Federal Agency Decisions
Workplace-safety cases from the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC), mine-safety cases from the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission (FMSHRC), and environmental appeals from the EPA's Environmental Appeals Board, each with a plain-English summary, the standards it cites, and whether it counts as precedent. More agencies are coming.
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Xanthopoulos v. Marsh & McClennan Companies, Inc.
SOX complaint dismissed as late
Apostolos Xanthopoulos filed his Labor Department retaliation complaint 350 days after Marsh & McClennan terminated him, beyond Sarbanes-Oxley's 180-day deadline. He argued that earlier submissions to the Securities and Exchange Commission should toll the deadline because he had mistakenly filed…
Garza v. Saulsbury Industries
Environmental whistleblower complaint denied
Saulsbury Industries laid off field-safety manager Alvin Garza during a companywide reduction in force. Garza had reported concerns about improper water disposal and missing storm-water and spill-prevention plans at a worksite. The Board agreed that these reports were protected under federal…
Matter of R. I. Ortega
Sham engagement triggers the marriage-fraud bar
The Board reviewed the revocation of a visa petition filed for a Dominican beneficiary after immigration authorities found that his earlier engagement to a United States citizen was not bona fide. The Board held that the INA's marriage-fraud bar applies when an alien conspires to enter a marriage…
Horn v. University First Federal Credit Union
Procedural complaints were not protected activity
Credit union loan representative Bryan Horn suggested operational improvements, raised internal process concerns, and objected after another branch took credit for a loan he had worked on. He later resigned after the credit union told him he could resign or be terminated. The ALJ did not credit…
Matter of A-M-R-C-
Attorney General review and briefing ordered
The Attorney General directed the Board of Immigration Appeals to refer its decision in the respondent's case for review. The order asked the parties and interested amici to brief whether the delayed referral would prejudice the respondent, whether the Board correctly evaluated the…
DeNucci Constructors, LLC
Cave-in protection violation affirmed after training item withdrawn
Two DeNucci Constructors employees entered an eight-to-nine-foot-deep trench to hand dig around existing pipes. The Type B soil trench had vertical side walls, inadequate partial benching at one end, no benching at the other, and no trench box. The superintendent and foreman saw the employees…
Secretary of Labor v. Canyon Fuel Company, LLC
Related contest and assessment reopened
Canyon Fuel intended to contest a citation, a related order, and the resulting penalty assessment. It timely contested the citation but mistakenly mailed the penalty contest with its partial payment to MSHA's St. Louis payment office instead of the Arlington contest office. An ALJ dismissed the…
Secretary of Labor v. Consol Pennsylvania Coal Co., LLC
Unlocated gas-well citation vacated
Consol's Enlow Fork longwall intersected an old gas-well borehole that the company and its contractor had been unable to locate from the surface. Their search included maps and databases, aerial photographs, a closely spaced metal-detector grid, and hand excavation, and the cut-through produced no…
Secretary of Labor v. Gorham Sand & Gravel, Inc.
Defective summary request rejected
The parties wanted two quarterly-reporting citation cases decided without a hearing. Judge William Moran repeatedly instructed them to file a summary-decision motion containing supported material facts and legal authority as required by the procedural rule. The Labor Department attorney instead…
Matter of F-S-N-
Changed-country-conditions motion to reopen denied
The Board considered a Cameroonian respondent's motion to reopen her removal proceedings based on alleged changed personal circumstances and country conditions. Her earlier asylum claim had been denied after an adverse credibility finding based on inconsistencies, omissions, contradictions, and…
Administrator, Wage and Hour Div. v. Northwest Title Agency, Inc.
Benefit award and debarment affirmed
Northwest Title Agency performed federally contracted closing services for government-owned homes but did not document or pay required health and welfare benefits to ten employees. The Board held that wages above the hourly minimum could not be treated as benefit payments without records separately…
Aityahia v. Mesa Airlines
Airline rehire decision was not retaliation
Former Mesa Airlines pilot Aziz Aityahia alleged that his 2013 termination and the airline's refusal to rehire him in 2017 violated AIR21's whistleblower protections. The Board affirmed that any claim based on the 2013 action was filed outside the then-applicable 90-day deadline and did not qualify…
Secretary of Labor v. Gorham Sand & Gravel, Inc.
