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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Bresee Trucking Co., Inc.
Penalty reopening denied over address and mail controls
Bresee Trucking sought to reopen two penalty assessments, arguing that they were delivered to the wrong address and were not discovered until after the contest deadline. The Secretary showed that Bresee had specifically instructed MSHA to use that address, had received and contested other…
Moose Lake Aggregates, LLC
Penalty reopening denied for inadequate processing system
Moose Lake Aggregates asked to reopen penalty assessments that its administrative staff had routinely paid without determining whether the company wanted to contest them. The Commission majority found that this practice was an inadequate internal processing system and that the operator remained…
Buckingham Coal Company
Dust-spray citations settled for $8,225
Two citations involved dust-suppression sprays on a continuous miner at Buckingham Coal's mine. The Secretary reconsidered the special assessments because 30 sprays were working, mining had not begun when pre-operational checks identified the problems, no prior special assessment had been issued on…
Arch Materials LLC
Roof-fall reporting settlement denied for missing facts
Arch Materials discovered an unplanned roof fall measuring about 200 feet long, 40 feet wide, and 8 feet thick, then reported it to MSHA about 80 minutes later. The parties proposed changing the citation from section 50.10(a) to section 50.10(d) and reducing the penalty from $5,000 to $100. Chief…
Morton Salt Division / Morton International Inc.
Hoist-outage reporting settlement denied
A power outage affected both hoists at Morton Salt's Fairport Mine at 1:03 a.m., and the company notified MSHA at 7:30 a.m. The parties proposed changing the citation from section 50.10(a) to section 50.10(d), reducing negligence from high to moderate, and cutting the penalty from $5,000 to $100…
Mach Mining, LLC
Ventilation order modified and borehole order vacated
Mach Mining extended longwall headgate entries beyond the length shown in its approved ventilation plan before obtaining district-manager approval. Judge Richard W. Manning upheld that violation but found that unclear communications created a reasonable, good-faith misunderstanding, so he removed…
E.B. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Miami, FL
E.B. (ECAB 11-1418): Reconsideration denial upheld for lack of new support
E.B., a postal manager, claimed that workplace harassment caused an aneurysm or stroke. OWCP denied the claim after finding that he had not established the alleged compensable work factors. He later asked OWCP to reconsider and submitted general definitions of workplace abuse, a harassment policy…
W.B. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Hartford, CT
W.B. (ECAB 11-1413): Claim treated as occupational disease but denied on causation
W.B., a mail processing clerk, attributed lower back, buttock and leg symptoms to repeated lifting, bending and twisting at work. He used a traumatic injury claim form, but the Board treated the alleged gradual onset as an occupational disease claim. His physician diagnosed back conditions and…
T.B. and U.S. Postal Service, Main Post Office, Bloomington, IN
T.B. (ECAB 11-1325): Left knee claim denied for insufficient medical evidence
T.B. attributed her left knee condition to her work as a rural carrier and in a modified postal assignment. An earlier Board decision had upheld the denial of her claim, and she sought OWCP reconsideration with a report from her orthopedic surgeon. OWCP called its response a denial of merit review…
C.W. and Department of the Air Force, Selfridge ANGB, MI
C.W. (ECAB 11-1315): Schedule award denied for unsupported impairment claim
C.W., a former Air Force laborer, sought a schedule award for an accepted 1969 lumbosacral sprain. OWCP had terminated compensation in 1993 after finding no remaining work-related disability. His physician rated impairment of the lumbar spine and whole person but did not explain how the current…
D.A. and Tennessee Valley Authority, Yard Operations, Chattanooga, TN
D.A. (ECAB 11-1291): Hearing loss claim returned for medical clarification
D.A., a former Tennessee Valley Authority conveyor operator, claimed that years of workplace noise caused his hearing loss. An OWCP referral physician diagnosed hearing loss and said the work exposure was sufficient to cause it, but attributed the condition most likely to age without explaining why…
B.J. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Gainesville, GA
B.J. (ECAB 11-1276): Reconsideration denied without review of wage capacity
B.J., a postal worker with an accepted back injury, sought compensation after modified work became unavailable. OWCP denied her request to change its wage-earning capacity determination, then refused to reopen the claim on reconsideration. The Board could not review the wage-capacity ruling because…
J.M. and Department of the Navy, Naval Business Center, Philadelphia, PA
J.M. (ECAB 11-1257): Termination of back-injury benefits upheld
J.M., a retired Navy materials handler, received benefits for an accepted occupational claim involving low back spasms. After a dispute between medical opinions, OWCP appointed an impartial orthopedic surgeon to assess whether the work-related condition persisted. The surgeon found no spasms or…
M.B. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Baltimore, MD
M.B. (ECAB 11-1141): Two percent arm impairment award upheld
M.B., a postal machine operator, injured his left hand and wrist when a metal gate fell on it and later had a wrist ganglion removed. He requested a schedule award, but his treating physician did not supply an impairment rating. An OWCP examiner rated his left upper extremity at two percent under…
J.Z. and Department of Housing and Urban Development, Alexandria, VA
J.Z. (ECAB 11-0437): Back and neck claim denied for lack of causal evidence
J.Z., a housing agency analyst, was riding to a work meeting when another vehicle struck his cab. OWCP accepted that the accident occurred during work but denied his claim for neck and back conditions. His physicians diagnosed several conditions and attributed some to the accident without…
All Steel Consultants, Inc.
