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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S.P. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Employee Education System, Frederick, MD
S.P. (ECAB 11-1271): Emotional condition claim remanded for factual development
S.P., a contract specialist and vice chancellor at the Department of Veterans Affairs, claimed an emotional condition related to her supervisor's treatment. OWCP denied the claim. The Board found that statements from two other employees supported aspects of her account and called for more…
D.C. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Trenton, NJ
D.C. (ECAB 12-85): Late oral hearing request denied
D.C. requested an oral hearing months after OWCP denied his traumatic injury claim. Because he missed the 30-day hearing deadline, he had no hearing right. OWCP considered whether to grant a hearing anyway and concluded that he could instead seek reconsideration with new evidence. The Board found…
C.T. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Henderson, NC
C.T. (ECAB 11-2039): Wage-loss disability issue remanded
C.T., a postal worker with an accepted leg injury, sought wage-loss compensation for a period when he said he could not perform his light-duty job. OWCP compensated four medical appointments but denied total disability for the broader period. The Board found that OWCP's second-opinion report lacked…
C.H. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Chicago, IL
C.H. (ECAB 11-1930): Right leg schedule award denied
C.H., a postal clerk, had accepted right knee contusion and sprain conditions. She sought a schedule award for permanent leg impairment, relying on a physician's rating based primarily on bilateral knee replacement surgery. The Board found that the replacements were not accepted as work related and…
M.W. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Lanham, MD
M.W. (ECAB 11-1844): Five percent left arm schedule award upheld
M.W., a letter carrier with an accepted left shoulder injury, received a schedule award for five percent left arm impairment. He sought a higher award based on a physician's 15 percent rating. The Board found that the physician did not show his calculations or explain how the rating followed the…
D.H. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Long Beach, CA
D.H. (ECAB 11-1757): Five percent leg award and reconsideration refusal upheld
D.H., a postal worker, received a schedule award for five percent permanent impairment of her left leg. She sought a higher rating, but the Board found that her physician relied on an undocumented arthritis condition and a table from an unidentified source. OWCP's medical adviser used the…
D.H. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, Asheville, NC
D.H. (ECAB 11-1739): Wage-loss claim denied for lack of medical support
D.H., a Veterans Affairs administrative officer, claimed wage-loss compensation after stopping work following an accepted injury that included an L5 endplate fracture. He had returned to work before the claimed period. The Board found no reasoned medical report explaining how the accepted injury…
V.C. and Department of the Navy, Marine Corps Base, Camp Pendleton, CA
V.C. (ECAB 11-1658): Termination of cervical treatment benefits reversed
V.C., a Marine Corps Base employee, had an accepted cervical strain after a work-related vehicle collision. OWCP ended medical benefits after obtaining an additional medical opinion. The Board found that the physicians had not clearly said the accepted strain had resolved or ceased to be work…
M.H. and Department of Labor, Office of Assistant Secretary for Administration & Management, Washington, DC
M.H. (ECAB 11-1528): Disability claim related to depression denied
M.H., a Department of Labor employee, sought disability compensation from June 12, 1992 based on an accepted major depression. A referral psychiatrist found that she had chronic depression but that the evidence did not show it prevented her from working at that time. The Board gave his reasoned…
D.W., claiming as widow of L.W., and Department of the Navy, Marine Corps Logistics Base, Barstow, CA
D.W. (ECAB 11-1396): Survivor benefit denial affirmed
D.W. sought survivor benefits, arguing that her husband's death from spinal osteomyelitis was related to his accepted work injury or authorized surgery. After an earlier remand, OWCP obtained an infectious disease specialist's opinion. The Board found that his explanation supported a different…
M.G. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Bloomfield Hills, MI
M.G. (ECAB 11-1886): Low back occupational disease claim denied
M.G., a postal distribution clerk, attributed a worsening low back condition to years of lifting, bending, and other duties. Her physicians diagnosed spondylolisthesis, but the Board found that their opinions did not adequately explain how work caused or aggravated it in light of her earlier…
W.B. and Tennessee Valley Authority, Cumberland Fossil Plant, Cumberland City, TN
W.B. (ECAB 11-2113): Refusal to reopen hearing loss claim affirmed
W.B., a Tennessee Valley Authority boilermaker welder, sought reconsideration after OWCP rescinded acceptance of his hearing loss claim. He filed the request within one year but supplied no evidence or argument addressing OWCP's decision. The Board held that a timely request alone did not meet any…
