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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M.F. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Show Lo, AZ
M.F. (ECAB 15-0245): Unclear medical opinion required a new disability decision
M.F., a rural postal carrier, had accepted hip and head injuries after slipping on snow and ice. She claimed that she again became totally disabled after working in a modified-duty position. OWCP denied that claim based on an impartial neurologist’s opinion that she could work, except for loading…
R.H. and Department of the Navy, Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, NH
R.H. (ECAB 14-0737): One percent impairment award for each arm upheld
R.H., a Navy shipyard painter and blaster, had accepted bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome, epicondylitis, and forearm tendinitis. He sought a larger schedule award than OWCP’s one percent rating for each arm. The Board found that OWCP had wrongly treated a disagreement between two OWCP physicians as…
R.B. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Austin, TX
R.B. (ECAB 14-0594): Outdated medical exams could not support wage reduction
R.B., a postal carrier, received disability compensation after a work vehicle collision caused physical injuries and later accepted psychiatric conditions. OWCP reduced his compensation in October 2013 based on a construction estimator job it believed he could perform. Its physical and psychiatric…
United States Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration (Agency) and National Air Traffic Controllers Association (Union)
FAA and NATCA (FLRA 0-AR-5119): Prekindergarten tuition remedy limited to represented employees
The FAA refused to reimburse the Department of Defense for prekindergarten tuition for eligible employees' children at Defense schools in Guam and Puerto Rico. An arbitrator found that this policy violated the FAA's agreement with the air traffic controllers' union and ordered the agency to cover…
OMG Americas, Inc. Westlake, Ohio
In re OMG Americas, Inc. Westlake, Ohio (EAB TSCA Appeal No. 15-01C): Consent Agreement ratified
OMG Americas, Inc. Westlake, Ohio resolved an EPA Toxic Substances Control Act matter through a Consent Agreement. The Environmental Appeals Board incorporated the agreement by reference into its Final Order and ratified it under 40 C.F.R. § 22.18(b)-(c). The Board ordered the respondent to comply…
L.G. and U.S. Postal Service, Fort Dearborn Station, Chicago, IL
L.G. (ECAB 15-1375): Repeated evidence did not reopen irritant-exposure claim
L.G., a postal mail processing clerk, alleged that chemical irritants at work caused recurrent skin and other symptoms. A prior Board decision had affirmed denial of her occupational disease claim. In her new reconsideration request, she submitted coworker statements, grievance materials, a nursing…
E.L. and Department of Commerce, Environmental Management Section, Washington, DC
E.L. (ECAB 15-1180): Occupational lung claim filed after FECA deadline
E.L., a former Commerce Department hazardous materials worker, attributed bronchiectasis to asbestos and other workplace exposures. He said he recognized a possible work connection by July 2008 and retired in September 2008, but filed his claim in June 2012. The Board found the claim outside FECA’s…
S.F. and Department of the Air Force, Robins Air Force Base, GA
S.F. (ECAB 15-1153): No schedule award; hearing-aid question remanded
S.F., an Air Force aircraft mechanic, had accepted bilateral hearing loss from workplace noise. OWCP denied both a schedule award and hearing aids. The Board upheld the award denial because the physician-certified audiogram produced zero percent ratable loss in each ear under the required formula…
E.S. and Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards & Technology, Gaithersburg, MD
E.S. (ECAB 15-1144): Airport car-crash claim lacked medical causation evidence
E.S., a Commerce Department grants specialist, was in a car accident while traveling to the airport on temporary duty. OWCP accepted that the accident happened in the performance of duty but denied her injury claim. Some medical reports attributed neck and back pain to the crash without…
N.K. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Merrifield, VA
N.K. (ECAB 15-1066): Two percent right-leg impairment award upheld
N.K., a postal letter carrier, ruptured his right quadriceps tendon when he fell on snowy stairs at work. His surgeon rated his permanent right-leg impairment at 20 percent after surgical repair. OWCP’s medical adviser found that the surgeon’s reported mild weakness and good range of motion…
D.L. and U.S. Postal Service, Lancaster Post Office, Lancaster, CA
D.L. (ECAB 15-0973): Total disability claim failed despite accepted shoulder injury
