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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A.S. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Administration Medical Center, Mission Valley, CA
A.S. (ECAB 15-0972 and 15-1005): Disability and additional conditions remanded
A Veterans Affairs orthopedic surgeon sought compensation for total disability after an accepted cervical condition and recognition of additional hand and arm conditions. OWCP obtained a second opinion but did not seek clarification when the physician’s explanation was insufficient on causation and…
M.P. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Portland, ME
M.P. (ECAB 15-0361): Recurrence and shoulder surgery denials affirmed
M.P., a postal worker with accepted carpal tunnel syndrome and left shoulder impingement, claimed a recurrence of disability beginning April 23, 2013. The Board found insufficient evidence that her accepted conditions had worsened or that her modified job requirements had changed. It also upheld…
United States Department of Veterans Affairs, Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care System (Agency) and American Federation of Government Employees, Local 1045 (Union)
Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care System and AFGE Local 1045 (FLRA 0-AR-5181): Exceptional rating award upheld
A VA housekeeping aide who had previously received exceptional ratings was lowered to fully successful without meaningful feedback about how his performance had fallen short. An arbitrator found that the agency failed to communicate performance expectations as required by the parties' agreement and…
L.C. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Bellmawr, NJ
L.C. (ECAB 16-0584): Reconsideration denial over reinstated benefits affirmed
L.C.’s compensation had been suspended for failure to cooperate with vocational rehabilitation and later reinstated. She sought an earlier reinstatement date, arguing that she had expressed willingness to cooperate before her August 2014 hearing. The Board found that her counsel had made that…
K.M. and Department of the Army, Corps of Engineers, Baltimore, MD
K.M. (ECAB 15-1929): Benefit termination reversed after surveillance disclosure failure
K.M., a Corps of Engineers worker, received benefits for accepted injuries. OWCP terminated those benefits after a second opinion physician reviewed surveillance footage and concluded that the work-related conditions had resolved. K.M. had requested a copy of the footage, but OWCP gave it to him…
J.W. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Brooklyn, NY
J.W. (ECAB 15-1393): Rehabilitation finding upheld, wage reduction remanded
J.W., a postal worker, participated in vocational rehabilitation but did not cooperate with efforts to apply for work. The Board found no good cause for that failure and upheld OWCP’s rehabilitation finding. OWCP reduced his compensation using wages for a receptionist job it believed he could…
J.F. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Administration Medical Center, St. Cloud, MN
J.F. (ECAB 15-0980): Overpayment upheld, fault finding reversed
J.F. received wage-loss benefits after OWCP had terminated her entitlement because she refused suitable work. The Board agreed that the payments from June 17, 2005 through August 2, 2008 created a $141,365.35 overpayment. It found that OWCP later authorized surgery and told her she was eligible for…
T.W. and Department of Labor, Benefits Review Board, Washington, DC
T.W. (ECAB 15-0636): Schedule award overpayment amount remanded
T.W., a Labor Department paralegal specialist, received a schedule award based on a 25 percent left leg impairment. The Board found that the more complete medical evaluation supported 21 percent, so an overpayment occurred. It could not verify OWCP’s $19,867.47 calculation because OWCP used an…
M.S. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Berkeley Heights, NJ
M.S. (ECAB 15-0494): Right knee benefit termination affirmed
M.S., a postal worker, received benefits for accepted right knee conditions. After her treating physician and an OWCP referral physician disagreed about continuing disability, OWCP obtained an impartial examination. The Board found that the impartial physician’s opinion supported termination and…
National Federation of Federal Employees, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, Federal District 1, Federal Local 1998 (Union) and United States Department of State, Passport Services, Bureau of Consular Affairs (Agency)
NFFE Local 1998 and Passport Services (FLRA 0-NG-3288): Emergency-passport proposals split
State Department field duty officers process emergency passport applications after normal hours when life-or-death, national-interest, or other extreme circumstances require immediate attention. NFFE proposed allowing an officer to contact local management before acting and requiring notice when…
United States Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, Ogden Service Center (Agency) and National Treasury Employees Union, Chapter 67 (Union)
IRS Ogden Service Center and NTEU Chapter 67 (FLRA 0-AR-5184): Shutdown backpay upheld
Immediately before the 2013 federal shutdown, the IRS released seasonal employees at its Ogden Service Center to nonwork status and recalled them as soon as the shutdown ended. An arbitrator found that the agency used the impending shutdown, rather than a lack of work, as the reason for the release…
