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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R.M. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Tampa, FL
R.M. (ECAB 12-0380): Overpayment upheld, waiver remanded
R.M., a postal employee, received disability payments calculated with certain premium pay counted twice. The Board upheld OWCP's finding that this produced a $25,748.77 overpayment. OWCP had found R.M. without fault but denied her request to waive recovery, saying her expenses were insufficiently…
D.B. and Department of Agriculture, Forest Service
D.B. (ECAB 12-0376): Injury denial and reconsideration refusal affirmed
D.B., a Forest Service firefighter on temporary duty in New Mexico, experienced left arm weakness while walking near a work station. OWCP accepted that the incident happened but denied his injury claim. The Board found that his medical reports did not explain how the incident caused his symptoms…
R.M. and Department of the Air Force, Air National Guard
R.M. (ECAB 12-0332): Lumbar fusion authorization denied
R.M., an Air National Guard employee, had accepted back conditions and underwent an earlier authorized surgery. His treating neurosurgeon later recommended lumbar fusion, but OWCP's second opinion physician disagreed. An impartial examiner concluded that the proposed fusion was not warranted by the…
E.M. and U.S. Postal Service, Mid-Carolinas Performance Cluster
E.M. (ECAB 12-0292): Shoulder injury denial affirmed
E.M., a postal letter carrier, reported a left shoulder injury after repeatedly operating her vehicle's parking brake during a workday. OWCP accepted that the work activity occurred but denied her claim for lack of proof that it caused an injury. The Board found that one doctor's reports gave no…
R.B. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Mableton, GA
R.B. (ECAB 12-0067): Foot neuroma claim denial affirmed
R.B., a postal mail processor, claimed that work duties or an accepted earlier back injury caused neuromas in both feet. One doctor said a connection to the back condition was possible but acknowledged limited expertise on neuromas. A podiatrist related a separate foot stress fracture to work but…
American Federation of Government Employees, Local 1938 and United States Department of the Army, Army Corps of Engineers, Huntington, West Virginia
AFGE Local 1938 and Army Corps of Engineers (FLRA 0-AR-4785): Travel-pay grievance denial stands
The Army Corps of Engineers assigned Bellevue Lock and Dam employees to work temporarily at Willow Island Lock and Dam. The union sought mileage reimbursement and overtime for their trips between home and the temporary site. An arbitrator found both sites were within the same local travel area and…
H.W. and U.S. Postal Service, Processing & Distribution Center, Macon, GA
H.W. (ECAB 12-0449): Chest x-ray authorization denied
H.W., a postal mail handler, had an accepted workplace exposure to tuberculosis and a positive skin test. OWCP had authorized periodic chest x-rays but later denied another one. The Board had earlier directed OWCP to seek medical support before deciding whether continued testing was needed. OWCP…
C.W. and U.S. Postal Service, City Gate Post Office
C.W. (ECAB 12-0425): Additional award claim not reopened
C.W., a postal supervisor with accepted left carpal tunnel syndrome, had received a schedule award for 25 percent left arm impairment. OWCP denied her request for an additional award and advised her to file a new claim for any later work exposure. C.W. then requested reconsideration without…
H.F. and Department of Veterans Affairs, National Cemetery Administration, Fort McPherson National Cemetery
H.F. (ECAB 12-0365): Leg injury denial and hearing refusal affirmed
H.F., a national cemetery equipment operator, reported leg symptoms after tripping over a threshold at work. OWCP accepted the incident but denied compensation because the medical reports did not explain how it caused or aggravated a diagnosed condition. The Board agreed that the reports lacked the…
E.V. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Oyster Bay, NY
E.V. (ECAB 12-0343): Back injury denial and review refusal affirmed
E.V., a postal letter carrier, reported back pain while walking upstairs on his route. OWCP accepted that the incident happened but denied the claim because the medical evidence did not adequately explain how it caused a back condition. The Board found that a checked causation box and a diagnosis…
Z.C. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Administration Medical Center
Z.C. (ECAB 12-0330): Off-duty training injury claim denied
Z.C., a Veterans Affairs police officer, ruptured his Achilles tendon during an off-duty self-defense class at a private martial arts academy. He argued that the class improved skills and fitness useful for his job. The Board found that his employer did not require, sponsor, or pay for the class…
F.F. and Department of Defense, Defense Commissary Agency
F.F. (ECAB 12-0273): Back injury claim denial affirmed
F.F., a Defense Commissary Agency meatcutter, reported a back injury while operating a meat saw. OWCP accepted that the work incident occurred but denied compensation. The Board found that early medical notes used a different injury date and did not explain how the work caused a diagnosed…
R.M. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Fayetteville, AR
R.M. (ECAB 12-0255): Bilateral arm awards affirmed
R.M., a postal employee, had accepted elbow conditions and carpal tunnel syndrome affecting both arms. OWCP awarded compensation for four percent left arm impairment and a total of 13 percent right arm impairment. R.M. sought more. The Board found that the applicable impairment guide supported no…