Proper summary motion required
The parties asked to resolve two citation cases through the summary-decision process instead of a live hearing. Their submission did not state supported undisputed facts, identify legal grounds for judgment, or otherwise satisfy the governing procedural rule. It also followed a missed deadline and…
JW Powerline, LLC
Four electrical safety violations affirmed after fatal line repair
A JW Powerline crew responded at night to restore power at a rural drilling site after a thunderstorm. The crew foreman misidentified a utility-owned line as the customer's line and began a splice without an adequate job briefing, proper isolation and tagging, or grounding. The utility restored…
Cieslicki v. Soo Line Railroad Co. dba Canadian Pacific
Self-reported impairment may be protected
Soo Line terminated Andre Cieslicki after he said he could not report for railroad duty because he had consumed alcohol with dinner and believed working would violate federal alcohol-safety rules. The ALJ dismissed because it viewed a worker's self-reported off-duty condition as outside the Federal…
Berg v. S&H Express
Employer lacked knowledge of protected driving refusals
Truck driver Susan Marie Berg stopped work early because of tooth pain and then missed two days while taking prescription pain medication that made her drowsy. The ALJ treated her decisions not to drive as protected but found that she had not told S&H Express they were based on safety concerns or…
Outfront Media, Inc.
Three billboard fall-protection items vacated
An OSHA compliance officer observed four Outfront Media employees working more than four feet above ground on a billboard without fall protection. OSHA cited fall protection, fall-hazard training, and workplace hazard-assessment requirements, with a proposed grouped penalty of $12,675. The judge…
Tucker v. CSX Transportation, Inc.
Injury report came after discharge decision
CSX removed conductor Phillip Tucker from service after he marked off for a doctor's appointment that he did not have, then terminated him under its dishonesty rule. Tucker alleged that he had injured his knee at work and that the discharge retaliated against his injury report and refusal to work…
Secretary of Labor v. Peabody Midwest Mining, LLC
Refuge-chamber S&S finding reversed
Peabody violated its emergency response plan by placing one refuge chamber in the direct line of sight of the working face. The Commission majority held that the violation was not significant and substantial because the properly located chamber could hold the 15-miner production crew, while more…
Watts v. Perdue Farms, Inc.
Food-safety coverage ruling reconsidered
Contract chicken grower Craig Watts alleged that Perdue Farms required extra biosecurity training after he publicized concerns about conditions on his farm. The Board had affirmed dismissal on the ground that poultry operations were exempt from the federal food law supporting his retaliation claim…
Crean v. 125 W. 76th Realty Corp.
Asbestos report did not motivate discharge
Thomas Crean alleged that a New York property company fired him after he reported asbestos in its boiler room to the city environmental agency. The ALJ found that the company instead acted because Crean would not perform his duties and had behaved aggressively. Evidence also showed that management…
Starkist Samoa Co.
In re Starkist Samoa Co. (EAB NPDES Appeal No. 20-04): petition dismissed as moot
EPA Region 9 issued Starkist Samoa Co. a new NPDES permit for wastewater discharges from its tuna cannery facility to Pago Pago Harbor in American Samoa. Starkist sought review of three permit conditions concerning dissolved oxygen, coral reef monitoring, and an annual priority pollutant scan…
Jinna v. MPRSoft, Inc.
H-1B wage reconsideration denied
The Board had modified an H-1B wage award to $6,651.03 in net back wages and $52,904.94 in gross back wages, plus interest. Dheeraj Reddy Jinna asked it to reconsider because he did not understand that he needed a cross-appeal, had received procedural information by telephone, and wanted broader…
Secretary of Labor v. CalPortland Company
Conditional penalty case stayed
A judge approved a settlement requiring CalPortland to pay a $17,500 discrimination penalty only if its liability in the related miner-discrimination case was ultimately upheld. After the Commission reversed that liability decision, the Secretary and CalPortland asked to vacate the conditional…
Secretary of Labor obo James McGaughran v. Lehigh Cement Company, LLC
Economic reinstatement tolled during pandemic delay
Lehigh Cement had been paying James McGaughran under an economic temporary-reinstatement agreement while his discrimination complaint proceeded. The COVID-19 pandemic postponed the scheduled in-person hearing, and the Secretary objected to conducting it by Zoom while Lehigh wanted the hearing to…
Matter of Bay Area Legal Services, Inc.