D.L., a city carrier, had an accepted left shoulder injury and later sought total disability compensation for four weeks in 2014. His employer offered a modified letter carrier position within the restrictions of OWCP’s examining orthopedic surgeon. D.L.’s treating physician proposed tighter…
S.S. and Department of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration, Fort Lauderdale, FL
S.S. (ECAB 15-0780): Back claim and reconsideration denial upheld
S.S., a transportation security officer, attributed back conditions to repetitive baggage handling. The Board found that his physician’s reports did not adequately explain how those duties caused or aggravated a diagnosed back condition. For reconsideration, S.S. submitted notice that the Office of…
D.G. and Department of Homeland Security, Customs & Border Patrol, Brownsville, TX
D.G. (ECAB 15-0371): Acceptance of traumatic ankle injury properly rescinded
D.G., a customs officer, said she injured her right ankle while boarding a bus to conduct an inspection. OWCP first denied, then accepted, her traumatic injury claim before rescinding that acceptance. The Board found that OWCP explained the rescission and met its burden to show the original…
C.C. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Bellmawr, NJ
C.C. (ECAB 15-0239): Healed kneecap fracture supported benefits termination
C.C., a postal mail handler, fractured his right kneecap when he tripped and fell at work. His treating surgeon reported that the fracture had healed and attributed his continuing weakness to an underlying neurologic condition. OWCP’s examining surgeon likewise found no remaining effects from the…
Matthew A. Varady v. Veris Gold USA, Inc.
Ammonia-safety complaints caused unlawful firing
Matthew Varady became ill after repeated ammonia exposure while working in Veris Gold's carbon-in-leach circuit, raised safety and health concerns, and was fired less than two months later. Veris claimed that it fired him solely for a Facebook post criticizing a supervisor for sleeping in a company…
United States Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Richmond, Virginia (Respondent) and American Federation of Government Employees, Local 2145, AFL-CIO (Charging Party)
Richmond VA Medical Center and AFGE Local 2145 (FLRA WA-CA-11-0390): Union bypass finding upheld
After coworkers complained about a Richmond VA Medical Center employee, his supervisor asked whether he would move to another floor to resolve the complaints. An Authority judge found that the medical center bypassed AFGE Local 2145 by trying to resolve the grievances and change the employee's…
Lamley v. Jynx Express, LLC
Petition for review withdrawn
Kevin Lamley brought a complaint under the Surface Transportation Assistance Act against Jynx Express, LLC and two individuals. The administrative law judge dismissed the complaint after finding that Lamley had not established protected activity under the Act. Lamley petitioned the Administrative…
Fuqua v. SVOX AG
Second complaint dismissed after federal court filing
Kurt Fuqua filed two Sarbanes-Oxley whistleblower complaints related to a dispute over wages and his former employer's response to that dispute. He took the first complaint to federal district court for de novo review, and the Board had already closed that appeal. The Board found that the second…
S.S. and Department of the Navy, Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, WA
S.S. (ECAB 15-1283): New lung diagnosis required merits review of asbestos claim
S.S., a Navy shipyard production controller, claimed medical conditions from asbestos exposure at work. OWCP had denied the claim, then refused to reconsider it after he submitted a new pulmonologist’s report diagnosing bilateral asbestos-related pleural disease. OWCP viewed the report as…
K.H. and Department of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration, Arlington, VA
K.H. (ECAB 15-1267): Knee diagnosis lacked an explanation linking it to a fall
K.H., a transportation security specialist, fell from a desk while adjusting an air-conditioning vent at work. OWCP accepted the incident and a diagnosis of right knee cartilage injury but denied his injury claim for lack of medical causation evidence. His orthopedic surgeon said the knee had been…
P.D. and Department of the Navy, Marine Corps Logistics Base, Maintenance Center, Barstow, CA
P.D. (ECAB 15-1173): Left-ear award upheld; right-ear loss not ratable
P.D., a Marine Corps logistics base mechanic, had accepted bilateral hearing loss after years of workplace noise exposure. OWCP paid a schedule award for eight percent left-ear hearing loss but found no ratable right-ear impairment. The Board reviewed the physician’s audiogram and OWCP’s…
S.B. and Department of the Navy, Naval Submarine Base, Groton, CT
