, TX
Wage loss reconsideration request was timely
S.H., a postal rural carrier associate, sought wage loss for a period following an accepted hip and back injury. OWCP treated her reconsideration request as late and applied the stricter clear error standard. The Board found her January 2016 letter was a timely request concerning OWCP’s December…
J.V. and Department of the Navy, Fleet Readiness Center SW, San Diego, CA
Hearing loss claim returned for missing records
J.V., a Navy mechanic, attributed hearing loss to loud machinery and test equipment at work. A second opinion examiner said he needed prior hearing tests and treatment records to assess the claim, but OWCP denied it without obtaining the employer’s hearing conservation records. The Board set aside…
National Treasury Employees Union (Union) and United States Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (Agency)
NTEU and CBP (FLRA 0-NG-3387): Road-mile travel proposals nonnegotiable
NTEU proposed defining CBP employees' official duty stations as fifty road miles in every direction rather than using a straight-line radius. It also proposed counting an entire trip as work time whenever any part extended beyond the duty-station boundary. The Authority held that road miles did not…
United States Department of the Army, 93rd Signal Brigade, Fort Eustis, Virginia (Agency) and National Association of Independent Labor, Local 11 (Union)
Fort Eustis and NAIL Local 11 (FLRA 0-AR-5292): Wrong-recipient arbitration award vacated
NAIL challenged the Army's noncompetitive placement of an intern after completion of an agency program. Article 45 required a written arbitration request to reach the Brigade Commander within ten workdays, but the union sent it to the Civilian Personnel Advisory Council and it did not reach the…
United States Small Business Administration (Agency) and American Federation of Government Employees, Local 3841 (Union)
SBA and AFGE Local 3841 (FLRA 0-AR-5239): Flood-insurance duty claim barred
A GS-6 or GS-7 SBA loan servicing assistant spent nearly all of her work time on a temporary flood-insurance project and claimed compensation for duties drawn from GS-9, GS-11, and GS-12 loan-specialist descriptions. An arbitrator issued an interim ruling that this was a higher-graded-duty claim…
M-Class Mining, LLC v. Secretary of Labor
Terminated accident-control order remained reviewable
MSHA issued a section 103(k) accident-control order after a miner at M-Class Mining's Illinois coal mine was hospitalized with suspected carbon monoxide exposure. The agency later ended its investigation, terminated the order without vacating it, and asked the judge to dismiss M-Class's pending…
Floyd A. Ricks, Jr. v. CP&O, LLC and Ports Insurance Company, Incorporated
Ricks v. CP&O (BRB 18-0202): lay representative ruling vacated
Floyd Ricks sought Longshore Act benefits for knee injuries and asked a nonlawyer to represent him before the administrative law judge. The judge denied the request twice, saying the proposed representative lacked sufficient knowledge and qualifications without explaining why. The Board accepted an…
Curtis Stilwell v. J S & K Coal Corporation and Old Republic Insurance Company
Stilwell v. J S & K Coal (BRB 17-0508 BLA): black lung benefits denial affirmed
Curtis Stilwell appealed a denial of black lung benefits without a lawyer. The judge credited him with 11.16 years of coal mine employment, too little to invoke the fifteen-year presumption. The Board found that the judge reasonably used Social Security earnings records to calculate the work…
James E. Hurley v. D D & E Mining Company, Incorporated and Commerce & Industry/Chartis
Hurley v. D D & E Mining (BRB 17-0426 BLA): benefits award remanded for disability review
D D & E Mining appealed a black lung benefits award to former miner James Hurley. The judge credited Hurley with 20.15 years of qualifying coal mine work, found him totally disabled, and applied the fifteen-year presumption. The Board upheld the work history but held that the judge had not…
A.S. and Department of Homeland Security, Federal Air Marshal Service, West Orange, NJ
Carpal tunnel claim not linked to office duties
A.S., a supervisory federal air marshal, attributed bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome to keyboard entry and other administrative tasks. OWCP accepted those duties, but the Board found the medical reports did not adequately explain how they caused or aggravated the wrist condition. It affirmed denial…
J.P. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Medford, MA
Elbow injury not medically linked to mail tray lift
J.P., a postal clerk, reported right elbow pain after lifting a mail tray from a container at work. OWCP accepted the incident, but the Board found that his physician’s form reports did not adequately explain how it caused the diagnosed elbow condition. A physician assistant’s report did not…
W.A. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Palm Desert, CA
Late shoulder claim reconsideration denied
