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.H. and Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Ridgecrest, CA
M.H. (ECAB 11-1860): Additional arm impairment award denied
M.H., a Bureau of Land Management employee, had an accepted left shoulder injury and a prior schedule award for seven percent impairment of the left arm. He sought a larger award. The Board found that his physician had not calculated a permanent impairment rating under the applicable edition of the…
D.M. and U.S. Postal Service, Northern Western New Jersey Performance Cluster, Newark, NJ
D.M. (ECAB 11-1856): Termination of injury benefits affirmed
D.M., a postal electronic technician, had accepted back and groin strains after freeing mail from a machine. OWCP terminated his wage-loss and medical benefits after finding no continuing injury residuals. The Board found OWCP had met its burden to justify termination and that D.M. had not…
D.D. and U.S. Postal Service, Bulk Mail Center, Greensboro, NC
D.D. (ECAB 11-1799): Late reconsideration request denied
D.D., a postal mail handler, had an emotional condition claim denied in 1998. He sought reconsideration years after the last OWCP merits decision. The Board found his request untimely and his later statement insufficient to show clear error in the original decision. It affirmed OWCP’s denial…
M.D. and Department of Homeland Security, Bureau of Customs & Border Protection, Border Patrol, Grand Forks, ND
M.D. (ECAB 11-1737): Benefit termination and emotional claim denial affirmed
M.D., a Border Patrol employee, had an accepted lumbar sprain. An impartial medical examiner concluded that its work-related effects had resolved, supporting termination of wage-loss and medical benefits. The Board also found that the medical evidence did not adequately link a claimed emotional…
M.F. and Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Secret Service, Washington, DC
M.F. (ECAB 11-1690): Toe impairment award sent back for evaluation
M.F., a Secret Service officer, sought a schedule award for permanent toe impairment after prolonged cold exposure at work. OWCP denied the award using an evaluation that lacked the vascular testing required by the applicable AMA Guides method. The Board found that OWCP needed a complete impairment…
M.H. and Department of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration, Burbank, CA
M.H. (ECAB 11-0784): Termination of elbow injury benefits affirmed
M.H., a TSA employee, had accepted elbow and forearm conditions. A prior Board appeal required OWCP to resolve conflicting medical opinions before terminating benefits. On remand, an impartial examiner found the accepted elbow condition had resolved and attributed her continuing work limits to a…
C.R. and Department of the Navy, Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, Pearl Harbor, HI
C.R. (ECAB 11-0743): Overpayment amount corrected
C.R., a Navy shipyard employee, had previously been found to forfeit compensation for specified periods. The remaining question on this appeal was the overpayment amount. The Board found that he received $185,222.30 during those periods. It corrected OWCP’s decision, which had labeled an apparent…
Hopkins County Coal, LLC
Personnel-file demand and withdrawal order upheld
During an investigation of a fired miner's discrimination complaint, MSHA asked Hopkins County Coal for the complainant's personnel file and files of similarly situated employees. The company refused without employee releases or more detail about the alleged protected activity, so MSHA issued a…
H.B. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, Ann Arbor, MI
H.B. (ECAB 11-1938): Missed telephone hearing treated as abandoned
H.B. requested a telephone hearing after OWCP terminated his compensation and medical benefits. He did not call at the scheduled time or explain his absence within the required period. The Board could not consider his later explanation and supporting material because OWCP had not received it before…
D.T. and Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, Washington, DC
D.T. (ECAB 11-1815): Emotional condition claim denial affirmed
D.T., an air traffic control specialist, attributed an emotional condition to workplace interactions and supervisory conduct. The Board reviewed the alleged events and found no established compensable employment factor. In particular, the record did not show error, abuse, or substantiated…
R.H. and Department of Homeland Security, Citizenship & Immigration Services, Irving, TX
R.H. (ECAB 11-1790): Late overpayment hearing request denied
R.H. received notice of a preliminary overpayment determination and a 30-day period to request a prerecoupment hearing. She asked for that hearing only after OWCP had issued its final overpayment decision. The Board found the request untimely and held that OWCP properly denied it. The Board did not…
D.D. and Department of Agriculture, Food Safety Inspection Service, Moorefield, WV
D.D. (ECAB 11-1642): Chemical exposure injury claim denial affirmed
D.D., a federal food inspection employee, alleged injury after an accepted workplace chemical exposure. A prior appeal required a better medical assessment of whether the exposure caused her conditions. On remand, OWCP obtained another impartial examination. The Board gave that examiner’s reasoned…