S.B. (ECAB 15-1079): OWCP must address its own examiner’s disability opinion
S.B., a Navy crane operator, had accepted lumbar radiculitis after a work injury and later performed modified duty. He claimed a recurrence of total disability beginning in September 2012. OWCP denied the claim while giving little consideration to its own examining surgeon’s report. That surgeon…
K.D. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Salisbury Veterans Administration Medical Center, Salisbury, NC
K.D. (ECAB 15-0919): Foot-injury denial upheld on a different ground
K.D., a Veterans Affairs housekeeping aide, claimed that he fractured his right foot in a workplace slip and fall. OWCP denied the claim on a performance-of-duty ground. The Board upheld the denial on a different basis: K.D. did not specify where or how he fell, filed months later, and the accounts…
K.G. and Department of the Navy, Fleet Readiness Center Southeast, Jacksonville, FL
K.G. (ECAB 15-0862): Seven percent shoulder impairment award upheld
K.G., a Navy aircraft fabricator, had an accepted right shoulder injury and several rotator cuff repairs. OWCP’s medical adviser rated the full-thickness rotator cuff tear at the maximum seven percent impairment allowed by the applicable diagnosis table. One surgeon suggested eight percent without…
T.Y. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Tonawanda, NY
T.Y. (ECAB 15-0751): Overpayment and denial of waiver upheld
T.Y., a postal city carrier, received wage-loss compensation for March 26 through April 5, 2014 after returning to full-time work. OWCP found a $1,068.63 overpayment and determined that he was without fault. T.Y. requested a waiver, saying repayment would cause hardship, but did not submit the…
E.S. and Department of Health & Human Services, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD
E.S. (ECAB 14-2010): Repeated Crohn’s disease argument did not reopen claim
E.S., a former National Institutes of Health statistician, had an accepted temporary aggravation of preexisting Crohn’s disease. He repeatedly disputed OWCP’s conclusion that he had no work-related disability after his employment ended in June 1978. In a new reconsideration request, he again argued…
Secretary of Labor v. Big Laurel Mining Corporation
Seven mine-safety violations affirmed with $252,304 penalty
Big Laurel operated a room-and-pillar coal mine in Wise County, Virginia, where MSHA issued seven citations and orders after repeated roof failures and an inspection of the mine's intake, return, and escapeway entries. Judge Alan G. Paez affirmed all seven violations, including failures to support…
Secretary of Labor v. Beverly Materials, LLC
Intermittent scraper horn violated maintenance standard
An MSHA inspector found that a scraper's manually operated horn sometimes sounded but repeatedly failed during testing, and Beverly Materials later replaced it as unreliable. The ALJ vacated the citation because the horn worked at the start of the shift and functioned intermittently afterward. The…
C.B. and Department of Homeland Security, Customs & Border Patrol, El Paso, TX
C.B. (ECAB 15-1333): Post-return overpayment and waiver denial upheld
C.B., a border patrol agent, returned to regular work on February 2, 2015 but received disability compensation for February 2 through 7. The Board calculated a $749.14 overpayment for those six days and found that she was without fault because the payment arrived in a single direct deposit. OWCP…
D.J. and Department of the Air Force, Robins Air Force Base, Warner Robins, GA
D.J. (ECAB 15-1327): Accepted hearing loss did not meet award threshold
D.J., an Air Force machinist, had accepted bilateral hearing loss after decades of work around noise. OWCP’s examining physician recommended an evaluation for hearing aids, but the agency denied a schedule award. The Board reviewed the physician’s audiogram and found an average loss of about 21…
J.S. and Department of the Navy, Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, WA
J.S. (ECAB 15-1279): Shipyard hearing-loss claim lacked a work-related medical opinion
J.S., a retired Navy shipyard machinery mechanic, claimed hearing loss from years of workplace noise. OWCP accepted that he worked around the reported noise and that he had hearing loss, but denied the claim on causation. Its examining physician compared current testing with audiograms from when he…
B.S. and Department of Agriculture, Farm & Foreign Service Agency, Riverdale, MD
B.S. (ECAB 15-1098): Afghanistan emotional-condition claim lacked proven work factors
B.S., an agricultural adviser, claimed an emotional condition related to his work in Afghanistan and a later fitness-for-duty examination. He described attacks during an earlier tour and a colleague’s death, but the Board found that he had not provided enough detail or supporting evidence to…
