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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Secretary of Labor v. Castillo Ready Mix, Inc.
Timely contest made reopening unnecessary
Castillo Ready Mix believed its intended contest of Citation No. 9355405 had been misplaced while the employee responsible for the paperwork was seriously ill. The Secretary's records instead showed that the assessment was delivered on October 17, the contest was mailed on October 27, and MSHA…
Secretary of Labor v. San Juan Coal Co.
Clerical-error penalty contest reopened
San Juan Coal's safety manager selected four citations for contest and sent that information to accounts payable. A clerical error caused the contest form to be mailed with payment for the uncontested citations to MSHA's St. Louis office rather than to the Arlington contest office. After learning…
D.S. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Pittsburg, PA
Board rejects inconsistent timeliness denial of postal worker’s knee claim (ECAB 18-0208)
D.S., a postal postmaster, claimed that work caused bilateral knee problems. OWCP said his claim was filed in February 2013 but also said it came more than three years after a December 2012 injury date. The Board found those findings inconsistent and the actual filing date unclear. It set aside the…
K.B. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Charlotte, NC
Board returns clerk’s back disability claim for combined-file review (ECAB 17-2004)
K.B., a postal clerk with accepted back injuries from 2010 and 2011, claimed lost work hours in April 2017. OWCP treated the request as a recurrence claim and denied it without combining the two related injury files. The Board held that both files were needed to decide whether her disability…
R.M. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Philadelphia, PA
Board upholds end of custodian’s benefits and denial of emotional condition (ECAB 17-1673)
R.M., a postal custodian, sought recognition of depression and anxiety as consequences of an accepted fall at work. The Board found his physicians did not adequately explain how the accepted injuries caused those conditions. It also credited an impartial orthopedic examiner who found the accepted…
T.M. and Department of the Navy, Parris Island Marine Corps Base, Parris Island, SC
Board upholds Navy worker’s $11,462.78 benefit overpayment (ECAB 17-1482)
T.M., a former Navy worker, received FECA wage loss payments while also receiving a federal-service portion of Social Security retirement benefits. The Board upheld OWCP’s $11,462.78 overpayment calculation for October 2015 through March 2017. It found him at fault because he had been told the…
K.P. and Department of the Army, Finance & Accounting Division, Fort Huachuca, AZ
Board orders hearing before Army worker’s overpayment is finalized (ECAB 17-1396)
K.P., a former Army voucher examiner, disputed an alleged $183,933.85 compensation overpayment tied to periods of unreported work. She requested a pre-recoupment hearing within 30 days of the preliminary notice. OWCP finalized the overpayment without holding or addressing that hearing. The Board…
C.D. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Bellmawr, NJ
Board upholds denial of additional shoulder and spine conditions (ECAB 17-1357)
C.D., a postal worker, sought to add left shoulder and spinal conditions to an accepted injury claim after a work fall. Her treating physician attributed the diagnoses to the fall without explaining the medical mechanism. An OWCP examiner gave a reasoned opinion that the evidence did not support…
S.J. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Fort Worth, TX
Board upholds denial of postal clerk’s right knee claim (ECAB 17-0636)
S.J., a postal sales and distribution associate, linked a right knee condition to standing, walking, lifting, and twisting at work. OWCP accepted those duties as work factors. Her physician diagnosed knee conditions but did not describe the duties in sufficient detail or explain medically how they…
D.G. and U.S. Postal Service, East Liberty Station, East Liberty, PA
Board upholds denial of postal worker’s emotional condition claim (ECAB 17-0514)
D.G., a postal employee, attributed an emotional condition to assignments, a denied promotion, a warning letter, and claimed harassment and discrimination. The Board found no proved error or abuse in the employer’s administrative actions and no sufficiently corroborated harassment or…
P.T. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Bronx, NY