Roofing citations partly affirmed
All Steel Consultants was installing metal roofing when OSHA observed four employees working without tying off and two others using lifelines with enough slack to contact the lower roof in a fall. The foreman knew the company's tie-off rule but allowed employees to work without following it, and he…
Boh Brothers Construction Co., LLC.
Lifeline citation vacated on remand
OSHA cited Boh Brothers after a bridge-work accident, alleging that more than five employees were tied to a horizontal lifeline designed to support no more than five. The judge originally affirmed the citation, but the Commission remanded for clearer credibility findings and reconsideration of the…
R.P. and Department of Labor, Mine Safety and Health Administration, Pineville, WV
R.P. (ECAB 11-1582): Shoulder and neck claim denial upheld
R.P., a mine safety inspector, reported injuring his left shoulder and neck while pulling himself into heavy equipment at work. OWCP accepted that the incident occurred but denied his claim because his physician did not explain how it caused or aggravated the diagnosed conditions. The physician…
L.N. and U.S. Postal Service, King of Prussia Branch, King of Prussia, PA
L.N. (ECAB 11-1412): Impairment claim remanded; recurrence denial upheld
L.N., a postal worker with an accepted 1993 back injury, sought a schedule award for right leg impairment and compensation for a claimed 2010 recurrence of disability. OWCP denied both claims. The Board found the impartial examiner's impairment opinion incomplete because he had not been told that…
P.P. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Gaithersburg, MD
P.P. (ECAB 11-1275): Repeated arguments did not reopen disability claim
P.P., a postal worker with accepted right hand and wrist conditions, had previously been denied compensation for a claimed recurrence of disability. She asked OWCP to reconsider again, arguing that the request was timely because it followed a 2010 Board decision. The Board found that its 2010…
S.P. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Jackson, MS
S.P. (ECAB 11-0978): Disease claim denied despite medical diagnoses
S.P., a postal sales distribution clerk, filed an occupational disease claim but did not identify the affected body part or describe the work activities he believed caused injury. He submitted medical records describing knee and shoulder conditions, then did not answer OWCP's request for further…
A.N. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, San Juan, PR
A.N. (ECAB 11-0809): Foot condition claim denied for lack of medical causation
A.N., a postal clerk, attributed pain in both feet to standing during his work shifts. His physicians diagnosed plantar fasciitis and hallux valgus, and one said that standing could contribute to the condition. OWCP accepted his description of the work duties but denied the claim for lack of a…
D.G. and Department of the Army, Red River Army Depot, Texarkana, TX
D.G. (ECAB 11-0617): Benefit termination reversed over incomplete job offer
D.G., a former Army equipment specialist, received compensation after an accepted head and spine injury. An impartial physician said he could work with limits, including a restriction on frequent lifting at shoulder level or above. The Army offered him a clerk position, and OWCP terminated…
L.M. and Department of the Army, Tobyhanna Army Depot, Tobyhanna, PA
L.M. (ECAB 11-0572): Hearing loss claim remanded to resolve medical conflict
L.M., a retired Army depot sheet metal mechanic, claimed that years of equipment noise caused hearing loss. His treating physician linked the hearing loss and tinnitus to that exposure, while an OWCP referral specialist attributed the hearing loss to aging. OWCP relied on its specialist and denied…
C.S. and Department of the Navy, Naval Criminal Investigative Service, New Orleans, LA
C.S. (ECAB 11-0567): Revised wage capacity after retraining upheld
C.S., a former Navy investigator, received compensation after an accepted back injury and later worked as a department store loss prevention manager. OWCP initially based his wage-earning capacity on the store job. He trained as a special education teacher and earned substantially more in that…
P.G. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Lyons Veterans Hospital, Lyons, NJ
P.G. (ECAB 11-0076): Compensation termination for refusing suitable work upheld
