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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D.O. and Department of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration, Portland, OR
D.O. (ECAB 15-1368): Recurrence claim and subpoena request denied
D.O., a TSA officer, sought compensation for a recurrence of disability after accepted arm and thumb conditions. He argued that light duty had been withdrawn in January 2014. The Board found no evidence of such a withdrawal and no reasoned medical opinion tying his renewed work restrictions to the…
D.C. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Brooklyn, NY
D.C. (ECAB 15-1198): Repeated arguments did not reopen knee claim
D.C., a postal clerk, sought reconsideration of a decision ending benefits for an accepted knee injury. Her lawyer repeated arguments and relied on a medical report that the Board had considered in an earlier appeal. The Board found that the timely request supplied no new relevant evidence or legal…
T.J. and U.S. Postal Service, Main Post Office, Garland, TX
T.J. (ECAB 15-1088): Wage loss and increased impairment claims denied
T.J., a postal letter carrier, sought wage loss compensation for March 12 through April 28, 2011 and larger schedule awards after an accepted fall injured her right arm and left knee. The Board gave weight to an impartial surgeon’s opinion that she could perform her modified job during the disputed…
B.H. and Department of State, Near Eastern Affairs, Washington, DC
B.H. (ECAB 15-0978): Late reconsideration request denied
B.H., a former State Department security specialist, sought reconsideration of OWCP’s November 15, 2013 termination of wage loss compensation after a right knee injury. OWCP received his renewed request on November 21, 2014, more than one year after that decision. The Board held that receipt…
Scott D. McGlothlin v. Dominion Coal Corporation
Dismissal denied because settlement erased liability
An earlier liability ruling found that Dominion Coal interfered with Scott McGlothlin's Part 90 pay-protection rights by reducing his pay after he sought protected status. The parties then agreed on compensation and attorney fees but asked to dismiss all claims with prejudice under a general…
M.S. and U.S. Postal Service, Abilene Mail Processing Center, Abilene, TX
M.S. (ECAB 15-1620): Written record review request missed deadline
M.S., a postal worker, sought written record review of OWCP’s denial of his right arm injury claim. His request was postmarked January 10, 2015, one day after the 30 day deadline. The Board found that OWCP correctly treated the request as late and reasonably declined to grant discretionary review…
B.J. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Dallas, TX
B.J. (ECAB 15-1576): Neck and shoulder occupational disease claim denied
B.J., a postal letter carrier, claimed that years of casing and delivering mail caused neck and shoulder conditions. OWCP accepted that she performed those tasks. The Board found that her physician did not adequately account for her work history after an earlier injury or explain how her actual…
A.J. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Brooklyn, NY
A.J. (ECAB 15-1569): Knee claim not reopened on repeated medical reports
A.J., a postal mail handler, sought reconsideration after OWCP denied a claim involving a November 2013 knee incident. She submitted diagnostic reports and additional notes from her surgeon. The Board found that some reports did not address whether the work incident caused her condition, while…
J.R. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Portland, ME
J.R. (ECAB 15-1443): Work incident recognized, knee injury claim still denied
J.R., a postal mail handler, reported knee pain after pushing a wheeled container into a dumpster at work. OWCP doubted that the incident happened because she also had an earlier knee problem. The Board found her account of the March 2014 incident consistent and accepted that it occurred. It…
C.B. and Department of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration, Pangborn Memorial Airport, East Wenatchee, WA
C.B. (ECAB 15-1407): Dual-benefit overpayment and fault finding upheld
C.B., a former TSA officer, received workers’ compensation while her Social Security disability benefit converted to retirement benefits. The Board upheld OWCP’s calculation of $431.46 in overlapping benefits. It found C.B. at fault because OWCP had previously told her that an offset would apply…
K.S. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, Scranton, PA
K.S. (ECAB 15-1296): Back strain benefits termination upheld
K.S., a VA maintenance technician, injured his lower back when he fell from a chair at work. OWCP ended wage loss compensation and medical benefits for the accepted lumbosacral strain after a referral physician found no remaining objective signs of that condition. The Board gave weight to the…
D.A. and Department of the Navy, Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, VA
D.A. (ECAB 15-1184): Recurrence of disability claim denied