Board upholds end of mail handler’s shoulder treatment benefits (ECAB 16-1633)
P.T., a postal mail handler, had an accepted right shoulder contusion after a cart struck her in an elevator. OWCP ended treatment benefits after its second opinion physician found the accepted contusion had resolved. The Board found no contemporary medical evidence of continuing residuals from…
United States Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service (Agency) and National Treasury Employees Union, Chapter 247 (Union)
IRS and NTEU Chapter 247 (FLRA 0-AR-5322): Reduced suspension upheld
The IRS imposed a fourteen-day suspension after an employee fought with a coworker. An arbitrator found discipline warranted but reduced the suspension to seven days because the agency treated an expired reprimand as an aggravating factor. The Authority held that the Internal Revenue Manual did not…
Peabody Twentymile Mining, LLC v. Secretary of Labor and Secretary of Labor v. Peabody Twentymile Mining, LLC
Peabody Twentymile Mining, LLC v. Secretary of Labor (FMSHRC WEST 2017-553, WEST 2017-247 R, WEST 2017-248 R): Feeder fishing violation modified and imminent danger vacated
Peabody Twentymile miners used a long hooked rod to remove wood and metal from a feeder, a decades-old practice called “fishing.” Judge Richard W. Manning held that fishing was preventive maintenance because it kept the feeder, pick breaker, and belt efficient and avoided later shutdowns, so the…
United States Environmental Protection Agency (Agency) and National Treasury Employees Union (Petitioner/Labor Organization)
EPA and NTEU (FLRA WA-RP-18-0011): Remote employee remains outside headquarters unit
An EPA employee moved from the Washington, D.C. area to Washington State and began working remotely full time while continuing to report to headquarters. Her official duty station changed to Buckley, Washington, and the agency removed her from a unit certified for professional employees employed by…
Secretary of Labor v. NALC, LLC
Stairway and falling-rock citations affirmed with reduced negligence
NALC contested two citations at its Indiana quarry. Judge David P. Simonton affirmed an S&S housekeeping violation because loose, slick material covered the bottom two stairway steps and footprints showed miners had crossed it. He reduced negligence to low because management intended to clean the…
R.R. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, New York, NY
Board reverses postal worker’s $2,655.66 overpayment (ECAB 18-0032)
R.R., a postal worker, elected federal retirement benefits while receiving FECA compensation. OWCP found an overpayment for June 27 through July 22, 2017, but the record did not show that she actually received retirement payments during that period or that the retirement agency failed to reimburse…
W.H. and Department of Justice, Bureau of Prisons, Fort Dix, NJ
Board upholds denial of correctional officer’s right hand claim (ECAB 18-0004)
W.H., a correctional officer, attributed right carpal tunnel syndrome, trigger finger, and ulnar neuropathy to repeated hand movements at work. His physician described them generally as repetitive injuries but did not explain how the specific duties caused or aggravated them or address a…
C.N. and U.S. Postal Service, Processing & Distribution Center, Oakland, CA
Board returns mechanic’s back claim for medical clarification (ECAB 17-1751)
C.N., a postal maintenance mechanic, had an accepted ankle and foot injury and sought to add a back condition, back surgery, and later disability. OWCP’s second opinion physician said the injury may have aggravated an earlier back condition, depending on prior treatment records. OWCP obtained those…
R.T. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Brooklyn, NY
Board upholds denial of additional cervical condition after postal worker’s fall (ECAB 17-1230)
R.T., a postal worker, sought recognition of a cervical spine condition after an accepted fall in November 2015. His physician said the fall accelerated preexisting cervical disease but did not explain the medical process or rule out its natural progression. Other reports did not provide a reasoned…
R.C. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Brick, NJ
Board upholds denial of postal clerk’s right shoulder claim (ECAB 17-0372)
R.C., a postal window clerk and dispatcher, reported shoulder pain after pushing and pulling a mail container at work. OWCP accepted that the September 25, 2014 incident occurred. Her medical reports diagnosed shoulder problems but did not adequately explain how that work movement caused or…