B.S. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Atlanta, GA
B.S. (ECAB 12-0137): Consequential emotional condition denied
B.S., a postal clerk, had accepted neck and shoulder area injuries and sought compensation for a related emotional condition. The Board found that his medical reports documented emotional symptoms but did not adequately explain how the accepted physical conditions caused or aggravated them. It also…
J.P. and U.S. Postal Service, Inspection Service, Hartford, CT
J.P. (ECAB 11-0963): Attorney fee approval affirmed
J.P., a former postal inspector, disputed a fee approved for the lawyer who represented him in a compensation claim. The Board found that OWCP considered the lawyer's work, the claim's complexity, time spent, and local rates, and had not abused its discretion. The order affirms OWCP's $100,000 fee…
United States Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons, U.S. Penitentiary, Atwater, California and American Federation of Government Employees, Council of Prison Locals, Local 1242
Atwater Penitentiary and AFGE Local 1242 (FLRA 0-AR-4794): Overtime backpay award upheld
An arbitrator found that Atwater Penitentiary had violated its labor agreement by distributing overtime unfairly and failing to keep required records. After the parties could not agree on backpay, he ordered the prison to divide $200,000 among qualified employees identified from the union's…
Cemex Construction Materials of Florida, LLC
Electric-shock reporting citation vacated
A contractor mechanic received an electrical shock while maintaining Cemex's dragline, dislocated his shoulder, and suffered a burn to his hand. MSHA cited Cemex thirteen months later for failing to report within 15 minutes an injury with a reasonable potential to cause death. Judge Thomas P…
Ruth B. Surratt v. U.S. Steel Mining Company, LLC
Surratt v. U.S. Steel Mining Company (BRB 11-0627): survivor benefits begin in June 2007
Ruth Surratt sought survivor benefits after her husband, a coal miner who had received black lung benefits, died. Her later claim had been denied, but she requested modification within a year. The Board held that the amended Black Lung Benefits Act applied to her pending survivor claim and gave her…
W.P. and Department of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration
W.P. (ECAB 12-0473): Recurrence claim not reopened
W.P., a transportation security screener, sought reconsideration of a denied claim that an accepted 2005 injury had caused a recurrence of disability in 2007. She resubmitted part of an earlier medical report, and another report concerned a separate 2010 shoulder injury. The Board found that the…
J.T. and Department of the Navy, Puget Sound Naval Shipyard
J.T. (ECAB 12-0349): Hearing aids not authorized
J.T., a naval shipyard worker, had accepted hearing loss from workplace noise exposure. His loss was too small for a schedule award, but he sought hearing aids as medical treatment. The Board explained that medical benefits could still be available for accepted hearing loss even without a schedule…
D.F. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Ragan, MN
D.F. (ECAB 12-0347): Left foot claim denial affirmed
D.F., a postal clerk, reported left foot symptoms after prolonged standing, walking, and pushing heavy mail bins. Her doctors discussed several possible conditions, but the Board found that their reports did not provide a firm diagnosis supported by a reasoned explanation of how the work activities…
T.F. and U.S. Postal Service, Toms River Post Office
T.F. (ECAB 12-0209): Benefit termination partly reversed
T.F., a postal carrier, had accepted neck, knee, and right shoulder conditions from a work-related vehicle accident. OWCP ended her compensation and medical benefits effective May 9, 2009, based on an impartial examiner's report. Its August 29, 2011 decision denied modification of that termination…
M.Y. and U.S. Postal Service, New Orleans Post Office
M.Y. (ECAB 12-0125): Wage-earning capacity reduction reversed
OWCP reduced M.Y.'s compensation after vocational training, reasoning that she could earn wages as a billing clerk. Its decision relied on the report of a second-opinion physician whose view had been part of a medical conflict. The Board found that OWCP had not explained why it disregarded the…
C.S. and Department of Defense, Great Lakes Naval Center, Military Medical Support Office
C.S. (ECAB 12-0112): Denial of reconsideration affirmed
C.S. sought reconsideration of OWCP's denial of her claim involving a cerebrovascular accident and heart failure. Her request said she would submit a brief, but she supplied no new argument or evidence before OWCP ruled. The Board found that the request met none of the requirements for a new merit…
D.C. and U.S. Postal Service, Nashua Priority Mail Processing Center
D.C. (ECAB 12-0076): Wage-earning capacity determination reversed
D.C. worked at a casino for more than two months, and OWCP used those wages to reduce her compensation to zero. She said the job required prolonged standing outside her medical restrictions. The Board found that the record lacked a description of the job's duties and physical requirements, and OWCP…
E.D. and U.S. Postal Service, Mid-Carolinas Performance Cluster
E.D. (ECAB 11-2054): Termination of benefits affirmed
OWCP accepted E.D.'s bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome and tenosynovitis. Later medical opinions conflicted over whether those conditions still caused disability or required treatment. The Board found that the impartial specialist was properly selected and gave a reasoned opinion that the accepted…