D.O. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Denver, CO
D.O. (ECAB 11-2092): Knee claim denial and refusal to reopen affirmed
D.O., a postal worker, attributed a right knee condition to standing, vehicle use, and other work duties. Her physician diagnosed the condition but did not explain how those duties caused or aggravated it. The Board upheld OWCP's denial of the injury claim. D.O. also said she submitted additional…
K.S. and Department of Agriculture, Food Safety & Inspection Service, Springdale, AR
K.S. (ECAB 11-2071): Injury claim denied despite accepted workplace fall
K.S., a Department of Agriculture employee, fell after losing her balance at work on March 4, 2011. The Board accepted that the fall occurred but found that the medical reports did not adequately explain how it caused the conditions she claimed in her arms, shoulder, back, knee, and left thigh. One…
P.S. and U.S. Postal Service, Bay Valley Performance Cluster, Oakland, CA
P.S. (ECAB 11-1962): Additional right arm schedule award denied
P.S., a postal worker with accepted right shoulder and carpal tunnel conditions, sought more compensation for permanent right arm impairment. OWCP had already paid a schedule award for seven percent impairment. The Board found that the current evaluation supported only six percent, based on limited…
J.W. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Tampa, FL
J.W. (ECAB 11-1955): Left leg schedule award claim remanded
J.W., a postal rural carrier, had already received schedule awards totaling 59 percent impairment of her left leg after accepted knee injuries and surgeries. She sought a higher award. The Board found that OWCP's medical adviser had not adequately explained his rating or why her physician's use of…
G.S. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Bellmawr, NJ
G.S. (ECAB 11-1939): Lower extremity schedule award denied
G.S., a postal worker with an accepted lumbar sprain, sought a schedule award for impairment of his legs and back. FECA does not provide a schedule award for the back itself. The Board gave special weight to an impartial specialist's examination, which found no objective sensory or motor deficits…
A.M. and Smithsonian Institution, National Zoo, Washington, DC
A.M. (ECAB 11-1874): Wage-earning capacity reduction reversed
A.M., a National Zoo employee with accepted right wrist and hand injuries, had her compensation reduced based on a selected file clerk position. The Board found that the job's frequent reaching, handling, and fingering were not clearly compatible with her physician's wrist and lifting restrictions…
W.W. and Department of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration, Charleston, SC
W.W. (ECAB 11-1248 and 11-1707): Wage capacity and leg award decisions affirmed
W.W., a transportation security officer with accepted right hip and thigh conditions, challenged OWCP's refusal to change an earlier wage-earning capacity finding and sought a larger right leg schedule award. The Board found that her actual earnings supported the original capacity finding and that…
A.R. and U.S. Postal Service, Main Post Office, New Orleans, LA
A.R. (ECAB 11-1949): Emotional condition claim remanded over pay dispute
A.R., a postal employee, linked an emotional condition to several personnel and workplace disputes. The Board found insufficient support for most alleged work factors, including her claims about promotions and verbal abuse. A coworker's statement, however, raised an unresolved question about…
C.N. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Atlanta, GA
C.N. (ECAB 11-1944): Knee claim denial and refusal to reopen affirmed
C.N., a postal distribution clerk, claimed that his duties caused a right knee condition. His physicians reported knee conditions but did not explain how work caused them, and he did not clearly identify the duties or incident he relied on. The Board affirmed OWCP's denial of the occupational…
M.G. and Department of the Navy, Naval Sealift Command, Norfolk, VA
M.G. (ECAB 11-1940): New back occupational disease claim denied
M.G., a Navy boatswain mate, had earlier accepted back injuries and claimed that later heavy work aggravated a continuing back condition. OWCP accepted the description of his duties but denied the new occupational disease claim. The Board found that the medical reports either did not address the…
J.C. and Department of the Navy, Naval Amphibious Base, Little Creek, VA
J.C. (ECAB 11-1513): Fire-response injury denial affirmed as modified
J.C., a Navy fire chief, claimed a back injury and breathing difficulty during a response to a shipboard fire. The Board found conflicting accounts of the alleged back injury and held that he had not proved it occurred as described. A witness supported that J.C. had trouble breathing after carrying…
K.L. and Department of Health & Human Services, Federal Emergency Management Agency, New Orleans, LA
K.L. (ECAB 11-1381): Wage-loss claim for accepted PTSD denied
K.L. developed accepted PTSD after federal disaster-response work in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. He sought wage-loss compensation for a period beginning more than a year later, when he stopped working in a private physician assistant job. The Board found no contemporaneous medical…