Full accreditation reconsideration denied
The Director reviewed Bay Area Legal Services, Inc.'s request for reconsideration after the Office of Legal Access Programs denied full accreditation for Carlos Betancourt but granted partial accreditation. The decision held that the 30-day deadline for reconsideration under 8 C.F.R. § 1292.13(e)…
Administrator, Wage and Hour Div. v. Lancaster Farms, Inc.
Agency appeal dismissed by request
The Board ordered the Wage and Hour Administrator to explain why its appeal in an H-2A enforcement case should not be dismissed because no petition for review had been filed. The Administrator responded that it had decided not to seek review of the ALJ's decision. It asked the Board to dismiss the…
Secretary of Labor v. Solar Sources Mining, LLC
Berm citation affirmed with $69,000 penalty on remand
The Commission had affirmed Solar Sources Mining's berm violation, S&S designation, high-negligence finding, and unwarrantable-failure finding, but remanded for fuller analysis of the penalty criteria. Judge William Moran found that Shamrock Mine was large, the penalty would not affect the…
Sachdev v. Wells Fargo Bank
Bank retaliation complaint dismissed as late
Anjali Sachdev alleged that Wells Fargo retaliated against her for objecting to unwanted customer accounts. Even using September 2016 congressional hearings as the date she learned the termination might be unlawful, she waited 804 days to file with OSHA, well beyond the 180-day deadlines under both…
Aityahia v. Air Line Pilots Association
Union retaliation claim dismissed
Former Mesa Airlines pilot Aziz Aityahia alleged that the Air Line Pilots Association was complicit in his 2013 termination and Mesa's 2017 refusal to rehire him. His challenge to the union's arbitration representation was filed more than three years after the arbitration award, beyond the…
Riddell v. CSX Transportation, Inc.
Rail-safety retaliation and $150,000 punitive award affirmed
CSX assistant operator Brad Riddell reported coworkers using marijuana while operating heavy rail equipment and reported that managers had warned the crew before drug audits. The ALJ found that a manager responded by soliciting false statements that Riddell had made threats, leading to his public…
Dade Builders Contractors, Inc.
Inspection and fall-protection citations vacated for insufficient proof
Dade Builders subcontracted a masonry crew that worked near an unprotected edge about 16 feet above ground. OSHA cited Dade as a controlling employer for inadequate jobsite inspections and lack of fall protection, proposing $13,260 in total penalties. The judge found that the Secretary did not show…
Randall Mechanical, Inc.
Late-contest ruling remanded under Eleventh Circuit precedent
Randall Mechanical filed a late notice of contest and sought relief from the resulting final order under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b)(1). An administrative law judge denied relief and dismissed the case, and the decision became final when the Commission did not direct review. The Eleventh…
Aluminum Shapes, LLC
Estoppel defense remanded for proper summary-judgment review
Aluminum Shapes and OSHA had a settlement that limited two planned monitoring inspections while allowing complaint and referral inspections. After a January 2017 inspection and later entries, OSHA issued 51 citation items with $1,922,895 in proposed penalties. Aluminum Shapes asserted equitable…
Swix Sport USA
In re Swix Sport USA (EAB TSCA Appeal No. 20-03C): $375,625 penalty and PFAS education settlement
Swix Sport USA admitted jurisdiction, neither admitted nor denied the specific factual allegations, and consented to the terms of a settlement involving six chemicals whose identities were treated as confidential business information. EPA alleged that Swix imported the chemicals without submitting…
McIntyre v. Pope Funeral Home
Funeral home was outside consumer-finance whistleblower coverage
Rhonda McIntyre alleged that Pope Funeral Home fired her after she reported business practices she believed violated consumer-finance law. The funeral home's service agreements required payment before services, and its remedies for failed payment did not turn those agreements into loans or other…
Simpson v. Equity Transportation Co., Inc.
Brake-refusal liability affirmed and remedies narrowed
Truck driver James Simpson refused to operate an Equity Transportation truck after its antilock-brake warning returned and a repair shop said it could not fix the problem. The Board held that the refusal was protected because operating with defective brakes would violate federal rules and a…
Jeanty v. Lily Transportation Corp.