Secretary of Labor v. Mach Mining, LLC
Belt accumulations and vague examination record upheld
MSHA found extensive coal accumulations along Mach Mining's 3,600-foot slope belt, including six locations where coal contacted rollers or the moving belt. Judge Thomas P. McCarthy affirmed the accumulation violation as significant and substantial and highly negligent because frictional heat could…
Matter of Raul ZARAGOZA-VAQUERO
Criminal copyright infringement is a crime involving moral turpitude
The Board reviewed a Mexican respondent's appeal after an Immigration Judge found him removable and held that his felony criminal copyright infringement conviction barred cancellation of removal. The conviction involved reproducing and distributing infringing copies for commercial advantage or…
J.R. and Department of the Navy, Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, San Diego, CA
J.R. (ECAB 16-1005): On-site fall occurred during duty
J.R., a Navy maintenance mechanic, stepped into a hole at his outdoor worksite while on or ending a scheduled break. He and coworkers had moved a few steps to watch a bird. OWCP denied his traumatic injury claim on the view that he was outside the performance of duty. The Board held that the brief…
L.W. and Department of Health & Human Services, Food & Drug Administration, Atlanta, GA
L.W. (ECAB 16-1002): Shoulder award reconsideration denial affirmed
L.W., an FDA resident agent-in-charge, sought reconsideration of the impairment rating for his left upper extremity. The Board found that new records described his shoulder treatment and surgery but did not address whether his impairment exceeded the amount already awarded. A physician’s older…
T.D. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Lake Mary, FL
T.D. (ECAB 15-1846): Intermittent disability denials affirmed
T.D., a postal mail carrier, had accepted neck and back conditions after a work incident. She sought compensation for intermittent disability between December 1, 2012 and April 19, 2013. The Board found that her medical records described diagnoses and treatment but did not provide a reasoned…
K.W. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Elizabethton, TN
K.W. (ECAB 15-1535): Emotional condition claim partly remanded
K.W. claimed an emotional condition arising from workplace events, including a demotion, suspension, and alleged sexual harassment. The Board found no established error or abuse in the personnel actions, so those allegations did not establish a compensable work factor. It could not resolve the…
J.B. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Wood Dale, IL
J.B. (ECAB 15-0986): Emotional condition claim denial affirmed
J.B., a postal letter carrier, attributed stress and anxiety to discipline and alleged mistreatment by managers. The Board found that the disciplinary matters were personnel actions and that the record did not establish error or abuse in handling them. It also found insufficient corroboration of…
L.L. and Department of the Navy, Military Sealift Command Atlantic, Bayonne, NJ
L.L. (ECAB 15-0672): Termination of mental health benefits reversed
L.L., a Navy civilian worker, received benefits for an accepted adjustment reaction with mixed emotional features. OWCP terminated those benefits based on physicians’ opinions about a different diagnosis. The Board found that neither physician addressed whether residuals of the accepted condition…
R.M. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Houston, TX
R.M. (ECAB 15-0538): Wage-loss termination affirmed again
R.M., a postal worker, challenged the termination of wage-loss benefits after the Board had already upheld it in an earlier decision. OWCP considered new legal objections to the physicians’ reports and issued another merits decision. The Board found that the second opinion was sufficient to create…
J.G. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Norwich, CT
J.G. (ECAB 15-0467): Upper extremity schedule awards affirmed
J.G., a postal letter carrier, sustained arm and shoulder injuries during a dog attack while delivering mail. He sought an increased schedule award for permanent impairment. The Board found OWCP’s medical adviser had applied the impairment guides and explained ratings of 36 percent for the left…
B.L. and U.S. Postal Service, Margate Post Office, Margate City, NJ
B.L. (ECAB 15-1216): Hip replacement request remanded
B.L., a postal worker, requested authorization for right hip replacement surgery after accepted falls at work. His treating orthopedic surgeon said the falls accelerated a preexisting hip condition, while OWCP’s second opinion surgeon attributed the degeneration to other factors. The Board found…
J.S. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, New Baltimore, MI
J.S. (ECAB 16-0922): Recurrence of disability denial affirmed
J.S., a postal rural carrier, had accepted aggravation of cervical post-laminectomy syndrome and cervical spinal stenosis and later claimed she could no longer perform her duties. The Board found that one physician did not connect her inability to work to the accepted conditions. Another described…
A.C. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Santa Clarita, CA