J.T. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Cleveland, OH
J.T. (ECAB 11-1252): Treatment denial and wage-loss termination affirmed
J.T., a postal letter carrier, sought authorization for spinal manipulation under anesthesia and contested the end of his wage-loss benefits. The Board gave special weight to an impartial physician's reasoned opinion that the procedure was unnecessary and that J.T. could resume his regular job. It…
S.M. and Department of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration, Mays Landing, NJ
S.M. (ECAB 11-995): Wage-earning capacity reduction reversed
S.M., a Transportation Security Administration employee, had his compensation reduced after OWCP selected a legal investigator job to represent his earning capacity. OWCP relied on medical restrictions from a report issued about two years before its decision. The Board held that this was not a…
Robert J. Silcox, employed by Big Laurel Mining Corporation
Delay did not require dismissal of individual penalty case
MSHA pursued an individual penalty against Robert J. Silcox after a fatal mine accident. Silcox sought dismissal because the proposed penalty came about 19 months after the accident investigation ended, arguing that prejudice from faded memories and unavailable witnesses should be presumed. Judge…
Stephen M. Reasor, employed by Big Laurel Mining Corporation
Delay did not require dismissal of individual penalty case
MSHA pursued an individual penalty against Stephen M. Reasor after a fatal mine accident. Reasor sought dismissal because the proposed penalty came about 19 months after the accident investigation ended, arguing that prejudice from faded memories, unavailable witnesses, and lost evidence should be…
A.H. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Houston, TX
A.H. (ECAB 11-2010): Additional carpal tunnel schedule award denied
A.H., a postal clerk with accepted carpal tunnel syndrome in both arms, had received awards for ten percent impairment of each arm under an earlier edition of the impairment guides. She sought an increase. The Board explained that the current edition capped a carpal tunnel impairment rating at nine…
R.F. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Administration Medical Center, Bath, NY
R.F. (ECAB 11-1998): Emotional condition claim denied
R.F., a Veterans Affairs medical center employee, attributed stress and other symptoms to supervisors' actions and alleged coworker harassment. The Board found that the administrative actions were not shown to involve employer error or abuse. It also found no corroborating evidence for the claimed…
A.C. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Garfield, NJ
A.C. (ECAB 11-1760): Compensation forfeiture and overpayment affirmed
A.C., a postal worker receiving wage-loss compensation, did not report his work as an online radio DJ and involvement in that business on a required employment form. The Board rejected his account that the activity was merely a hobby and found that he knowingly omitted reportable work. It upheld…
D.S. and Department of the Army, IMA Headquarters, Fort Dix, NJ
D.S. (ECAB 11-1485): Schedule award claim remanded for impartial opinion
D.S. sought a schedule award for arm or leg impairment related to accepted conditions. The impartial examiner rated only his spine, for which FECA does not provide a schedule award. OWCP's medical adviser then concluded that D.S. had no ratable arm or leg impairment, and OWCP relied on that…
J.S., claiming as widow of G.A., and Department of Labor, Occupational Safety & Health Administration, Denver, CO
J.S. (ECAB 11-1304): Refusal to reopen survivor claim affirmed
J.S. sought reconsideration of compensation claims involving her late husband's respiratory condition and colon cancer after exposure at the World Trade Center site. She submitted information suggesting he could receive a settlement in separate litigation. The Board found that possible settlement…
D.B. and Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Coast Guard, Office of Personnel & Training, Washington, DC
D.B. (ECAB 11-1288): Benefits termination reversed
D.B., a Coast Guard employee, had accepted arm and back conditions. OWCP terminated compensation and medical benefits after an impartial orthopedic examination. The Board found that the examiner's brief answers did not explain why the accepted conditions had resolved or cite examination findings…
L.F. and Department of Justice, U.S. Marshals Service, New York, NY
L.F. (ECAB 11-1219): Overtime excluded from schedule award pay rate
L.F., a U.S. Marshals Service employee, received a schedule award and challenged the pay rate used to calculate it. He argued that overtime assigned by his supervisor should count because it was mandatory. The Board held that FECA excludes ordinary overtime from the pay calculation and that his…
A.F. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, New Orleans, LA
A.F. (ECAB 11-1028): Recurrence denial affirmed, medical costs remanded
A.F., a postal worker with an accepted neck sprain, sought compensation for a claimed recurrence of total disability beginning September 4, 2009. The Board found that her medical reports did not adequately explain how the accepted injury caused her inability to work during that period. It affirmed…