Driving refusal was not reasonably protected
Truck driver Kervin Jeanty first said he was ill or fatigued but agreed to make a second delivery after a break. Hours later, after delays preparing the truck, he refused the run because he believed it would exceed federal driving-time limits. The Board upheld findings that the initial statement…
Administrator, Wage and Hour Div. v. Integrated Geophysics, Corp.
$68,738.84 H-1B wage award affirmed
Integrated Geophysics did not pay Maria Hanciuc the required wage throughout two H-1B labor-condition-application periods. The employer did not claim that it had properly terminated her or that she voluntarily entered nonproductive status for a reason unrelated to employment, the regulation's two…
Bloom Energy Corporation
In re Bloom Energy Corporation (EAB RCRA Appeal No. 20-01C): $210,000 penalty and compliance audit
Bloom Energy Corporation develops and operates solid oxide fuel cell systems that use desulfurization canisters containing media that can become spent and contain benzene. EPA alleged that Bloom shipped spent media from customer facilities in Pennsylvania and Maryland without preparing…
Matter of Jonathan Said Herrera-Vasquez
Unchecked Notice to Appear classification box does not require termination
The Board reviewed the termination of removal proceedings for a Honduran respondent who had been returned to Mexico under the Migrant Protection Protocols. The Notice to Appear described the removal charge and the hearing but did not check one of the three alien-classification boxes identifying the…
Tessier's, Inc.
Roof-hole fall protection violation affirmed
Tessier's employees were installing HVAC roof curbs when they decided to trim a wooden cover that protected a roof opening. The employees assumed the cover was attached to the building, but it was a friction-fit cover and was not fastened to the structure. As an employee leaned on the cover while…
Carbon v. Shire Pharmaceuticals
Petition dismissed one day late
Russell Carbon filed his petition for review one day after the 14-day deadline for appealing the ALJ's denial of reconsideration in a Sarbanes-Oxley case. His attorney argued that a three-day service extension applied and that problems with the Board's electronic filing system justified equitable…
Heckman v. M3 Transport, LLC
Dismissal affirmed for vexatious litigation
OSHA found that Benjamin Heckman's former trucking employers violated the Surface Transportation Assistance Act, but the agency declined to prosecute when the employers requested an ALJ hearing. Over several years of self-representation, Heckman filed repeated motions and discovery demands that the…
Seward Ship's Drydock, Inc.
Prior decisions vacated after notice of contest withdrawn
The Ninth Circuit reversed the Commission's earlier decision in the Seward Ship's Drydock case and returned the matter to the Commission. After the court's mandate, the company withdrew its notice of contest under Commission Rule 102. The Commission therefore vacated both its 2018 decision and the…
Secretary of Labor v. Gibson County Coal, LLC
Proximity-device citation affirmed and partial settlement approved
Gibson County Coal operated an underground coal mine where a continuous mining machine injured a roof bolter operator who was not wearing his assigned proximity-detection component. Judge David Simonton held that 30 C.F.R. § 75.1732(a) requires mine operators both to provide miner-wearable…
Bellmeyer v. Loyco Trucking, LLC
Appeal dismissed after no opening brief
The Administrative Review Board ordered Brian Bellmeyer to explain why his appeal should not be dismissed for failure to file an opening brief. Loyco Trucking and Mark Loy also requested dismissal. Bellmeyer did not respond to either the Board's order or the respondents' request, so the Board…
City of Haverhill
In re City of Haverhill (EAB NPDES Appeal No. 19-04): petition dismissed after settlement discussions
The City of Haverhill petitioned the Environmental Appeals Board to review an NPDES permit issued by EPA Region 1 for discharges from Haverhill's wastewater treatment facility and combined sewer overflow outfalls to the Merrimack River. The parties obtained stays while they pursued a negotiated…
Gate Precast Company
Repeat fall-protection violation affirmed beyond red warning tape
Gate Precast assigned two temporary employees to work on a hotel roof about 24 feet above ground without personal fall arrest systems. The foreman told them to remain behind red tape placed about six feet from the unprotected edge. One temporary employee then helped guide a swinging overhead load…
Swint v. NetJets Aviation, Inc.