W.A., a postal mail carrier, sought reconsideration of a denied right shoulder occupational disease claim. The Board found her request arrived after the applicable one year deadline. Her submissions did not clearly show that OWCP’s prior denial was erroneous. It affirmed the refusal to reconsider…
A.F. and Department of Defense, Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, Defense Commissary Agency, Twentynine Palms, CA
PTSD claim after bus shooting not reopened
A.F., a commissary manager, sought benefits for PTSD after gunfire struck a bus on which she was traveling for work. OWCP accepted the event and diagnosis but denied the claim for insufficient medical causation evidence. On reconsideration she submitted treatment notes that repeated earlier records…
S.P. and U.S. Postal Service, Los Angeles Distribution Center, Bell, CA
Life insurance premium overpayment returned for amount
S.P., a postal employee receiving FECA benefits, had life insurance premiums omitted from her compensation payments. The Board upheld the existence of an overpayment but found OWCP improperly offset a separate underpayment when calculating a $766.51 debt. It set aside the amount and ordered a full…
R.E. and Department of the Army, Schofield Barracks Commissary, Wahiawa, HI
$104,770 pay rate overpayment and waiver denial upheld
R.E., a former Army commissary worker, received FECA wage loss compensation calculated at an incorrect pay rate over more than two decades. The Board upheld OWCP’s $104,770 overpayment calculation for December 1988 through November 2011. Although she was without fault, the Board found the financial…
M.A. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Harrisburg, PA
Mail processing back claim not reopened
M.A., a postal mail processing clerk, attributed back pain to feeding and sweeping mail at a sorting machine. After OWCP denied the occupational disease claim, he sought reconsideration but supplied no new medical evidence addressing work causation or relevant legal argument. The Board affirmed…
K.S. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Morrow, OH
Lumbar benefit termination not reopened
K.S., a postal rural carrier injured in a work vehicle collision, sought reconsideration after OWCP terminated benefits for an accepted lumbar sprain. The Board found that her request supplied no new relevant legal argument or medical evidence meeting the standard for another merit review. It…
C.B. and Department of the Navy, Military Sealift Command, Bayonne, NJ
Old injury termination claim not reopened
C.B., a former Navy seaman, sought reconsideration of decisions concerning termination of benefits for an accepted head and neck injury. His latest request largely repeated a statement OWCP had reviewed on the merits the year before, without new pertinent evidence or a relevant legal point. The…
J.W. and Department of Homeland Security, Customs & Border Protection, L.B. Pearson International Airport, Toronto, Canada
Additional lumbar occupational claim denied
J.W., a customs officer, attributed worsening low back symptoms to a fast work schedule with fewer opportunities to change position or take breaks. He had a separate accepted back injury claim, but sought coverage for a new occupational disease. The Board found the medical reports did not…
K.H. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Baltimore, MD
Shoulder injury benefit termination upheld
K.H., a postal clerk, received benefits after a work fall caused accepted left shoulder conditions. The Board found OWCP’s medical evidence sufficient to terminate wage loss and medical benefits effective July 20, 2015. Her later reports did not prove continuing injury related disability or…
J.A. and Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service National Office, Richmond, VA
Earning capacity modification denied
J.A., an IRS clerk with accepted elbow and nerve conditions, sought modification of a 2010 loss of wage earning capacity determination. She argued that her condition had materially worsened and included fibromyalgia. The Board found her physician did not adequately explain why the accepted…
Secretary of Labor obo Kelly Rawley v. J.L. Sherman Excavation Co. and Pamela and Jeffrey Sherman
Retaliation settlement approved
The Secretary alleged that J.L. Sherman Excavation and its owners retaliated against miner Kelly Rawley for protected safety activity and interfered with his right to contact MSHA. The dispute followed earlier proceedings that had required Rawley's reinstatement, back pay, advance notice before…
Secretary of Labor v. Canyon Fuel Company, LLC
Separate-assessment confusion supported reopening
Canyon Fuel did not receive or process a proposed penalty assessment before the 30-day contest deadline. The company also mistakenly believed the citation would appear on the same assessment form as another citation from the inspection. When the later form omitted it, counsel checked MSHA's system…
Secretary of Labor v. Mark Augustine, employed by Metzger Removal, Inc.