A.C. (ECAB 16-0810): Lower extremity schedule award denial affirmed
A.C., a postal mail handler, sought a schedule award for impairment associated with accepted lumbar conditions. Her physician provided whole-person ratings and converted one of them to a lower extremity percentage. The Board found that the ratings did not follow the method OWCP uses for lower…
O.P. and U.S. Postal Service, Westside Post Office, Little Rock, AR
O.P. (ECAB 15-0435): Earlier disability period remanded for medical review
O.P., a postal worker, sought compensation for a period when she said accepted conditions prevented her from performing modified work. The Board found that the medical reports did not fully explain total disability for the period, but they described findings that might have prevented the modified…
E.K. and Department of Labor, Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs, New York, NY
E.K. (ECAB 15-0176): Workplace stress injury denial affirmed
E.K., an OWCP claims examiner, attributed emotional and physical conditions to workload and deadlines. The Board recognized some specific assignments and deadlines as compensable work factors. It found that the medical reports did not explain how those established factors caused or aggravated her…
J.R. and U.S. Postal Service, South Suburban Post Office, Bedford Park, IL
J.R. (ECAB 15-0045): Suitable work benefit termination reversed
J.R., a postal worker, declined an offered position that OWCP deemed medically suitable. The Board found that OWCP relied on an older work restriction report while failing to address later reports from the same physician that took her off work because of a shoulder condition. OWCP also had not…
C.D. and Department of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration, Federal Air Marshal Service, East Elmhurst, NY
C.D. (ECAB 15-0035): Injury claim after workplace fall denied
C.D., a federal air marshal, became ill and lost consciousness after exercises at work, falling and striking his head. The Board accepted that the incident occurred and that physicians had diagnosed conditions. It found that their reports did not give a reasoned explanation connecting the claimed…
Abdulaziz A. Ahmed v. Western Ports Transportation, Incorporated
Ahmed v. Western Ports Transportation (BRB 16-0067): rail yard injury outside Longshore Act coverage
Abdulaziz Ahmed fractured his left elbow at an intermodal rail yard while driving containers for Western Ports Transportation. He sought temporary total disability benefits under the Longshore Act. The administrative law judge found that the rail yard was several miles from the Port of Seattle and…
M.P. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Hopewell Junction, NY
M.P. (ECAB 16-1108): Two reconsideration denials affirmed
M.P., a postal clerk, sought reconsideration of a denied injury claim. The Board found that his first request offered no relevant new evidence or argument, and OWCP properly sent its denial to his last known address and his lawyer. A second request arrived more than a year after the last merits…
H.H. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, New York, NY
H.H. (ECAB 16-0897): Office accident injury claim denial affirmed
H.H., a Veterans Affairs interior designer, reported that a bookcase and its contents fell on him at work. The Board accepted that the incident occurred but found that the medical record did not provide a reasoned physician’s explanation linking it to a back or shoulder injury. One form also had an…
B.T. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Little Rock, AR
B.T. (ECAB 16-0785): Ankle injury and reconsideration denials affirmed
B.T., a postal carrier, reported right ankle pain while walking his route. The Board found that he had not supplied enough detail about how an injury occurred, despite OWCP’s request for clarification. The factual part of his traumatic injury claim therefore remained unproven, and the Board did not…
L.D. and Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Denton, TX
L.D. (ECAB 15-1831): Emotional condition claim remanded for workplace evidence
L.D., a FEMA employee, attributed an emotional condition to heavy work demands and alleged harassment. The Board found support for work factors involving her duties and overtime. It directed OWCP to obtain an employer response and other evidence about her harassment allegations, which OWCP had not…
R.L. and Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs & Border Protection, Blythe, CA
R.L. (ECAB 15-1328): Tuberculosis exposure claim remanded
R.L., a border patrol agent, was exposed at work to a person with active tuberculosis. A pulmonologist later reported latent infection, but did not explain the test results or whether they showed a change after the work exposure. The Board found that the exposure itself was established. It directed…
R.P. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Philadelphia, PA
R.P. (ECAB 15-1291): Schedule award pay rate affirmed
R.P., a postal mail handler, challenged the pay rate used for his schedule award, seeking the rate from a later claimed recurrence of disability. The Board found that the later date was not a work stoppage and that the record did not show he had returned to regular full-time work before other work…
Secretary of Labor v. Coeur Alaska, Inc.