Oak Grove Resources, LLC
Personnel-carrier sanding safeguard upheld against facial challenge
After seven other citations were settled, Oak Grove challenged two citations alleging that personnel carriers lacked properly working sanding devices required by a mine-specific safeguard. The company argued that the safeguard was facially invalid because it did not separately spell out the…
Matter of D-K-
Refugees must be charged under deportability grounds after admission
The Board reviewed the removal case of a Macedonian national who entered the United States as a refugee and was later convicted of distributing cocaine near a public school. It held that a refugee who has not adjusted status to lawful permanent residence may be placed in removal proceedings without…
P.A. and Department of the Army, Rock Island Arsenal, Rock Island, IL
P.A. (ECAB 11-2128): Attorney fee approval remanded
P.A. disputed her representative's requested fee, but OWCP approved a reduced amount without first sending her the fee application and inviting support for her objection. The Board held that OWCP had deprived her of the response opportunity required for disputed fees. It set aside the approval and…
B.W. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Jesse Brown Medical Center, Chicago, IL
B.W. (ECAB 11-2110): Five percent left arm award affirmed
B.W., a Veterans Affairs clerk, had an accepted left ulnar nerve condition and sought a larger schedule award. A physical therapist proposed a 25 percent rating based on a diagnosis of complex regional pain syndrome, but the Board held that the therapist was not qualified to provide the medical…
R.V. and U.S. Postal Service, Processing & Distribution Center, Shreveport, LA
R.V. (ECAB 11-1999): Right leg schedule award remanded again
R.V., a postal mail handler with an accepted back condition, received a six percent right leg schedule award after an earlier Board remand. OWCP's medical adviser still had not explained whether the accepted back condition caused ratable nerve impairment in the leg under the applicable impairment…
C.R. and Department of the Army, Pueblo Chemical Depot, Pueblo, CO
C.R. (ECAB 11-1901): Back disability recurrence claim denied
C.R., an Army depot security guard, had an accepted back condition following a 2006 work injury. He sought compensation for a recurrence of disability beginning in December 2009. The Board found that older medical records predated the claimed recurrence and that the later records did not give a…
E.B. and Department of Labor, Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs, Chicago, IL
E.B. (ECAB 11-1855): Refusal to reopen right leg award claim affirmed
E.B. sought reconsideration after OWCP declined to increase his 17 percent right leg award. He repeated an earlier objection to the medical adviser's opinion and challenged its reliance on an examination report that did contain leg findings. A new physician's report did not address permanent…
M.M. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Stockbridge, GA
M.M. (ECAB 11-1852): Shoulder claim returned for review of missing evidence
M.M., a rural carrier, claimed that repetitive work caused a right shoulder condition. OWCP denied the claim, saying the medical evidence did not establish a connection to work. The Board found that OWCP had overlooked three physician reports and a statement received before its decision. It set…
L.R. and U.S. Postal Service, Allendale Carrier Annex, Allendale, NJ
L.R. (ECAB 11-1837): Disability and emotional condition claims returned for medical development
L.R., a postal carrier, had an accepted snake bite injury and later sought compensation for renewed disability and an emotional condition. Her treating physicians and OWCP's second opinion physician disagreed about whether residuals of the injury continued. The Board directed OWCP to obtain an…
A.N. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Chicago, IL
A.N. (ECAB 11-1817): Benefit termination returned for a clear decision on entitlement
A.N. claimed wage-loss compensation after a work-related vehicle accident, and OWCP accepted several spinal conditions. OWCP later purported to terminate wage-loss and medical benefits, but the record did not show that it had paid benefits under the claim. The Board said OWCP first needed to state…
J.K. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Eastontown, NJ
J.K. (ECAB 11-1765): Eleven percent right arm schedule award affirmed
J.K., a postal employee with an accepted right shoulder injury, sought a schedule award greater than 11 percent of the right arm. The Board held that OWCP correctly used the sixth edition of the impairment guides because it issued the award after the edition took effect. J.K.'s physician proposed…
S.S. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Tomball, TX
S.S. (ECAB 11-1749): Reconsideration denial returned for review of omitted report
S.S., a postal employee, asked OWCP to reconsider its denial of an occupational disease claim. Before OWCP ruled, it received a treating physician's report addressing the cause of her conditions. OWCP rejected the request as repetitive without acknowledging that report. The Board set aside the…
S.B. and Department of the Navy, Naval Amphibious Base Fire Station, Virginia Beach, VA