D.A., a Navy shipyard mechanic, had worked in a restricted position after a 2009 fall and stopped working in June 2012. She said that pregnancy prevented her from continuing pain medication for her hip and back symptoms. The Board found no evidence that her restricted job was withdrawn or changed…
L.K. and U.S. Postal Service, Processing and Distribution Center, Colorado Springs, CO
L.K. (ECAB 15-0996): Wage loss claim denied for four days in 2011
L.K., a postal clerk, claimed wage loss for four days after symptoms of accepted cervical spine conditions worsened. His physician’s note said he could not work on two of those days because of neck, shoulder, and back pain. The Board found that the note did not explain how the accepted conditions…
Basic Energy Services
Well-rig stair and guardrail violations affirmed
Basic Energy Services provided well-servicing work at an oil and gas well near Hawkins, Texas. OSHA observed employees working on an elevated rig platform where stairs between platform levels were broken and replaced with a box, and a roughly six-foot section of guardrail was missing. The judge…
American Federation of Government Employees, Local 12 (Union) and United States Department of Labor (Agency)
AFGE Local 12 and Department of Labor (FLRA 0-AR-5093): Reconsideration denied for missing agreement provision
The union challenged an arbitrator's conclusion that a grievance concerning an employee's position description raised an excluded classification matter. The Authority had declined to consider the union's contract-based exception because the union did not clearly supply the pertinent agreement…
United States Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (Agency) and National Treasury Employees Union (Union)
CBP and NTEU (FLRA 0-AR-4985): Reconsideration of scheduling-backpay remedy denied
An arbitrator ordered Customs and Border Protection to pay backpay for unlawful scheduling practices, using loss-estimation formulas when the agency could not or did not supply records needed to calculate actual losses. The Authority had already upheld that remedy. It denied CBP's request for…
Hunter Sand & Gravel, LLC v. Secretary of Labor and Secretary of Labor v. Hunter Sand & Gravel, LLC
Hunter Sand & Gravel, LLC v. Secretary of Labor (FMSHRC KENT 2014-391-RM, et al.): Jurisdiction resolved but snow-clearing claim required hearing
Five citations and orders followed a fatal accident in which a dredge hand slipped from a snow- and ice-covered barge walkway into the water. Hunter Sand & Gravel initially disputed MSHA jurisdiction but withdrew that challenge before the summary-decision ruling. Judge David F. Barbour therefore…
T.W. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Cleveland, OH
T.W. (ECAB 15-1603): Current knee condition not linked to postal duties
T.W., a postal letter carrier, claimed that walking, climbing stairs, and standing while casing mail caused or aggravated her current left knee condition. She had an accepted knee strain from 2002 and a later knee procedure that OWCP had not authorized as work related. The Board found that her…
W.P. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Page, AZ
W.P. (ECAB 15-1354): Lower back occupational disease claim denied
W.P., a postal clerk, claimed that lifting parcels and mail trays caused or worsened his lower back condition. The Board accepted that he performed the lifting duties. It found his physician’s reports inconsistent about whether the condition followed a twisting incident at home, prolonged work…
V.P. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, White Plains, NY
V.P. (ECAB 15-1301): Right knee injury claim remained denied
V.P., a postal automotive technician, twisted his right knee when stepping from a vehicle at work. OWCP accepted that the incident occurred. His surgeon compared knee scans from before and after the event and identified newer ligament and meniscus findings. The Board found that the surgeon had not…
B.C. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, Lake City, FL
B.C. (ECAB 15-1222): Schedule award claim returned for review of omitted report
B.C. sought a schedule award for permanent impairment after an accepted knee injury. OWCP denied the claim without considering an orthopedic surgeon’s report that it had received before issuing its decision. The surgeon rated 12 percent impairment of the left leg and described his method. The Board…
C.W., widow of J.W., and Department of the Navy, Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, CA
C.W. (ECAB 15-0955): Duplicate survivor benefit payment recoverable
C.W. received survivor compensation following her husband’s employment related death. When she changed bank accounts, OWCP deposited a replacement payment even though the original payment for the same four week period had already cleared. The Board found that C.W. received $2,019.34 twice and knew…
L.B. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Chicago, IL
L.B. (ECAB 15-0951): Carpal tunnel claim returned for review of submitted records
L.B., a postal worker, claimed that her work caused carpal tunnel syndrome. OWCP denied the claim while stating that she had supplied no further medical evidence in response to its request. The Board found that OWCP had received several reports from her orthopedic surgeon and had mistakenly…