Nine ground support citations affirmed, penalty cut to $159,634
Coeur Alaska runs the Kensington Mine, an underground gold mine north of Juneau, Alaska. Three MSHA inspectors visited in July and December 2014 and wrote ten citations, most of them for torn or damaged wire mesh next to loose rock in travelways and intersections, which MSHA treated as a failure to…
E.N. and Department of Justice, Bureau of Prisons, Miami, FL
E.N. (ECAB 16-1000): Schedule award reconsideration denial affirmed
E.N., a Bureau of Prisons correctional officer, sought a schedule award after an accepted back condition. OWCP had denied the award because his physician gave a whole-person impairment rating rather than a rating of a scheduled member. On reconsideration, the physician submitted a new report that…
B.G. and Department of the Navy, Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, WA
B.G. (ECAB 16-0108): Late hearing loss reconsideration denied
B.G., a Navy shipyard rigger, requested reconsideration of a denied hearing loss claim more than a year after OWCP’s merits decision. He submitted employer records describing workplace noise exposure and participation in a hearing conservation program. The Board held that those records did not show…
B.L. and U.S. Postal Service, Howell Mill Post Office, Atlanta, GA
B.L. (ECAB 15-1452): Spinal surgery and disability claims denied
B.L., a postal carrier, injured her neck and back when a customer backed into her postal vehicle. OWCP accepted cervical, thoracic, and lumbar strains. She later sought coverage for June 2012 spinal surgery and claimed a recurrence of disability beginning November 4, 2013. The Board found that the…
T.H. and Department of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration, Oklahoma City, OK
T.H. (ECAB 15-1372): Rescission of accepted wrist injury reversed
T.H., a transportation security officer, fell near the airport terminal before her shift and injured her left wrist. OWCP accepted a wrist sprain, then rescinded that acceptance on the ground that the fall happened outside the performance of duty. The Board held that OWCP did not explain the…
D.B. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Administration Medical Center, Bronx, NY
D.B. (ECAB 15-1099): Needle stick claim returned for consequential injury review
D.B., a nursing assistant, had an accepted claim for a work-related needle stick to her hand. She later sought benefits for hepatitis C, which she said resulted from that incident. OWCP treated her application as a recurrence claim and denied it. The Board held that she alleged a consequential…
M.W. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Miami, FL
M.W. (ECAB 15-0474): Postal carrier injury claim returned for further evidence
M.W., a letter carrier, reported injuring his right knee while pursuing people he had seen take a parcel from a mailbox on his route. OWCP denied his claim, finding that the incident fell outside his work duties. The Board found that the record did not establish the Postal Service’s instructions…
R.W. and Department of the Navy, Military Sealift Command, Norfolk, VA
R.W. (ECAB 15-0345): Tinnitus claim denied despite accepted hearing loss
R.W., a Navy deck mechanic, had an accepted claim for work-related hearing loss and sought to add tinnitus as a consequential injury. His physician diagnosed tinnitus and linked it to hearing loss, but the Board found that the opinion was speculative and lacked a medical explanation of causation…
A.B. and Department of Labor, Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs, New York, NY
A.B. (ECAB 15-0229): Lower locality pay after transfer upheld
A.B., a DOL claims examiner, had an accepted work-related emotional condition. She transferred from New York to a Boston position at the same grade and step that met her medical restrictions, then sought compensation for the difference in locality pay. The Board applied OWCP’s procedure for…
Longhorn Service Company
Remand to vacate Item 2A and set Item 2B penalty
The Tenth Circuit directed the Commission to vacate Citation 1, Item 2A and enter a separate penalty for Citation 1, Item 2B. The Commission sent the case back to the administrative law judge for proceedings consistent with the court's opinion.
National Association of Independent Labor, Local 5 (Union) and United States Department of Defense, Defense Logistics Agency, Texarkana, Texas (Agency)
NAIL Local 5 and Defense Logistics Agency Texarkana (FLRA 0-AR-5178): Attorney-fee denial upheld
The Defense Logistics Agency delayed adding a transferred employee to an overtime roster and providing the computer access needed for most overtime work. An arbitrator found a contract violation and awarded overtime backpay, but later denied the union's request for attorney fees. He found a…
United States Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection (Agency) and American Federation of Government Employees, National Border Patrol Council (Union)
Customs and Border Protection and National Border Patrol Council (FLRA 0-AR-5177): Overtime-premium award vacated
Customs and Border Protection stopped paying administratively uncontrollable overtime premiums to union representatives who spent all work hours on official union time and had performed no overtime for at least a year. An arbitrator found that the parties' agreement required the premiums to…
American Federation of Government Employees, Local 1992 (Union) and United States Department of Defense, Defense Logistics Agency, Richmond, Virginia (Agency)
AFGE Local 1992 and Defense Logistics Agency Richmond (FLRA 0-AR-5166): Accommodation grievance remanded
A Defense Logistics Agency employee with post-traumatic stress disorder asked not to be reassigned to a Marine base and later proposed working two nonconsecutive days there while teleworking the remaining days. The agency denied both requests, and an arbitrator denied the grievance because he…
Secretary of Labor obo Ronald Bowersox v. The Marshall County Coal Co., et al.