Dismissal of fourteen AIR21 claims affirmed
NetJets pilot John Swint claimed that the company took fourteen retaliatory actions after he engaged in aviation-safety activities protected by AIR21. The Board affirmed summary decision on twelve claims because some did not involve adverse action, some were untimely, and others lacked evidence…
Secretary of Labor v. Asarco, LLC
Two late penalty contests reopened
Asarco asked the Commission to reopen two proposed penalty assessments after missing the 30-day contest deadline. The company had already filed contest proceedings for most of the underlying citations, mistakenly believed those filings eliminated the need to contest the proposed assessments, and…
Incorporated County of Los Alamos
In re Incorporated County of Los Alamos (EAB NPDES Appeal No. 20-02): Petition dismissed for lack of jurisdiction
The Incorporated County of Los Alamos asked the Environmental Appeals Board to review EPA Region 6's designation of certain stormwater discharges as requiring NPDES permits. The designation was made under the Clean Water Act's residual designation authority because the Region found that the…
Brooks v. Agate Resources, LLC
Summary decision affirmed on an untimely complaint
Michael Brooks alleged that his former employer retaliated against him in violation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and Affordable Care Act whistleblower provisions. He filed the complaint in July 2018 after another ALJ had dismissed an April 2016 complaint involving the same facts as untimely. The Board…
Schell v. Martin Marietta
Environmental retaliation dismissal affirmed
Martin Marietta environmental engineer Erica Schell raised concerns about waste-spill handling and a laboratory's certification. The ALJ found that some of her concerns were protected activity, but that they did not motivate the performance-improvement plan or her termination. The evidence instead…
Secretary of Labor v. Cedar Lake Mining, Inc.
Penalty contest reopened after brief delay
Cedar Lake Mining asked the Commission to reopen a penalty assessment involving three citations connected to a December 2018 accident. The operator said it had contested all three citations, but its notices and certified mailing receipts showed that the contest was mailed a few days after the…
Gummala v. Carnival Corp.
Gummala v. Carnival Corporation (DOL ARB 2018-0053): Seaman's Protection Act dismissal affirmed
Devendra Gummala worked as a photographer aboard the Carnival Fascination and alleged that Carnival fired him for making safety-related complaints. The Seaman's Protection Act regulation in effect when he was terminated in 2014 covered an individual aboard a vessel owned by a citizen of the United…
Vasquez v. Caterpillar Logistics & EA Staffing Svs.
Vasquez v. Caterpillar Logistics and EA Staffing Services (DOL ARB 2017-0066): MAP-21 coverage dismissal affirmed
Carlos Vasquez worked as a picker at a Caterpillar Logistics warehouse and alleged that Caterpillar Logistics and EA Staffing Services discharged him in retaliation for safety activity. MAP-21 protects employees of motor vehicle manufacturers, parts suppliers, and dealerships. The companies…
Science Applications International Corp., d/b/a SAIC
Drowning hazard citation affirmed for marine training
SAIC trained sea lions to detect swimmers around Navy installations, requiring employees to swim in open water, sometimes at night. During a nighttime exercise, an employee acting as an evasive swimmer remained in San Diego Bay while the sea lion became distracted, and the team lost contact with…
Bottos Construction, Inc.
In re Bottos Construction, Inc. (EAB TSCA Appeal No. 20-(01)): default order becomes final without EAB review
EPA Region 3's Presiding Officer issued an Initial Decision and Default Order in the proceeding against Bottos Construction, Inc. No appeal was filed. The Environmental Appeals Board declined to review the case on its own initiative under 40 C.F.R. §§ 22.27(c)(4) and 22.30(b). The Initial Decision…
Jinna v. MPRSoft, Inc.
H-1B back-wage award modified
MPRSoft employed Dheeraj Reddy Jinna under an H-1B labor condition application that promised annual pay of $105,000. The ALJ found that MPRSoft underpaid him and awarded $88,890.17 in back wages plus interest. The Board upheld the annual wage rate and total wages earned, and it agreed that…
What these documents are
- The agencies: Workplace-safety cases from the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC), mine-safety cases from the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission (FMSHRC), and environmental permit and penalty appeals from the EPA's Environmental Appeals Board (EAB). Each decision page names its agency.
- Commission and Board decisions: Rulings by the agency's highest review level (the Commission at OSHRC and FMSHRC, 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.