C.N. and U.S. Postal Service, West Palm Beach Processing & Distribution Center
C.N. (ECAB 11-1824): Termination of benefits reversed
OWCP terminated C.N.'s benefits after an examiner concluded that her accepted aggravation of a lumbar condition had ended. The Board found that OWCP had not documented how it selected that examiner through the required rotating system. Without proof of proper impartial selection, the medical…
Consolidation Coal Co.
Penalty explanations and discovery responses ordered
Consolidation Coal faced five alleged roof-support and roof-control violations with proposed penalties totaling $67,200, including one proposed $50,700 penalty. Judge David F. Barbour found the Secretary's filed materials did not clearly explain how the proposed penalties were calculated or…
Secretary of Labor on behalf of Charles Scott Howard v. Cumberland River Coal Company
Retaliatory termination found and reinstatement ordered
Charles Scott Howard repeatedly reported mine-safety concerns, filed discrimination complaints, contacted MSHA, testified publicly, and pursued related litigation while working for Cumberland River Coal Company. After a work injury, numerous physicians released him to return, but the company sought…
Matter of Valentin ISIDRO-Zamorano
Qualifying relative must exist when cancellation is adjudicated
The Board reconsidered a Mexican respondent's cancellation-of-removal case after the Ninth Circuit remanded a question concerning a qualifying child. The respondent filed his application while his United States citizen son was under 21, but the son turned 21 before the Immigration Judge decided the…
D.H. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Coppell, TX
D.H. (ECAB 11-1788): Reconsideration denial upheld
D.H., a postal carrier with accepted injuries, asked OWCP to reconsider its termination of his disability compensation. His doctor's later reports described several conditions and continued disability. The Board found that the reports did not adequately address whether he remained disabled because…
R.G. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Tampa, FL
R.G. (ECAB 12-0881): Texas surgeon request denied
R.G., a postal letter carrier in Tampa, wanted to change physicians for an authorized right shoulder operation. He raised concerns about the referred surgeon's experience and asked to use a surgeon in Houston instead. The Board acknowledged those concerns but found that other Florida surgeons could…
D.W. and Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Wawona, CA
D.W. (ECAB 12-0725): Compensation overpayment upheld
D.W., a National Park Service employee, received wage-loss compensation during a period when she had returned to temporary work. OWCP found a $9,336.57 overpayment and denied her request to waive recovery. The Board agreed that the payments created an overpayment. Although OWCP found she was not at…
N.L. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Employee Education System, Salt Lake City, UT
N.L. (ECAB 12-0634): Elbow claim and hearing denial upheld
N.L., a Veterans Affairs education specialist, claimed that her work caused left elbow ulnar neuropathy. The Board found that her doctors diagnosed a condition but did not adequately explain how her specific job duties caused it. She also requested review of the written record after OWCP denied the…
P.B. and Department of Defense, Defense Finance & Accounting Service, Indianapolis, IN
P.B. (ECAB 12-0483): Disability recurrence claim denied
P.B., a Defense Department accounting technician, claimed that she became unable to work again because of an accepted arm and thumb injury. OWCP denied the claimed recurrence after reconsideration. The Board found that her newer medical reports concerned a cervical condition OWCP had not accepted…
B.B. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Rahway, NJ
B.B. (ECAB 12-0327): Knee claim denial upheld on revised ground
B.B., a postal letter carrier, reported worsening knee symptoms after walking his route and climbing stairs over time. OWCP treated the claim as a single traumatic incident and denied it. The Board found that he had described an occupational exposure and had established the work activity he…
C.B. and Department of the Air Force, Air National Guard, Springfield, OH
C.B. (ECAB 12-0304): Fall injury claim denied
C.B., an Air National Guard aircraft mechanic, slipped on oil and fell while moving an engine at work. The Board found that the fall occurred as he described. It nevertheless found that his doctors did not explain medically how the fall caused or contributed to his diagnosed lower back and leg…
W.R. and U.S. Postal Service, Main Post Office, Little Rock, AR
W.R. (ECAB 12-0181): Knee and foot occupational claim denied
W.R., a postal customer services supervisor, claimed that walking, standing, bending and stooping at work aggravated preexisting knee and foot conditions. Following an earlier Board order requiring OWCP to review new evidence, OWCP again denied the claim. The Board accepted that he performed the…
C.C., Executor of the Estate of F.C., and Department of Justice, Bureau of Prisons
Estate of F.C. (ECAB 12-0120): Survivor claim reconsideration denied
The estate of F.C., a federal correctional officer who had an accepted neck injury, challenged OWCP's denial of survivor benefits after his death. The Board reviewed only OWCP's later refusal to reopen that claim. It found that OWCP had already reviewed the merits in 2010 and that the new request…
Jim Walter Resources, Inc.