L.P. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Riverdale, GA
L.P. (ECAB 15-1032): EEO settlement letter did not show clear error
L.P., a postal customer service supervisor, claimed an emotional condition arising from management actions. OWCP denied the claim in 2009 and received her reconsideration request in 2014, after the one-year deadline. She submitted a letter reporting a $60,000 settlement of an employment…
R.C. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Folsom, LA
R.C. (ECAB 15-1012): Postal lifting claim lacked reasoned medical causation
R.C., a rural postal carrier, attributed right arm, shoulder, and neck symptoms to opening mailboxes and lifting tubs and trays of mail. Physicians identified conditions and expressed views that her work caused them. The Board found that their reports did not explain medically how particular duties…
R.E. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Lake Hopatcong, NJ
R.E. (ECAB 15-0535): Witness accounts established incident; knee claim remanded
R.E., a rural postal carrier, felt her right knee buckle while walking across the workroom floor. OWCP denied her traumatic injury claim, finding no specific work incident. The Board found her account consistent with statements from two coworkers who heard her cry out and saw her nearly fall. It…
L.S. and Department of the Army, Civilian Personnel Office, Fort Ord, CA
L.S. (ECAB 15-0270): No new recurrence or duplicate wage-loss entitlement
L.S., an Army civilian employee, had several accepted back injury claims and had received total disability compensation. He later claimed a recurrence beginning October 1, 1999 under another combined claim file. The Board found that he attributed his condition to intervening work activities rather…
R.O. and Department of the Air Force, McGuire Air Force Base, NJ
R.O. (ECAB 14-1329): Pay-rate error created recoverable overpayment
R.O., an Air Force police officer, received wage-loss compensation after an accepted back injury. OWCP mistakenly counted two-week night and Sunday premium amounts as weekly pay when calculating his benefits, creating a $9,570.72 overpayment. The Board rejected his argument that scheduled mandatory…
Gary L. Johnson v. BAE Systems Southeast Shipyard
Johnson v. BAE Systems (BRB 15-0025): Special Fund relief denied after settlement
BAE Systems settled electrician Gary Johnson's Longshore Act injury claim, agreeing to continuing weekly compensation and medical liability. The employer also sought Special Fund relief based on a prior service-related disability. An administrative law judge denied that request because the Fund is…
National Treasury Employees Union, Chapter 67 (Union) and United States Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, Ogden, Utah (Agency)
NTEU Chapter 67 and IRS Ogden (FLRA 0-AR-5055): Attorney fee denial upheld
An IRS employee in Ogden won a higher performance rating and a cash award through grievances brought by NTEU Chapter 67. The union then sought attorney fees, but the arbitrator denied the request under the Back Pay Act. The Authority agreed that the corrected rating was not pay and that the record…
National Treasury Employees Union, Chapter 143 (Union) and United States Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection, Columbus, New Mexico (Agency)
NTEU Chapter 143 and CBP Columbus (FLRA 0-AR-5046): Denial of missed overtime pay upheld
A CBP officer in Columbus, New Mexico, missed part of an overtime shift after a supervisor said overtime assignments were cancelled and another supervisor later called her to report for work. An arbitrator found that CBP violated a contract rule requiring seventy-two hours' notice of overtime…
American Federation of Government Employees, Local 15 (Union) and United States Department of the Army, Headquarters, Joint Munitions Command, Rock Island, Illinois (Agency)
AFGE Local 15 and Joint Munitions Command (FLRA 0-AR-4962): Reassignment grievance denial upheld
The Army's Joint Munitions Command reassigned a GS-7 logistics specialist from a job with promotion potential to a GS-7 job without it after concerns about her performance. AFGE Local 15 challenged the reassignment and the appraisal system used, but an arbitrator denied the grievance. The Authority…
United States Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Federal Correctional Institution, Tallahassee, Florida (Agency) and American Federation of Government Employees, Council of Prison Locals, Local 1570 (Union)
FCI Tallahassee and AFGE Local 1570 (FLRA 0-AR-4897): Correctional officer overtime award remanded
AFGE Local 1570 claimed that correctional officers at FCI Tallahassee performed work before and after shifts without overtime pay. An arbitrator awarded officers fifteen minutes of overtime per affected shift, plus interest and liquidated damages. The Authority could not tell from the award whether…