M.C. and Department of the Interior, Fish & Wildlife Service, Elkins, WV
M.C. (ECAB 11-1617): Sacroiliac claim sent back for impartial review
M.C., a Fish and Wildlife Service employee, sought to add sacroiliac joint instability to her accepted injury claim. Her treating doctors and OWCP medical advisers disagreed about the diagnosis and its relationship to the work injury. The Board found an unresolved medical conflict. It set aside…
L.J. and Smithsonian Institution, National Gallery of Art, Alexandria, VA
L.J. (ECAB 11-1606): Consequential right knee claim denial affirmed
L.J., a National Gallery of Art pipefitter, claimed that accepted left knee and back injuries led to a right knee condition. His doctor attributed the condition to extra stress on the right side, while an OWCP doctor disagreed. An impartial orthopedic examiner concluded that the right knee symptoms…
D.H. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Forest Park, IL
D.H. (ECAB 11-1601): Recurrence of disability denials affirmed
D.H., a postal employee working a four-hour light-duty position, claimed later periods of total disability. The Board found no sufficient proof that the light-duty job had changed beyond her restrictions. Her medical reports also did not explain how the accepted conditions caused the claimed…
J.M. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Aliquippa, PA
J.M. (ECAB 11-1590): Consequential condition claim denial affirmed
J.M., a postal employee with an accepted back injury, sought to establish erectile dysfunction as a consequential condition. An impartial medical examiner attributed the condition to a cause unrelated to the accepted injury. The Board found that a later physician’s opinion did not adequately…
Ponda International
In re Ponda International (EAB TSCA 12-01C): $30,692 penalty paid and case resolved
Ponda International was accused of violating sections 4 and 8(a) of the Toxic Substances Control Act. EPA's complaint proposed a $30,692 civil penalty. The order states that EPA received a cashier's check for the full penalty to resolve the matter. The Environmental Appeals Board issued a Final…
Florida Rock Industries, Inc.
Two violations reduced to $750 total
At Florida Rock's Tampa sales yard, metal tent poles had been left for 11 days in the aisle of a locked storage container, and a small yard tractor had an intermittently malfunctioning headlight circuit. Senior Judge Michael E. Zielinski affirmed the housekeeping citation because the poles created…
Shell Offshore, Inc.
In re Shell Offshore, Inc. (EAB OCS Appeal Nos. 11-05, 11-06, and 11-07): review denied
EPA Region 10 issued Shell Offshore, Inc. a permit to construct and operate the Kulluk exploratory drilling unit and associated emission units in Alaska's Beaufort Sea, along with a Title V air-quality operating permit. Several conservation organizations, the Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope…
United States Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Laredo, Texas (Agency) and American Federation of Government Employees, Local 2455, National Border Patrol Council (Union)
Border Patrol Laredo and AFGE Local 2455 (FLRA 0-AR-4780): Premium pay award upheld
Border Patrol placed an agent on administrative duty for eighteen months while investigating whether he had used excessive force. An arbitrator found that the investigation should have taken eight months and awarded premium pay the agent would have earned during the additional ten months. Customs…
American Federation of Government Employees, Local 3615 (Union) and Social Security Administration (Agency)
AFGE Local 3615 and Social Security Administration (FLRA 0-AR-4778): Premature fee denial removed
The Social Security Administration suspended an employee for three days for failing to safeguard personal information. An arbitrator reduced the suspension to one day and ordered two days of backpay, but also stated that no attorney fees would be awarded. AFGE Local 3615 challenged the fee denial…
National Treasury Employees Union (Union) and United States Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service (Agency)
NTEU and IRS Taxpayer Advocate Service (FLRA 0-AR-4729): Workload ruling narrowed and fee issue remanded
Taxpayer Advocate Service case advocates received more cases without a matching increase in staff or changes to deadlines. An arbitrator found that the IRS had violated both its labor agreement and federal labor law by failing to notify and bargain with NTEU about the workload increase. The…
American Federation of Government Employees, Local 522 (Union) and United States Department of Veterans Affairs, Montgomery Regional Office, Montgomery, Alabama (Agency)
AFGE Local 522 and Montgomery VA (FLRA 0-AR-4623): Fourteen-day suspension upheld
A Montgomery VA employee responsible for helping coordinate a benefits program for survivors of service members deleted casualty report emails without reading them or performing related duties. The VA imposed a fourteen-day suspension, and an arbitrator found just cause for it. AFGE Local 522…
Social Security Administration, Baltimore, Maryland (Agency) and American Federation of Government Employees, SSA General Committee (Union)
SSA and AFGE General Committee (FLRA 0-AR-4563): Online-only vacancy system award narrowed