M.C. and U.S. Postal Service, Vehicle Maintenance Facility, Baltimore, MD
Board upholds postal clerk’s existing arm impairment awards (ECAB 16-1645)
M.C., a postal clerk with accepted upper extremity conditions, sought larger schedule awards. OWCP’s second opinion physician rated bilateral carpal tunnel impairment at five percent per arm and found no further ratable impairment from the other accepted conditions. The Board found his assessment…
Secretary of Labor v. Alcoa World Alumina, LLC
Rank-and-file employee was not Alcoa's agent
A contractor employee was severely burned by caustic liquid while a crew cleared a blocked pipe at Alcoa's alumina plant. Alcoa accepted three S&S violations but disputed high negligence and unwarrantable failure. The Commission affirmed findings that Alcoa employee Steven Alvarado was not acting…
E.C. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Administration Medical Center, Canandaigua, NY
Board orders VA worker’s asthma claim files combined (ECAB 18-0186)
E.C., a VA worker, filed a respiratory condition claim after OWCP had accepted asthma from a prior chemical exposure. OWCP referred to evidence in the earlier file while denying the new claim, but that file was absent from the record before the Board. The Board ordered the related files combined…
N.L. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Santa Clarita, CA
Board orders review of medical report received before denial (ECAB 18-0166)
N.L., a postal worker, requested reconsideration and submitted a physician’s report addressing her work activities and diagnosed conditions. OWCP said it had received no new medical evidence, although the report arrived the day before its decision. The Board held that OWCP had to consider evidence…
D.R. and Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service National Office, Richmond, VA
Board finds IRS worker’s reconsideration request timely (ECAB 18-0165)
D.R., an IRS worker, requested reconsideration after OWCP sustained termination of her wage loss benefits. OWCP measured the one-year filing period from an earlier decision and called her February 2017 request late. The Board found the last merits decision was issued in December 2016, making the…
C.C. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Akron, OH
Board again returns postal worker’s overpayment for missing Social Security evidence (ECAB 18-0079)
C.C., a postal worker, disputed an alleged $21,256.31 overpayment from overlapping Social Security and FECA benefits. After an earlier Board remand, OWCP asked Social Security to explain the offset start date but issued a final decision before getting an answer. It also failed to give a new…
E.H. and U.S. Postal Service, Alamo Heights Post Office, San Antonio, TX
Board returns distribution clerk’s shoulder impairment claim for new rating (ECAB 17-1931)
E.H., a postal distribution clerk, sought larger schedule awards for both shoulders. Her physician used range of motion and rated 18 percent right arm and 19 percent left arm impairment; OWCP’s adviser used a diagnosis method and reached lower ratings. The Board found OWCP had applied the methods…
F.K. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Charlotte, NC
Board orders proper medical rating of carrier’s left leg impairment (ECAB 17-1596)
F.K., a postal worker, sought more than her existing three percent left leg schedule award. Her treating physician and OWCP’s second opinion physician both proposed ten percent, but neither explained a rating under the required guide. The Board held that OWCP needed a complete second opinion rating…
T.C. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Lakewood, CA
Board orders merits review of carrier’s increased foot impairment claim (ECAB 17-0800)
T.C., a letter carrier, submitted a new medical report seeking an increased leg schedule award for later foot impairment. OWCP treated the request as reconsideration of an old award and refused merits review. The Board held that a claim based on later progression and new impairment is an additional…
O.Y. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Little Rock, AR
Board upholds denial of carrier’s wrist and shoulder claim (ECAB 17-0651)
O.Y., a postal carrier, said a large mailbox fell while her hand was on it, injuring her wrist and shoulder. OWCP accepted that the December 12, 2015 incident happened. Her records described pain and diagnoses, but lacked a reasoned medical explanation connecting a diagnosed condition to the…