S.B. (ECAB 11-1637): After-shift fitness injury claim denied
S.B., a Navy firefighter, injured his calf while running sprints on station grounds 15 minutes after his shift ended. The station encouraged fitness activity during work hours, but did not permit off-duty exercise there. The Board found that this after-hours workout was neither a regular incident…
D.S. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Phoenix, AZ
D.S. (ECAB 11-1635): Denial of work-related aggravation claim affirmed
D.S., a postal supervisor, claimed that additional supervisory duties aggravated his depression, heart disease, prostate condition, and urinary incontinence. OWCP accepted that he had been assigned more duties but denied the claim because the medical evidence did not link them to his conditions…
S.E. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Uniontown, OH
S.E. (ECAB 11-1632): Overpayment case returned for a prerecoupment hearing
S.E. requested a prerecoupment hearing after OWCP proposed a $10,694.31 overpayment and found her at fault. OWCP denied the hearing as late because it received the request after the deadline, but it had not kept the envelope needed to establish the mailing date. The Board used the date on the…
J.A. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Newark, NJ
J.A. (ECAB 11-1620): Injury claim returned to assemble related case files
J.A., a postal mail handler, claimed an injury while lifting mail containers in 2010. OWCP denied the claim after referring to medical evidence in a separate, accepted 2007 injury file involving the same cervical condition. That earlier file was missing from the record sent to the Board. The Board…
J.F. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Philadelphia, PA
J.F. (ECAB 11-1583): Schedule award denial returned to reconstruct the record
J.F., a postal clerk, sought a schedule award for permanent impairment of her arms and left leg. OWCP denied the claim using reports by two physicians whose reports were missing from the case record, while failing to discuss the physicians who had evaluated her claim. The Board found the decision…
L.B. and Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Des Moines, IA
L.B. (ECAB 11-1478): Leg award affirmed; wage-loss claim returned for review
L.B., a Census Bureau employee, received a schedule award for three percent impairment of her right leg after an accepted fracture. The Board found that OWCP's medical adviser properly applied the impairment guide and that no evidence established a higher rating. L.B. also sought compensation for a…
D.B. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Minneapolis, MN
D.B. (ECAB 11-1340): Recurrence claim returned for missing paper record
D.B., a postal employee, appealed OWCP's denial of a recurrence of disability. The record sent to the Board contained imaged documents but omitted the paper portion of the claim file, including evidence from the time of the original injury. Because it could not review the full record, the Board set…
D.D. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Mount Clemens, MI
D.D. (ECAB 11-1053): Eight percent left leg schedule award affirmed
D.D., a postal employee, sought a schedule award greater than eight percent impairment of her left leg. The Board found that the impartial medical specialist's seven percent rating did not use the required net adjustment formula. OWCP's medical adviser applied the formula to the knee diagnoses and…
T.M. and Department of the Navy, Naval Air Systems, Cherry Point, NC
T.M. (ECAB 11-0872): Left-ear hearing claim returned to combine related files
T.M., a Navy metals inspector, claimed a left-ear hearing loss from workplace noise. OWCP had accepted left-ear hearing loss in an earlier file but denied the later claim after attributing it to another cause. The Board concluded that the related files needed to be combined for a fair decision. It…
C.B. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration Medical Center, Hines, IL
C.B. (ECAB 12-246): Schedule award denial affirmed for lack of impairment evidence
C.B., a Veterans Affairs health technician, injured her back while picking up a fallen object at work. OWCP accepted a lumbar disc condition but denied her later request for a schedule award. The Board held that the medical reports did not rate any permanent impairment to a covered body part, such…
G.C. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Richmond, VA
G.C. (ECAB 11-2068): Refusal to reopen disability claim affirmed
G.C. asked OWCP to reconsider its denial of wage-loss compensation for a period after an accepted spinal injury. She said she enclosed a physician's report addressing that period, but the report was absent from the request. The only medical document received did not address the cause of the claimed…
T.P. and Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, Dallas, TX
T.P. (ECAB 11-2045): Termination of injury benefits affirmed
T.P., a Census Bureau enumerator, received compensation for several sprains after a workplace injury. OWCP ended wage-loss and medical benefits effective May 13, 2011, relying on her treating physician's reports that the accepted injuries had resolved and she could return to her former job. The…
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.