Guarding, coal-dust, and roof-support citations dismissed
MSHA issued several citations at Jim Walter Resources' No. 7 Mine involving an uncovered pressure-washer belt, alleged float coal dust inside an energized power center, and roof support at the site of a fatal roof fall. Judge Avram Weisberger dismissed the guarding citation because the regulation…
Shahira Omar and Lily Carrasco Bonilla v. Al Masar Transportation Company and International Oil Trading Company
Omar v. Al Masar Transportation Company (BRB 11-0809): widow benefits upheld, commutation ruling narrowed
A convoy commander died in a truck accident while working at the Iraq-Jordan border. His employer had paid death benefits to two women it believed were his widows. The Board upheld the judge's finding that Lily Carrasco Bonilla and her minor children were entitled to benefits, while Shahira Omar…
United States Department of Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service, Boaz, Alabama and National Joint Council of Food Inspection Locals, AFGE
USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service and Food Inspectors Union (FLRA AT-CA-08-0394): Overtime change reversed
At a Boaz poultry plant, the Food Safety and Inspection Service cut the number of inspectors assigned to after-hours processing from two to one without notifying or bargaining with their union. An administrative law judge found that the agency also made the change in retaliation for union grievance…
M.R. and U.S. Postal Service, Atocha Station, Ponce, PR
M.R. (ECAB 12-0403): Reconsideration denials upheld
M.R., a postal clerk, claimed a back condition related to an earlier accepted knee injury. OWCP denied the claim, and she sought reconsideration twice. The Board found that her first request added nothing new and that a coworker's statement about the earlier incident did not supply relevant medical…
J.R. and Department of the Air Force, Air Force Systems Command, Hill Air Force Base
J.R. (ECAB 12-0351): Shoulder claim denied for lack of federal employment
J.R. claimed a shoulder injury after falling at home in April 2009. He had an older accepted federal injury claim, but the Board found no evidence that he was a federal employee when the later fall occurred. It therefore upheld OWCP's denial of the new injury claim. The Board noted that OWCP had…
V.F. and Department of the Interior, National Park Service, U.S. Park Police
V.F. (ECAB 12-0281): Late hearing request denied
V.F., a Park Police officer, sought a hearing after OWCP denied his right knee injury claim. His hearing request was postmarked one day after the deadline, so the Board found he had no hearing right. It also found that OWCP reasonably declined a discretionary hearing because he could submit…
C.B. and Department of Health & Human Services, Northwest Regional Laboratory
C.B. (ECAB 12-0270): Injury denial affirmed
C.B., a laboratory technician, reported arm, elbow, shoulder, and neck conditions after catching her foot in an electrical cord at work. OWCP accepted that the incident happened but denied compensation because the medical evidence did not establish that it caused those conditions. The Board found…
H.D. and Department of the Navy, Puget Sound Naval Shipyard
H.D. (ECAB 12-0264): Denial of reconsideration affirmed
H.D. claimed that shipyard work aggravated his back and knee conditions. After OWCP denied the claim, he requested reconsideration and supplied a general article about knee osteoarthritis. The Board found that the article did not address causation in his particular case. His argument about the…
S.H. and U.S. Postal Service, Fort Worth Post Office
S.H. (ECAB 12-0166): Overpayment recovery affirmed
OWCP used the wrong health benefits code and deducted too little from S.H.'s compensation. Although it found him without fault, the Board upheld recovery because his documented monthly income exceeded his expenses by $500 and the record did not show detrimental reliance on the extra payments. The…
K.H. and General Services Administration, Public Buildings Service, New England Region
K.H. (ECAB 12-0020): Emotional condition claim remanded
K.H. claimed depression from a heavy workload and other workplace events. OWCP found no compensable work factor. The Board found that the pressure of her regular contracting duties was a covered work factor, while the record did not establish compensability for several complaints about management…
J.M. and U.S. Postal Service, Bedford Park Post Office
J.M. (ECAB 12-0005): Three claim denials affirmed