Secretary of Labor v. Yenter Companies
Blast-site order vacated and post-blast citation reduced
Yenter Companies performed blasting work at Mountain Cement's Wyoming quarry and contested two enforcement actions arising from a January 2014 blast. Judge Richard W. Manning vacated the blast-site barricade order because the standard offered alternative compliance methods and Yenter attended the…
Secretary of Labor v. RPC Contracting, Inc.
Late penalty contest reopened after medical leave
RPC Contracting missed the 30-day deadline to contest an MSHA penalty assessment, causing the assessment to become a final Commission order. The company explained that its chief financial officer, who handled MSHA matters, had been on medical leave and that counsel was unavailable when the…
L.M. and Department of Agriculture, Horticultural Research Laboratory
L.M. (ECAB 15-1253): Chemical exposure claim lacked competent medical evidence
L.M., a biological science technician, reported breathing and skin symptoms after chemicals were sprayed near trees she was trimming. OWCP accepted that the workplace exposure occurred. The only medical report had an illegible signature, so the Board could not verify that a physician prepared it…
M.M. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Pembroke Pines, FL
M.M. (ECAB 15-0979): Referee opinion defeated wage-loss claim
M.M., a postal mail processing clerk, sought wage-loss compensation after an accepted back contusion. An earlier Board remand had required OWCP to resolve a conflict between her treating doctor and an agency physician. The impartial orthopedic specialist found the contusion resolved and concluded…
J.C. and Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Fairton, NJ
J.C. (ECAB 15-0962): Leg impairment rating needs medical clarification
J.C., a correctional officer, sought a schedule award for leg impairment after accepted ankle sprains. Doctors disagreed about his permanent impairment, and OWCP relied on an impartial specialist who found no ratable ankle impairment. The Board found that specialist's report unclear about the…
N.F. and U.S. Postal Service, Warehouse Annex, San Antonio, TX
N.F. (ECAB 15-0895): Conflicting accounts defeated claimed workplace injury
N.F., a postal mail handler, said he injured his legs and back while handling mail trays on October 3, 2012. His accounts of that morning conflicted with statements from his supervisor and coworkers, who said he left after a meeting without working on the floor. The Board found that the…
D.G. and Department of the Navy, Naval Sea Systems Command Stations, Keyport, WA
D.G. (ECAB 15-0702): Hearing-loss claim lacked causal medical opinion
D.G., a retired Navy engineering technician, claimed hearing loss from workplace noise. The Board agreed that the claim was timely because the employer's hearing conservation program put it on notice of the possible injury. The medical record, however, contained no opinion linking his hearing loss…
K.A. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Honolulu, HI
K.A. (ECAB 15-0684): Emotional-condition claim lacked a compensable work factor
K.A., a postal maintenance supervisor, attributed an emotional condition to a changed work schedule, supervisor conduct, denied leave, and workload. The Board found no substantiated overwork or error or abuse in the scheduling and leave decisions. It also found no evidence establishing a…
B.U. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Grants Pass, OR
B.U. (ECAB 14-1837): Hip surgery and disability claims lacked causal proof
B.U., a city mail carrier, sought coverage for left hip replacement and wage-loss compensation after OWCP accepted a temporary work aggravation of hip arthritis. The Board found no reasoned medical opinion connecting the surgery to that accepted condition or to his work. It also found no adequate…
M.G. and U.S. Postal Service, Main Post Office, Washington, DC
M.G. (ECAB 14-1283): Board grants remand to review disputed medical report
M.G. appealed OWCP's refusal to reconsider her recurrence claim, which turned in part on an unsigned medical report. The Board asked the OWCP Director to address how dictated or electronic medical reports should be treated. The Director moved to remand so OWCP could review all medical evidence…
J.C. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Princeton, NJ
J.C. (ECAB 14-0716): Recurrence claim requires both accepted injury files
J.C., a postal carrier, claimed renewed disability after accepted neck, knee, and left shoulder injuries recorded in two OWCP claim files. OWCP denied the recurrence claim after discussing only the neck and knee conditions. The Board found that OWCP failed to address the accepted left shoulder…
Affordable Roofing and Exteriors, Inc.