M.C. and Department of the Army, Research, Development & Engineering Command, Picatinny Arsenal, NJ
Board returns Army worker’s left arm award for consistent rating (ECAB 17-0586)
M.C., an Army program support specialist, sought a larger schedule award for left arm impairment after a wrist injury. She had already received an award for 12 percent impairment. The Board found OWCP’s use of diagnosis and range of motion methods for upper extremity ratings inconsistent. It set…
B.R. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Anacoco, LA
Board upholds denial of carrier’s emotional condition claim (ECAB 17-0108)
B.R., a letter carrier, reported stress after discovering a deceased customer while delivering a package. The Board found she had gone beyond her assigned delivery work when she called a friend, knocked, and looked into the customer’s home from the porch. It treated those actions as voluntary…
American Federation of Government Employees, Local 1633 (Union) and United States Department of Veterans Affairs, Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, Houston, Texas (Agency)
AFGE Local 1633 and Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center (FLRA 0-AR-5319): Overtime grievance denial upheld
The VA instructed supervisors to approve overtime only when employees worked in the same grade and job series as their official positions. AFGE grieved after health technicians could no longer work overtime shifts as nursing assistants without notice and bargaining. An arbitrator found that the…
United States Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, El Paso, Texas (Agency) and American Federation of Government Employees, Local 1929, National Border Patrol Council (Union)
CBP El Paso and AFGE Local 1929 (FLRA 0-AR-5304): Administrative-duty backpay award vacated
Customs and Border Protection assigned an agent to administrative duty after an off-duty arrest for driving under the influence and kept him there while his driver's license was restricted. An arbitrator found that the agency should have returned him to regular duty when he obtained a limited…
United States Department of the Navy, Navy Region Mid-Atlantic, Norfolk, Virginia (Agency) and International Brotherhood of Police Officers, Local 800 (Union)
Navy Region Mid-Atlantic and IBPO Local 800 (FLRA 0-AR-5291): Agility-test award vacated
The Navy announced an instruction requiring security police officers to complete an annual physical agility test. The union filed several unfair-labor-practice charges alleging that the Navy implemented the instruction without bargaining, then later filed a grievance when the test was applied at…
United States Small Business Administration (Agency) and American Federation of Government Employees, Local 3841 (Union)
Small Business Administration and AFGE Local 3841 (FLRA 0-AR-5260): Late arbitration award vacated
AFGE waited about six months after invoking arbitration to send the Small Business Administration a form that the agreement required within fourteen days. The arbitrator found the submission late but treated the grievance as arbitrable because the agency did not object before the hearing and…
F.H. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Jacksonville, FL
Board orders merits review of mail processor’s increased impairment claim (ECAB 18-0110)
F.H., a postal mail processor, submitted a physician-signed report seeking an increased schedule award after a cervical injury. OWCP said the report lacked a physician signature and denied merits review. The Board found the physician had signed it and that a later impairment claim may be made at…
O.W. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Urbana, IL
Board upholds end of postal worker’s back injury benefits (ECAB 17-1881)
O.W., a postal worker, challenged the end of benefits for an accepted 1993 back injury. The Board found OWCP’s medical evidence supported that the accepted injury no longer caused disability or treatment needs. Later reports did not adequately connect current disability to that injury. It affirmed…
N.H. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Boston, MA
Board orders three knee claim files combined (ECAB 17-1790)
N.H., a postal worker, claimed that work permanently aggravated left knee arthritis. She had two earlier claims involving the same knee, but OWCP had not combined those records with the current claim. The Board held that the related files were needed for a fair review. It ordered OWCP to combine…