J.E. and Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Sacramento, CA
J.E. (ECAB 15-0787): Drafting related injury claim and reconsideration denied
J.E., a Bureau of Indian Affairs highway engineer, claimed that electronic drafting at work caused back and shoulder problems. The Board found that he had not documented what drafting tasks he performed or their frequency and duration, so the claimed work exposure was not established. His…
J.B. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Troy, MI
J.B. (ECAB 15-0726): Existing wage earning capacity finding left in place
J.B., a postal processing clerk, worked for over four years in a full time modified clerk position after a back injury. When the Postal Service withdrew that position, he sought to change OWCP’s earlier finding that his wages represented his earning capacity. The Board found that the job was a…
B.S. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, Bay Pines, FL
B.S. (ECAB 15-0212): Benefits termination for refusal of suitable work upheld
B.S., a VA nurse, had accepted back injuries and received compensation. In 1986 the VA offered her a medical machine technician position with no lifting, pushing, or pulling. The Board found that her vocational counselor had selected the position and her treating surgeon had approved its duties…
A.M. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, City of Industry, CA
A.M. (ECAB 15-1628): Total disability after retirement not established
A.M., a postal clerk, had received partial disability compensation for accepted shoulder tendinitis while working a restricted schedule. After retiring, he elected to receive FECA benefits and claimed total disability from his retirement date. The Board found that medical reports still allowed him…
M.M. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Hampton, GA
M.M. (ECAB 15-1590): Emotional condition claim and subpoena request denied
M.M., a postal rural carrier, attributed worsening anxiety to disputes over a cash box, his work schedule, and management’s treatment of him. The Board found that he had not established an event or management error that qualified as a compensable work factor under FECA. It also upheld the denial of…
D.B. and Department of the Air Force, Ogden Utah -- OAMA, Randolph Air Force Base, TX
D.B. (ECAB 15-1501): Hand and elbow occupational disease claim denied
D.B., an Air Force sheet metal mechanic, claimed that repetitive tool use and vibration injured his hands and elbows. OWCP accepted that he performed those duties. The Board found that his physician’s reports did not supply adequate examination findings for firm diagnoses or a reasoned explanation…
B.L. and Department of the Army, Test and Evaluation Command, White Sands Missile Range, NM
B.L. (ECAB 15-0946): Pulmonary condition claim denied for lack of medical causation
B.L., an Army IT specialist, claimed that contaminated air in her work building caused a pulmonary condition. OWCP accepted her account of breathing the air at work. The Board found that her physician did not explain how the claimed exposure caused or worsened a diagnosed pulmonary condition. Her…
S.H. and Department of Commerce, 2000 Decennial Census, Dallas, TX
S.H. (ECAB 15-0809): Increased schedule award starts at the later medical improvement date
S.H. sought an earlier start date for an additional schedule award for permanent impairment of both legs after a workplace fall. She argued that the new award amended her earlier award and should begin the day after that award ended in 2010. The Board found that the later award compensated…
L.F., widow of W.F., and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Sacramento, CA
L.F., widow of W.F. (ECAB 14-2022): Survivor claim denied for insufficient proof of causal connection
L.F. sought survivor benefits after her husband, a postal worker with accepted work injuries and chronic pain, died by suicide. His medical records described pain, depression, and suicidal thoughts, and one treating psychologist attributed his death to the work injuries. The Board found that the…
J.V. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Pittsburgh, PA
J.V. (ECAB 14-0788): Late reconsideration request does not show clear error
J.V. sought reconsideration of OWCP’s denial of her postal workplace shoulder injury claim more than one year after its last merits decision. She argued that errors in OWCP’s document scanning showed that medical evidence submitted earlier had gone missing. The Board found no proof that OWCP had…
United States Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and American Federation of Government Employees, National Border Patrol Council, Local 3307
CBP and AFGE Local 3307 (FLRA 0-AR-5114): Backpay award set aside
CBP assigned a Border Patrol agent to administrative duties during an internal investigation after he was acquitted of a criminal charge. The assignment made him ineligible for certain premium pay. An arbitrator found that CBP took too long to complete the investigation and treated the agent…
Matthew A. Varady v. Veris Gold USA, Inc.