The Social Security Administration introduced an online system that required employees to apply electronically for internal vacancies and changed how applications were ranked. An arbitrator found that the system violated the parties' merit promotion agreement and federal labor law, and ordered the…
Sapphire Coal Company
Timely penalty contests sent for merits proceedings
Sapphire Coal asked the Commission to reopen two proposed penalty assessments that appeared to have become final because no timely contests were recorded. After reviewing the requests and the Secretary's responses, the Commission found that Sapphire had in fact contested both assessments on time…
United States Department of Homeland Security, United States Customs and Border Protection (Agency) and National Treasury Employees Union (Union)
Customs and Border Protection and NTEU (FLRA 0-AR-4396): Attorney fee award upheld
After Customs and Border Protection stopped honoring parts of a former agency's union agreement, an arbitrator found an unfair labor practice and a contract violation. The remedy included restoring leave to employees who had used it to attend a union convention. The arbitrator later awarded the…
Banner Blue Coal Company
Mixed citation rulings and settlements total $7,168
Banner Blue Coal litigated four underground coal citations and settled nine others. Judge George A. Koutras upheld two electrical-maintenance citations involving worn cathead latches, but removed the S&S designations and assessed $500 for each. He vacated a permissibility citation alleging a…
J.M. and Department of the Navy, Chief of Naval Education and Training, San Diego, CA
J.M. (ECAB 12-0011): Telephone hearing request abandoned
J.M., a Navy training specialist, requested a hearing after OWCP denied his injury claim. OWCP mailed notice of a scheduled telephone hearing to his address of record. He did not join the call, request postponement, or explain his absence within the required period. The Board applied the…
B.S. and U.S. Postal Service, Airmail Center, Seattle, WA
B.S. (ECAB 11-2001): Further merits review of recurrence claim denied
B.S., a postal employee, sought further reconsideration of a denied recurrence of disability claim. She argued that existing medical evidence supported her claim but submitted no relevant new medical evidence. The Board found that OWCP had already considered the material and that her arguments did…
R.B. and Department of the Army, Schofield Barracks Post Office, Fort Shafter, HI
R.B. (ECAB 11-1910): Termination of back injury benefits affirmed
R.B., an Army motor vehicle operator, had an accepted lumbar strain after lifting boxes at work. OWCP terminated disability compensation and medical benefits after finding the accepted injury had resolved. The Board found OWCP had met its burden to support termination and that R.B. had not…
T.M., widow of G.M., and Department of the Army, U.S. Army Materiel Command, Tooele, UT
T.M. (ECAB 11-1882): Widow’s request for further merits review denied
T.M. sought further review of a survivor claim arising from her husband’s death. Her reconsideration request included articles about working in hot conditions and heat stroke. The Board found that those articles did not supply pertinent new medical evidence on the case-specific causation issue or…
L.C. and U.S. Postal Service, Processing & Distribution Center, Atlanta, GA
L.C. (ECAB 11-1750): Stairway injury claim denial affirmed
L.C., a postal mechanic, reported falling while moving a file cabinet down stairs at work. The Board accepted that the work incident occurred. It found that the medical reports did not adequately explain how the incident caused the claimed neck, back, arm, or leg conditions, especially in light of…
K.D. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Clarksville, TN
K.D. (ECAB 11-1738): Lumbar surgery denial affirmed
K.D., a postal employee, sought authorization for lumbar fusion and related procedures for accepted back conditions. Her physician recommended surgery, while an OWCP physician disagreed. An impartial examiner found the proposed fusion unlikely to help and likely to reduce lumbar motion. The Board…
E.S. and Department of Homeland Security, Customs & Border Protection, El Paso, TX
E.S. (ECAB 11-1724): Hearing-loss schedule award denial affirmed
E.S., a Customs and Border Protection pilot, had accepted work-related hearing loss and authorization for hearing aids. He also sought a schedule award. The Board found that the certified audiogram yielded no ratable hearing impairment under the applicable method. It affirmed OWCP’s denial of a…
F.S. and U.S. Postal Service, Dunmore Post Office, Scranton, PA
F.S. (ECAB 11-1597): Termination of injury benefits reversed
F.S., a postal employee, had accepted cervical and lumbar strains. OWCP terminated compensation after a referral physician said the injuries had resolved. The Board found that physician’s conclusion insufficiently explained. Because OWCP bore the burden to justify termination, the Board reversed…
C.L. and U.S. Postal Service, Processing & Delivery Center, Little Rock, AR
C.L. (ECAB 11-1059): Recurrence of lumbar disability denied