J.M. sought benefits for a claimed recurrence of disability from a 1985 hand injury and for back and bilateral carpal tunnel conditions she attributed to postal work. The Board found that the medical evidence did not adequately establish the claimed recurrence or explain how her work duties caused…
T.P. and U.S. Postal Service, Sioux Falls Post Office
T.P. (ECAB 11-1969): Wage-earning capacity finding reversed
OWCP used T.P.'s earnings in a modified mail processing job to determine his wage-earning capacity. A later second opinion found that his accepted right wrist condition had worsened, leaving him unable to meet that job's lifting requirement. The Board found the opinion supported by sequential…
E.V. and U.S. Postal Service, Hartford Post Office
E.V. (ECAB 11-1652): Wage-loss claim remanded
E.V. sought compensation for hours lost when the Postal Service reduced her modified work under its National Reassessment Process. The Board found that OWCP had not applied its guidance for cases where modified duty made to accommodate an accepted condition was withdrawn. It sent the case back for…
United States Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, Washington, D.C. and National Treasury Employees Union
IRS and NTEU (FLRA 0-AR-4789): Advance sick leave remedy upheld
An IRS employee asked for 48 hours of advance sick leave, but the agency denied the request because she had annual leave available and charged her absence to that annual leave. An arbitrator found the denial arbitrary under the labor agreement and ordered the agency to restore the annual leave. He…
Bledsoe Coal Corporation
Immediate review of pattern rulings denied
Bledsoe Coal challenged MSHA's pattern-of-violations notice and ten related withdrawal orders at its Abner Branch Rider Mine. Judge William B. Moran held that MSHA had followed the Part 104 screening, pattern, corrective-action, and notice procedures, and he rejected Bledsoe's broader claim that…
Matter of C. VALDEZ
Pre-2009 CNMI admission was not admission into the United States
The Board reviewed a Philippine respondent's appeal after an Immigration Judge denied adjustment of status and a waiver of inadmissibility. The Board held that a pre-November 28, 2009, admission to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands by the CNMI Immigration Service was not an…
J.S. and U.S. Postal Service, Fresno Processing & Distribution Center
J.S. (ECAB 12-0399): Hernia claim denial affirmed
J.S. said lifting parcels and pushing equipment at work caused his hernia. His physician documented the diagnosis and surgery but did not explain how the work activities caused or contributed to the condition. The Board found that the missing medical explanation left causation unproved and affirmed…
J.L. and Department of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration
J.L. (ECAB 12-0384): Denial of reconsideration affirmed
J.L. sought reconsideration after OWCP denied her claim for a work-related lower back condition. She referred to a newer physician's report, but the report itself was not submitted with the request. Her other cited report was already in the record. The Board found no new relevant evidence or legal…
J.C. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Sierra Nevada Health Care Center
J.C. (ECAB 12-0344): Additional schedule award denied
J.C. had already received a schedule award for 10 percent impairment of her right lower extremity after knee injuries. A later evaluation placed her impairment from knee arthritis at 7 percent; rating the meniscal injuries again would yield 10 percent. The Board found no impairment above the amount…
P.M. and U.S. Postal Service, Minneapolis Main Post Office
P.M. (ECAB 12-0276): Elbow injury claim denial affirmed as modified
P.M. reported left elbow pain after loading and moving mail. OWCP found that he had not proved the work incident. The Board disagreed with that finding because his account was uncontradicted and supported by prompt treatment and reporting. It nevertheless found that the medical reports did not…
S.V. and U.S. Postal Service, Park Place Station
S.V. (ECAB 12-0242): Fault in overpayment affirmed
OWCP kept paying S.V. after her left leg schedule award expired in June 2008. She had returned to full-time limited duty and had not claimed wage-loss compensation. The Board found that she knew or should have known the continuing payments were incorrect. Completing a later benefits questionnaire…
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.