Damage claims required documentation and limited relief
Matthew Varady had already proven that Veris Gold fired him because of safety and health complaints and then submitted a wide-ranging request for damages and other relief. Judge William B. Moran required an affidavit identifying when Varady returned to work and any unemployment compensation, plus…
S.B. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Los Angeles, CA
S.B. (ECAB 15-1499): OWCP must decide renewed schedule award claim
S.B., a postal employee with an accepted right knee strain, filed another schedule award claim after several denials. She submitted a new physician’s impairment evaluation, but OWCP declined to review the claim because earlier claims had been denied. The Board held that a claimant may seek an…
R.W. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Jacksonville, FL
R.W. (ECAB 15-1498): New impartial examination needed for disability claim
R.W., a postal mail handler, sought wage-loss compensation after a container struck his back at work. OWCP accepted a low back contusion but denied compensation for disability beginning July 5, 2008 after obtaining an impartial physician’s opinion. The Board found that the physician discussed a…
C.B. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Administration Medical Center, Dallas, TX
C.B. (ECAB 15-1441): Emotional condition claim fails for lack of a compensable work factor
C.B., a medical support assistant, said a clinical coordinator gave her wrong patient rescheduling instructions and caused an episode of anxiety and physical symptoms. Her supervisor and an agency official said the instructions followed the clinic’s scheduling policy. The Board found insufficient…
J.W. and Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Tucson, AZ
J.W. (ECAB 15-1415): Foot injury claim lacks a reasoned medical link to pack test
J.W., a National Park Service ranger, reported right heel pain during a required fast walk with a heavy pack. The Board accepted that the walk occurred and that he had plantar fasciitis and a heel spur. His physician’s report gave conflicting accounts of when the pain began and whether it was work…
J.S. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Administration Medical Center, Indianapolis, IN
J.S. (ECAB 15-1389): Partial wage-loss claim lacks medical explanation
J.S., a Veterans Affairs nurse, returned to five-hour shifts after an accepted left knee strain and claimed pay for the hours she could not work. Her physician restricted her hours and described knee symptoms, but did not explain how the accepted strain caused the partial disability during the…
D.S. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Jersey City, NJ
D.S. (ECAB 15-0914): Termination of compensation upheld after impartial examination
D.S., a postal mail handler, received compensation for an accepted lumbar strain after his work vehicle struck a pothole. OWCP terminated benefits after an impartial orthopedic surgeon found that the work injury had resolved and that disc conditions seen on scans predated it. The Board found that…
M.D. and U.S. Postal Service, Fox Valley Processing & Distribution Center, Aurora, IL
M.D. (ECAB 14-1214): Wage-earning capacity ruling remanded for missing job evidence
M.D., a postal employee, sought modification of a 1997 wage-earning capacity determination after her modified position was withdrawn. The Board had twice instructed OWCP to apply its procedures for determining whether the job underlying that determination was an actual position. OWCP requested…
United States Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Federal Medical Center, Lexington, Kentucky (Agency) and American Federation of Government Employees, Council of Prison Locals #33, Local 817 (Union)
BOP Federal Medical Center Lexington and AFGE Local 817 (FLRA 0-AR-5107): Full-roster nurse bidding award upheld
An arbitrator found that FMC Lexington violated its agreement by reserving nursing assignments for Public Health Service Commissioned Corps nurses before bargaining-unit nurses could bid on a full roster. The Authority upheld the award. It found the arbitrator's contract interpretation plausible…
Daniel B. Lowe v. Veris Gold USA, Inc.
Defaulted employer found liable for safety-complaint firing
Daniel Lowe, Veris Gold's safety and regulatory compliance manager, complained about mercury contamination and contaminated clothing in mine lunchrooms. Veris fired him days later, and its human-resources manager told witnesses that the company would think of a reason for the termination. Veris…
Secretary of Labor v. Traylor Mining, LLC
Excavator right-of-way citation reduced to moderate negligence
A Traylor Mining supervisor walked in front of a Bobcat excavator's blade while the machine was backing away from the face, and an accidentally activated boom struck and seriously injured him. Traylor conceded the violation of its right-of-way rule, the S&S designation, and the gravity findings…
Secretary of Labor v. Jeppesen Gravel
Entry interference and withdrawal-order violations affirmed
Jeppesen Gravel delayed an MSHA inspection, asked a deputy sheriff to arrest the inspectors, and continued confrontational conduct during the inspection despite a federal consent judgment requiring unobstructed entry. Judge Priscilla M. Rae found intentional and reckless interference with MSHA's…
J.F. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Cleveland, OH
J.F. (ECAB 15-1493): Injury claim lacks medical explanation of causation
J.F., a postal worker, reported pain and numbness after lifting and carrying a tray of mail at work. OWCP accepted that the incident occurred. The Board found that the medical reports diagnosed back and neck conditions but did not explain how the work incident caused them. Checked boxes indicating…