Judge denies Murray Energy's motion for her recusal
These five consolidated cases are interference complaints under section 105(c) of the Mine Act against mines operated by Murray Energy. The complaints allege the companies interfered with miners' rights by filing a federal lawsuit in retaliation for miners taking safety complaints to MSHA rather…
Secretary of Labor v. Climax Molybdenum Company
Handrails and a lockout policy are not a substitute for machine guards
Climax Molybdenum's mill in Colorado uses two large grinding mills whose rotating cylinders are moving machine parts. Some sections had eight-foot metal guarding, but elsewhere the only barrier was a waist-high handrail with warning signs and locked gates, set at least seven feet back from the…
S.B. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, Biloxi, MS
S.B. (ECAB 16-1112): Right thumb impairment award upheld
S.B., a Veterans Health Administration nurse, injured her right thumb on a medical cart and received a schedule award for five percent permanent impairment. She sought a higher award and argued that the rating should account for her hand or upper extremity. The Board found that OWCP’s medical…
B.W. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Memphis, TN
B.W. (ECAB 16-1059): Late reconsideration request rejected
B.W., a former postal clerk, sought to revisit OWCP’s termination of compensation for refusing a suitable job offer. Her 2015 reconsideration request came more than a year after OWCP’s last merits decision in 1993. The Board found that she repeated arguments about the job offer that had been…
L.B. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Philadelphia, PA
L.B. (ECAB 15-1017): Recurrence claim for hand conditions denied
L.B., a postal mail handler, had an accepted claim for bilateral hand and wrist conditions. She claimed a recurrence of disability beginning January 6, 2014 and argued that limited duty had been withdrawn. The Board found that her physician had not explained how the accepted conditions in this…
L.B., guardian of A.V., son of R.V., and Department of Justice, Bureau of Prisons, Lompoc, CA
L.B., guardian of A.V., son of R.V., (ECAB 15-0905): Survivor benefits claim returned for evidence development
L.B. sought survivor benefits for the minor son of R.V., a correctional officer who died by suicide. She alleged that work-related stress caused an emotional condition that led to his death. OWCP denied the claim after the employing agency did not answer its requests for information about the…
D.F. and Department of the Navy, Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, VA
D.F. (ECAB 15-0246): Hearing loss award returned for tinnitus clarification
D.F., a Navy shipyard worker, received an award based on 19 percent binaural hearing impairment. An OWCP referral physician had added one percent for tinnitus, but did not list tinnitus as a diagnosis or explain its effect on daily activities. OWCP’s medical adviser excluded that addition. The…
R.O. and Department of the Navy, Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, VA
R.O. (ECAB 15-0194): Hearing loss award returned for tinnitus clarification
R.O., a Navy shipyard crane and rigging operator, received a schedule award for six percent binaural hearing loss. An OWCP referral physician added one percent for tinnitus, but did not explain how tinnitus affected his daily activities. OWCP’s medical adviser omitted the tinnitus rating. The Board…
Secretary of Labor v. H. Bittle & Son, Inc.
Screening bought-in sand and gravel is mineral milling, so MSHA has jurisdiction
H. Bittle & Son runs a 26-acre materials yard in Suffolk County, New York. It does not dig anything out of the ground. It buys sand and gravel that construction companies excavate at job sites 3 to 60 miles away, trucks the material in, then stockpiles and screens it into sand and two gravel sizes…
B.S. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Madera, CA
B.S. (ECAB 16-1121): Disability after back strain not established
B.S., a postal clerk, sustained an accepted lumbar sprain while lifting mail tubs. He returned to light duty but later stopped work and sought wage loss compensation. The Board found that his doctors described work restrictions and other back diagnoses without explaining how the accepted sprain…
G.L. and Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, Renton, WA
G.L. (ECAB 16-0744): Higher recurrent pay rate denied
G.L., an FAA aviation safety inspector, had an accepted injury from a 1997 workplace fall. He later claimed disability in August 2014 and sought a higher recurrent pay rate. The Board found that he had not resumed regular full-time federal employment for six months before the new disability period…
M.J. and Department of Homeland Security, Emergency Preparedness & Response, Linfield, NJ
M.J. (ECAB 16-0695): Emotional condition claim denied for lack of proven work factors
M.J. alleged that long hours and threats during Hurricane Sandy relief work caused stress and a heart attack. The Board found no corroborating evidence of overwork, a specific threat, or an unsafe work environment. It held that her attendance at a town hall meeting, without more, did not establish…
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.