Ladder and repeat roofing violations affirmed by default
OSHA observed eleven Affordable Roofing and Exteriors employees working on a steep gas-station roof in Trenton, Illinois without conventional fall protection. The access ladder did not extend three feet above the roof, the company had stopped conducting required safety inspections, and a one-foot…
United States Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons, U.S. Penitentiary, Atwater, California (Agency) and American Federation of Government Employees, Council of Prison Locals, Local 1242 (Union)
USP Atwater and AFGE Local 1242 (FLRA 0-AR-5081): Prison officer overtime award narrowed
An arbitrator awarded overtime to employees at USP Atwater for tasks before and after scheduled shifts, including check-ins, travel through a secure corridor, and equipment pickup. The Authority upheld pay for officers who received assignments and handled reports while checking in with a…
United States Department of Veterans Affairs, John J. Pershing Medical Center, Poplar Bluff, Missouri (Agency) and American Federation of Government Employees, Local 2338 (Union)
Pershing VA Medical Center and AFGE Local 2338 (FLRA 0-AR-5072): Respiratory therapist's backpay award upheld
A respiratory therapist at the Pershing VA Medical Center claimed he was not regularly paid for after-hours work performed over many years. An arbitrator excused a thirty-day grievance deadline under the circumstances and awarded $24,000 in backpay. The Authority held that the decision to excuse…
Secretary of Labor v. Steve B. Rees, employed by Prairie State Generating Company, LLC and Secretary of Labor v. Michael Welch, employed by Prairie State Generating Company, LLC
Secretary of Labor v. Steve B. Rees and Secretary of Labor v. Michael Welch (FMSHRC LAKE 2015-144, LAKE 2015-130): Delay did not require dismissal of individual penalties
MSHA sought individual penalties against Prairie State employees Steve Rees and Michael Welch for allegedly knowingly authorizing, ordering, or carrying out a mine-safety violation. They moved to dismiss because MSHA waited about 28 months after the underlying inspection to issue the assessments…
Mercier v. Union Pacific Railroad Co.
Railroad complaint dismissal affirmed
Michael Mercier alleged that Union Pacific Railroad disciplined and discharged him for activity protected by the Federal Rail Safety Act. An administrative law judge denied his complaint after a hearing, finding that he had not proved his protected activity contributed to the discharge. The Board…
L.C. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Waterford, WI
L.C. (ECAB 15-1264): Four percent arm impairment rating upheld
L.C., a rural carrier, injured her right elbow when she slipped on ice while leaving her delivery vehicle. OWCP awarded compensation for four percent permanent impairment of her right arm. The Board noted that the impairment guide did not rate a stable elbow dislocation. OWCP’s medical adviser used…
T.W. and U.S. Postal Service, Raleigh Processing and Distribution Center
T.W. (ECAB 15-1135): Shoulder injury claim lacked medical evidence
T.W., a mail handler, said her right shoulder hurt while she was attaching labels above her head. Her supervisor disputed the account, and OWCP asked her for more factual and medical evidence. She supplied no medical evidence to OWCP before its decision. The Board held that she had not established…
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.