R.T. and Department of the Navy, Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bangor, WA
R.T. (ECAB 15-1447): Hearing loss claim lacks a medical link to Navy noise exposure
R.T., a retired Navy shipyard worker, claimed that workplace noise caused his hearing loss. The Board accepted that he had hearing loss and had been exposed to noise at work. An examining specialist compared earlier hearing tests and found normal hearing at the end of significant noise exposure…
M.G. and Department of the Navy, Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, WA
M.G. (ECAB 15-1396): Rescission of accepted hearing loss claim upheld
M.G., a retired Navy shipyard insulator, had an accepted claim for bilateral hearing loss. OWCP later rescinded acceptance after the examining specialist said he had mistakenly checked a form box indicating the loss was due to work. His narrative report and clarification instead attributed the…
K.Y. and Department of Health & Human Services, Social Security Administration, Chicago, IL
K.Y. (ECAB 15-1377): Reconsideration denial remanded for adequate reasons
K.Y. asked OWCP to reconsider its denial of her emotional condition claim. She raised arguments about alleged workplace harassment and administrative error and pointed to medical evidence. OWCP denied review with a brief statement that her request raised no substantive legal question or new…
A.G. and Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, Farmers Branch, TX
A.G. (ECAB 15-1251): Occupational disease claim fails amid conflicting accounts
A.G., an IRS clerk, claimed neck, shoulder, and back symptoms from her work. The Board found that she did not identify the specific duties associated with the onset of her symptoms and gave an account of reporting the injury that conflicted with her manager’s statement. Coworker statements did not…
E.V. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Chicago, IL
E.V. (ECAB 15-0803): Compensation forfeited for unreported outside earnings
E.V., a postal carrier receiving disability compensation, reported no earnings on forms covering the relevant period. Evidence showed that he also earned money for sound engineering and cartage work. He argued that money shared with family members and others was not income he needed to report. The…
K.T. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Honolulu, HI
K.T. (ECAB 15-0099): Claimed office allergen exposure remains unproven
K.T., a postal clerk, claimed a severe allergic reaction during her first day in a new office. She attributed it to dust, mold, toner, and other substances. The Board found no adequate evidence that those alleged allergens were present in the office on the claimed date. The Postal Service provided…
Meadows Construction Company LLC
Roof-anchor and unattended-telehandler violations affirmed
Meadows Construction was replacing shingles on a two-story police station in Haverhill, Massachusetts. Six employees worked on a steep roof about 25 feet above the ground, and one employee connected his fall-arrest system to a reusable roof anchor secured by only one of its two flanges. The…
American Recycling & Manufacturing Co., Inc.
Broad safety violations affirmed after amputation inspection
American Recycling & Manufacturing produced wood packaging materials and pallets at a Rochester, New York facility. OSHA opened a safety inspection after a twenty-year-old employee's left hand was amputated when a coworker accidentally activated a pop-up saw, then opened a related health inspection…
Secretary of Labor on behalf of Jeremy Jones v. Kingston Mining, Inc.
Temporary reinstatement initially denied
Jeremy Jones, an underground electrician, reported covered roof-bolter lights, damaged trailing cables, trash, and improperly discarded dust bags before Kingston Mining included him in a layoff. Judge William B. Moran found that Jones's nearly four-month delay in filing his discrimination complaint…
Joseph Pisaturo v. Logistec, Incorporated
Pisaturo v. Logistec (BRB 14-0214): eye impairment award reduced
Longshoreman Joseph Pisaturo had residual double vision after a work-related eye injury. An administrative law judge used a self-devised multiplier to convert a doctor's 7.5 percent visual-system impairment rating into a 37.5 percent left-eye award. The Board rejected that multiplier because…
Willbanks v. Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, Inc. and Flight Services International, LLC
Willbanks v. Atlas Air and Flight Services (DOL ARB 2016-0003): Settlement sent to judge for approval
Sabra Willbanks brought an aviation whistleblower case involving Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings and Flight Services International. After an earlier Board ruling, Flight Services International appealed to the Fifth Circuit. Flight Services International and Willbanks then reached a settlement and…
G.W. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Bloomington, IN
G.W. (ECAB 15-1492): Vehicle collision claim lacks qualifying medical opinion
G.W., a rural mail carrier, reported back, neck, and shoulder pain after another vehicle struck her mail vehicle from behind. OWCP accepted that the collision occurred. The Board found that the submitted nurse practitioner records could not establish medical causation under FECA and that a work…
G.J. and Department of Justice, Bureau of Prisons, Grand Prairie, TX
G.J. (ECAB 15-1103): No additional left leg schedule award beyond 25 percent
G.J., a prison lieutenant, sought a larger schedule award for permanent impairment of his left leg after two accepted injuries. He had already received awards totaling 25 percent. The Board explained that the complex regional pain syndrome rating was a stand-alone method that could not be combined…
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.