C.L., a postal mail handler, had an accepted lumbar sprain and later claimed a recurrence of disability after returning to regular work. An OWCP physician found the sprain had resolved, while her treating doctor did not adequately explain how later back problems related to the accepted injury. The…
B.P. and Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, Grand Coulee, WA
B.P. (ECAB 11-1036): Consequential hip claim denial affirmed
B.P., a Bureau of Reclamation employee, claimed that accepted knee injuries caused a right hip condition through an altered gait. The Board found the supporting opinions speculative or lacking medical reasoning. They did not adequately explain how the knee injuries caused or aggravated the…
T.M. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Bedford Park, IL
T.M. (ECAB 11-1959): Multiple-condition injury claim denied
T.M., a postal letter carrier, claimed right ankle, back, neck, and shoulder conditions from her work. The Board found that the medical reports listed diagnoses and symptoms but did not explain how her job duties caused or aggravated the claimed conditions. It affirmed OWCP’s denial of the injury…
C.A. and Department of the Army, U.S. Army Forces Command, Lewis-McChord, WA
C.A. (ECAB 11-1920): Fall-related injury claim denial affirmed
C.A., an Army employee, reported slipping on ice on the way to work and hurting her hip. OWCP accepted that the fall occurred, but the Board found the medical evidence did not establish a diagnosed injury caused by it. Reports describing pain did not supply a sufficient diagnosis and causal…
M.F. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Harpswell, ME
M.F. (ECAB 11-1917): Delayed reconsideration requires merits decision
M.F., a postal employee, requested reconsideration of a denied thoracic spine claim. OWCP took more than six months to answer and then declined merits review. The Board found that the delay had deprived her of a practical chance to appeal the earlier merits decision. It set aside OWCP’s refusal and…
B.S. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Fresno, CA
B.S. (ECAB 11-1904): Emotional condition claim denial affirmed
B.S., a postal employee, attributed an emotional condition to workplace interactions and alleged harassment. The Board found the allegations either unsupported or insufficient to establish error, abuse, or another compensable employment factor. Because no compensable factor was established, it did…
B.C. and U.S. Postal Service, Processing & Distribution Center, Palatine, IL
B.C. (ECAB 11-1903): Incomplete case record sent back to OWCP
B.C., a postal employee, sought benefits for a claimed recurrence of a back injury. OWCP treated an older claim as denied, but the record sent to the Board lacked the earlier decision on which OWCP relied. Without a complete file, the Board could not decide the appeal. It set aside OWCP’s action…
M.B. and U.S. Postal Service, Processing & Distribution Center, West Columbia, SC
M.B. (ECAB 11-1794): Work incident accepted but injury claim denied
M.B., a postal machine operator, reported neck, shoulder, and arm injury while clearing mail from stackers. The Board accepted that the October 2, 2010 work activity occurred, changing OWCP’s factual finding. It found no probative medical evidence establishing a diagnosed injury caused by that…
C.G. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, San Diego, CA
C.G. (ECAB 11-1538): Wage-earning capacity decision affirmed
C.G., a former postal employee, took a full-time office automation job after vocational training. OWCP used her actual earnings in that job to calculate her remaining wage-earning capacity and reduce compensation. The Board found that the job fairly represented her earning capacity and that OWCP…
R.W. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Bellmawr, PA
R.W. (ECAB 11-1537): Arm impairment award method upheld
R.W., a postal employee, received schedule awards for two percent impairment of each arm. He argued that OWCP should have used an earlier edition of the AMA Guides because of delay in deciding his claim. The Board held that the applicable edition depended on the date of OWCP’s award decision, not…
M.W. and Department of the Air Force, Air National Guard, Sacramento, CA
M.W. (ECAB 11-1287): Emotional claim reopened for merits review
M.W., an Air National Guard mechanic, sought reconsideration of a denied emotional condition claim. OWCP declined to reopen the case. The Board found that he had submitted relevant new evidence meeting the threshold for merits review, even if the evidence might not ultimately prove the claim. It…
D.C. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Mt. Holly, NJ
D.C. (ECAB 11-1286): Schedule award edition challenge rejected
D.C., a postal letter carrier, challenged the AMA Guides edition used in deciding his schedule award. He argued that OWCP’s delay deprived him of a rating under the earlier edition. The Board held that the edition applicable to a schedule award depends on the decision date, rather than the filing…
D.H. and Department of the Treasury, Bureau of Public Debt, Parkersburg, WV
D.H. (ECAB 11-1284): Leg impairment claim sent for medical-adviser review
D.H., a Treasury employee with an accepted left knee injury, sought a schedule award for leg impairment. OWCP denied it without sending the medical evidence to its medical adviser. The Board found that the hearing representative had made a medical determination without the review required by OWCP…