Individual penalty reopened for settlement
Counsel for Metzger Removal moved to reopen a final individual penalty assessment against its employee Mark Augustine under section 110(c). The Secretary supported reopening so the assessment could be included in a global settlement of the outstanding matters involving Augustine and the operator…
J.F. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Chicago, IL
Right arm impairment rating returned
J.F., a postal letter carrier, sought a schedule award above 23 percent impairment of his right arm for accepted nerve and elbow conditions. The Board found the rating needed further review under OWCP’s procedure for comparing diagnosis based and range of motion methods where allowed. It set aside…
H.M. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Charlotte, NC
Right knee injury lacked qualified medical evidence
H.M., a postal city carrier, said she struck her right knee on a steel loading dock corner at work. OWCP accepted the incident, but the submitted clinical notes and work restrictions came from physician assistants. The Board found those reports could not establish medical causation under FECA and…
D.P. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Ottawa, IL
$39,466.53 overpayment upheld, one deposit returned
D.P., a postal city carrier assistant when injured, received total disability compensation while also earning private sector wages. The Board upheld the $39,466.53 overpayment. It found him at fault for direct deposits from June 28, 2014 onward, but set aside the fault finding for the June 13…
V.G. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Philadelphia, PA
Carpal tunnel impairment dispute returned
V.G., a postal distribution clerk, sought a schedule award for accepted right carpal tunnel syndrome. Her physician found permanent arm impairment, while OWCP’s medical adviser found none. The Board found an unresolved medical opinion conflict and set aside the award denial. It returned the case…
M.K. and Tennessee Valley Authority, Division of Nuclear Power, Soddy Daisy, TN
Lumbar injury not linked to screen removal
M.K., a TVA craftsman, reported back symptoms after helping remove heavy wash screens at work. OWCP accepted the March 2016 work incident. The Board found that his medical reports did not adequately explain how it caused the diagnosed lumbar condition. It affirmed denial of the traumatic injury…
K.C. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Boston, MA
Left hip osteoarthritis claim returned for impartial opinion
K.C., a retired postal carrier, attributed worsening left hip osteoarthritis to decades of walking and other delivery duties. OWCP obtained an impartial examiner’s opinion to address conflicting medical views. The Board found that opinion equivocal and insufficiently reasoned about whether work…
Century Communities, Inc., dba Century Communities of GA
Crane power-line violation affirmed
Century Communities was the developer and construction manager for a residential subdivision where subcontractors used a crane to place roof trusses. The crane came within 20 feet of energized overhead lines rated at approximately 119.15 kV, causing an electrical arc that seriously injured one…
United States Department of Defense, Education Activity, U.S. Department of Defense Dependents Schools (Agency) and Federal Education Association (Union)
DOD Dependents Schools and FEA (FLRA 0-AR-5124 et al.): Overseas-debt fee awards vacated
DOD schools sought to recover alleged overpayments of housing, cost-of-living, and other overseas allowances from teachers in Europe. Unions grieved inadequate debt notices and hearings as well as inaccurate calculations, and several arbitrators ordered multistage audits under the Debt Collection…
C.H. and Department of Homeland Security, Customs & Border Patrol, Yuma, AZ
Wrist scar did not qualify for disfigurement award
C.H., a border patrol agent, sought an additional schedule award for scarring after surgery for an accepted left wrist injury. The Board held that FECA’s disfigurement award covers the face, head, and neck, but not a wrist scar. It affirmed denial of the additional award.
W.C. and Department of the Navy, Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, VA
Hearing award increased by 1.8 weeks
W.C., a retired Navy employee, had received six weeks of compensation for three percent hearing impairment in both ears. The Board found his 15 percent left ear loss yielded 7.8 weeks under the separate one ear formula, a greater benefit. It modified the schedule award to use the left ear rating…
E.J. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Fredericksburg, VA
Vehicle collision injury not medically established
E.J., a postal rural carrier associate, reported head and neck injuries after his postal vehicle was struck from behind at work. OWCP accepted the collision, but the Board found the medical opinions did not adequately connect diagnosed conditions to it. It affirmed denial of the traumatic injury…
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.