J.H. and Department of the Navy, Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, VA
Board upholds shipwright’s $603.77 compensation overpayment (ECAB 17-0592)
J.H., a Navy shipwright, received wage loss compensation covering April 1 through 6, 2013 after returning to work. The Board upheld the $603.77 overpayment and found him at fault because he had been told to return payments covering work periods. Fault barred waiver of recovery. The Board did not…
I.H. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, St. Charles, MO
Board upholds denial of postal worker’s stress-related heart claim (ECAB 17-0505)
I.H., a postal worker, attributed a heart condition to stress from a proposed removal and other workplace actions. The Board found the disciplinary proposal was an administrative matter and he had not shown employer error or abuse in that action. With no compensable work factor established, it did…
M.M. and Department of the Interior, Fish & Wildlife Service, Hadley, MA
Board upholds denial of schedule award for Lyme disease (ECAB 17-0197)
M.M., a Fish and Wildlife biological science technician, had an accepted tick bite and Lyme disease. He sought a schedule award for permanent impairment. His physician proposed a whole person rating for pain, but FECA requires ratable impairment of a scheduled body member or function. The Board…
L.G. and Department of Homeland Security, Citizenship & Immigration Services, Irving, TX
Board reverses rescission of immigration worker’s accepted emotional condition (ECAB 17-0124)
L.G., an immigration services employee, had an accepted adjustment disorder following a workplace fall. OWCP later rescinded acceptance, saying the supporting physicians lacked an accurate history of earlier psychological symptoms. The Board found those physicians knew about the prior symptoms and…
Nathan Lewis, Sr. v. ADM Grain River System, Incorporated
Settlement appeal reconsideration denied
Nathan Lewis asked the Board to reconsider its earlier decision affirming dismissal of his settlement challenge. After reviewing his arguments, no panel member voted to change the ruling. The Board denied reconsideration and affirmed its February 2018 decision. The order did not reopen the…
Barry R. Herb v. R&D Coal Company, Incorporated and American Mining Insurance Company
Barry R. Herb v. R&D Coal Company, Incorporated (BRB 17-0371 BLA): benefits and operator designation affirmed
Barry Herb won black lung benefits. R&D Coal disputed its designation as responsible operator, pointing to a more recent employer. The Board found that its insurance evidence did not prove the later employer was covered on the final day of Herb's work there. It affirmed R&D Coal's liability and the…
Cleo Matney (widow of Stuard Matney) v. Island Creek Coal Company
Survivor benefits award affirmed
Cleo Matney won black lung survivor benefits. Island Creek Coal attempted to rebut the presumption that pneumoconiosis caused her husband's death. The Board upheld the judge's rejection of the employer's medical opinions and finding that the employer had not disproved death causation. It affirmed…
Regina K. Buckley (widow of Fred A. Buckley) v. Shrewsbury Coal Company and Valley Camp Coal Company
Regina K. Buckley (widow of Fred A. Buckley) v. Shrewsbury Coal Company (BRB 17-0132 BLA): survivor award remanded for rebuttal review
Regina Buckley won black lung survivor benefits under the presumption of death due to pneumoconiosis. The Board majority found that the judge applied too strict a standard to employer rebuttal and did not weigh all relevant medical evidence together. It vacated the award and remanded to a new judge…
Loretta I. Meade (widow of James Meade) v. Talman, Incorporated
Late reconsideration denied and Board fee approved
Talman asked the Board to reconsider its earlier decision in Loretta Meade's black lung survivor claim. The Board held that the request was untimely and denied it. It also approved an uncontested $5,700 fee for Meade's counsel's work before the Board. The order did not reopen the benefits award.
Shahwali Shah v. Worldwide Language Resources, Incorporated
Attorney fee rates remanded
Shahwali Shah's counsel challenged fee awards for work on a Defense Base Act case. The Board found that the attorney hourly rate findings needed further analysis. It remanded the rate issue while affirming other parts of the judge's and district director's fee awards. The final fee amount remains…
Kao v. Areva Inc.