P.R. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Wenonah, NJ
P.R. (ECAB 11-1256): Schedule award edition challenge rejected
P.R., a postal employee, challenged the AMA Guides edition used for his schedule award. He argued that OWCP delayed the award until the sixth edition applied and thereby denied him a rating under the fifth edition. The Board held that the edition in force at the award decision date governed. It…
F.D. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Butler, PA
F.D. (ECAB 11-0699): Chiropractic treatment decision sent back for reasons
F.D., a retired postal carrier, sought authorization for chiropractic treatment of accepted spinal conditions. OWCP’s hearing decision did not make clear whether it was affirming a treatment denial or a termination of medical benefits. The Board found that OWCP had not adequately explained its…
Teichert Construction
Truck inspection and trench-protection violations affirmed
A backing dump-truck fatality prompted OSHA to inspect Teichert's water-pipeline construction project. The judge found that the truck driver did not complete the required pre-shift vehicle check and that one brake push rod was out of adjustment when the truck was placed in service. He also found…
Conshor Mining, LLC
Flagrant-violation review vacated as moot
An ALJ certified for interlocutory review whether a violation that was not reckless could still be classified as flagrant based on an operator's history of similar violations. The Commission granted review and ordered briefing. The Secretary then withdrew the flagrant classifications for the three…
R.B. and Department of Health and Human Services, Pittsburgh Research Laboratory, Pittsburgh, PA
R.B. (ECAB 12-0201): Further review of emotional claim denied
R.B., a federal electrical engineer, sought further review of a denied work-related emotional condition claim. He argued that OWCP had overlooked a physician’s report. The Board found that OWCP had considered the report and that it did not establish a new basis to revisit the earlier finding that…
L.M. and U.S. Postal Service, Spring Valley Station, Las Vegas, NV
L.M. (ECAB 11-2007): Mail-lifting injury claim denial affirmed
L.M., a postal supervisor, reported back, knee, and thigh injury while lifting heavy mail. The Board accepted that she lifted the mail as alleged. It found that the medical evidence did not adequately establish a diagnosed injury caused by that incident. It affirmed OWCP’s denial of the traumatic…
S.E. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Madera, CA
S.E. (ECAB 11-1909): Wage loss claim for knee sprain denied
S.E., a postal employee, had an accepted right knee sprain and sought wage-loss compensation for April 23 through May 11, 2011. His doctor described diagnoses and time away from work but did not explain how the accepted sprain caused disability during that period. Another report had released him to…
I.C. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Thousand Oaks, CA
I.C. (ECAB 11-1808): Back and neck claim sent for medical development
I.C., a postal carrier, claimed that repetitive job duties injured his back and neck. A supplemental physician report did not fully prove the claim, but it gave a reasoned, uncontradicted account linking the duties to the conditions. The Board found that this was enough to require OWCP to develop…
I.B. and Department of the Navy, Naval Air Station, Alameda, CA
I.B. (ECAB 11-1796): Wage-earning capacity reduction reversed
I.B., a former Navy employee, had compensation reduced based on a constructed truck terminal manager position. The Board found that the impartial medical report used to assess his ability to perform that job was vague and internally inconsistent. OWCP therefore had not shown that the position…
H.S. and U.S. Postal Service, Processing & Distribution Center, Carol Stream, IL
H.S. (ECAB 11-1791): Wage-earning capacity finding left in place
H.S., a postal employee, sought to change an earlier wage-earning capacity finding after losing his modified job. He did not establish a material change in the accepted shoulder sprain, new vocational rehabilitation, or error in the original job-based finding. The Board found his evidence…
C.G. and Department of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration, Nashville, TN
C.G. (ECAB 11-1602): Consequential condition claim denial affirmed
C.G., a TSA screener, had an accepted abdominal sprain and sought to link uterine prolapse to the same work incident. The record showed that prolapse existed before the incident, and the medical opinions did not adequately explain causation or aggravation from the accepted event. The Board found…
A.J. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, New Orleans, LA
A.J. (ECAB 11-1912): Shoulder injury claim and reconsideration denied
A.J., a postal carrier, said he injured his right shoulder closing a vehicle door. The medical reports instead described a lifting or pulling event, creating a material inconsistency in how the injury allegedly occurred. The Board found the record did not establish the claimed incident in 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.