Nuclear whistleblower claim returned for hearing
Engineer Shih-Ping Kao alleged that Areva fired him after he raised nuclear safety concerns. An administrative law judge dismissed his Energy Reorganization Act complaint without a hearing, finding that Areva would have fired him for insubordination even without the protected activity. The Board…
American Federation of Government Employees, Local 933 (Union) and United States Department of Veterans Affairs, Medical Center, Detroit, Michigan (Agency)
AFGE Local 933 and Detroit VA Medical Center (FLRA 0-AR-5311): Bedbug-pay grievance denial upheld
VA hospital housekeepers sought higher-grade and environmental differential pay for using steam equipment in areas with bedbugs. An arbitrator found that the employees were sanitizing within their position descriptions, while a professional pest-control company handled extermination. He also found…
United States Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, El Paso, Texas and American Federation of Government Employees, National Border Patrol Council, Local 1929
CBP El Paso and AFGE Local 1929 (FLRA 0-AR-5187): Checkpoint inspection award set aside
CBP issued a memo directing when Border Patrol agents at El Paso checkpoints should refer vehicles to a secondary inspection area. An arbitrator found that the memo changed conditions of employment and that CBP violated the labor statute and union agreement by failing to bargain before issuing it…
Secretary of Labor v. Sunbelt Rentals, Inc.
Inadequate preheat-tower examination affirmed after remand
A Sunbelt scaffold erector was injured by material falling inside a cement-plant preheat tower. On remand from an earlier Commission decision, Judge Thomas P. McCarthy held that Sunbelt's workplace examination was inadequate because its examiners looked into the vessel only through sixth-floor…
Matter of L-M-P-
DHS may seek reconsideration and asylum was unavailable after removal reinstatement
The Board reviewed the Department of Homeland Security's challenge to an Immigration Judge's grant of asylum to a Guatemalan applicant whose prior removal order had been reinstated after an unlawful reentry. The Board held that DHS may file a motion to reconsider in Immigration Court and that an…
William Mugerwa v. Aegis Defense Services
Broad medical releases vacated in discovery dispute
William Mugerwa, a Ugandan security guard who worked in Afghanistan, claimed that an abdominal condition was work-related. The employer sought signed releases to obtain more medical records, and an administrative law judge ordered Mugerwa to sign them. The Board held that a judge can compel a…
Gary Wayne Carmical v. Triple C Coal, Incorporated and Employers Insurance of Wausau
Gary Wayne Carmical v. Triple C Coal, Incorporated (BRB 17-0357 BLA): black lung benefits award affirmed
Gary Carmical won black lung benefits under the statutory presumption. The employer challenged the judge's treatment of medical opinions offered on rebuttal. The Board found the challenged opinions supported Carmical rather than the employer's burden. It affirmed the award.
Ralph W. Ross v. Consolidation Coal Company/Consol Energy Incorporated
Black lung benefits award affirmed
Ralph Ross won black lung benefits after remand. Consolidation Coal challenged the finding that it failed to rebut the statutory presumption. The Board upheld the judge's assessment of legal pneumoconiosis and disability causation. It affirmed the award.
West Bay Exploration Co., Haystead #9 SWD
In re West Bay Exploration Co., Haystead #9 SWD (EAB UIC Appeal No. 18-01): informal appeal dismissed as premature
Peter C. Bormuth asked the Environmental Appeals Board to review EPA Region 5's alleged denial of his request to terminate West Bay Exploration Company's UIC permit for the Haystead #9 SWD well in Michigan. Region 5 had not issued a final response, and Bormuth argued that the Region's delay was an…
Raheel Khan v. Veritiss, LLC
Khan v. Veritiss (BRB 17-0556): Defense Base Act benefits award affirmed
Raheel Khan worked for Veritiss as a cultural adviser and linguist in Afghanistan. He injured his back in a fall during a patrol and later moved to Spokane, Washington. The administrative law judge found that Spokane was the relevant labor market, identified suitable jobs there, and awarded…
Hubert Darrell Porter v. North Star Mining, Incorporated
Porter v. North Star Mining (BRB 17-0443): denial of Black Lung benefits affirmed
Hubert Darrell Porter claimed Black Lung benefits after twenty years of underground coal mine work. The administrative law judge denied his claim because the medical evidence did not establish that a respiratory or pulmonary impairment prevented him from performing his usual mine work. Porter…
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.