P.G., a former Veterans Affairs nursing assistant, received compensation for accepted left arm and wrist injuries. Her treating physician found her unable to work, while a referral physician disagreed. An impartial examiner, using an updated account of all accepted conditions, concluded that she…
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company
In re E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (EAB TSCA 11-08(C), RCRA 11-05(C), and TSCA 11-09(C)): settlement amended for supplemental environmental project
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company and EPA jointly sought a second amendment to a Consent Agreement and Final Order governing DuPont's supplemental environmental project. The Board approved changes that extended the completion date by two years and three months, to March 27, 2014, and added…
V.G. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Southeastern, PA
V.G. (ECAB 11-1556): Termination of carpal tunnel treatment reversed
V.G., a postal clerk, had an accepted right carpal tunnel claim. An OWCP referral surgeon found that the condition had resolved and no further treatment was needed, while her treating hand surgeon found continuing symptoms and a need for treatment. OWCP relied on its referral surgeon and ended…
C.B. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Regional Office, Indianapolis, IN
C.B. (ECAB 11-1525): Back injury claim denied for lack of incident-specific medical evidence
C.B., a Veterans Affairs file clerk, said he aggravated a preexisting back condition when he bent to pick up a book at work. The Board accepted that the incident occurred. It found that his physician's reports described back conditions but did not connect them to that particular May 2010 incident…
M.B. and Department of Agriculture, Dairy Division, Chicago, IL
M.B. (ECAB 11-1473): Renewed back treatment claim denied
M.B. had an accepted lumbar strain from a 1985 Agriculture Department injury and later sought to reopen the claim for back treatment. She also wanted the claim expanded to include degenerative disc disease. Her surgeon suggested a connection to the old injury but supplied little medical reasoning…
M.A. and Department of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration, Phoenix, AZ
M.A. (ECAB 11-1075): Emotional condition claim denied over personnel disputes
M.A., a transportation security inspector, attributed a stress-related condition to disputes over leave, attendance investigations and discipline at work. OWCP denied the claim because these were administrative matters and he had not shown employer error or abuse. The Board found no evidence…
K.P. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, East Orange, NJ
K.P. (ECAB 11-1012): Leg impairment ratings remanded for medical resolution
K.P., a Veterans Affairs electronics technician, received a schedule award for 13 percent impairment of each leg after an accepted lumbar injury. His physician and OWCP's physicians disagreed about the extent of impairment. A second impartial specialist rated spinal and whole-person impairment…
C.J. and U.S. Postal Service, Fern Creek Annex, Louisville, KY
C.J. (ECAB 11-0962): Facet ablation request remanded for impartial opinion
C.J., a postal carrier with an accepted lumbar strain after a work-related vehicle accident, sought authorization for radiofrequency facet ablation to address continuing pain. Her treating surgeon recommended the procedure after facet injections gave short-term relief. An OWCP medical adviser…
J.G. and U.S. Postal Service, Processing and Distribution Center, Columbus, OH
J.G. (ECAB 11-0875): Wage-loss claim denied for lack of reasoned medical evidence
J.G., a postal mail handler, had an accepted left hip and groin injury after a mat slipped beneath him at work. He sought wage-loss compensation for time off beginning March 27, 2010. His physicians supplied disability certificates and reports listing symptoms and diagnoses, including conditions…
J.N. and Department of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration, Las Vegas, NV
J.N. (ECAB 11-0672): Surgery denial upheld; benefit termination reversed
J.N., a federal air marshal, received benefits after an accepted back injury. OWCP denied proposed lumbar surgery and terminated compensation and medical benefits based largely on a physician's opinion that he could return to work and had no injury residuals. The Board upheld the surgery denial…
R.M. and Department of Defense, National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, Arnold, MO
R.M. (ECAB 11-0550): Back and foot injury claim returned for medical review
R.M., a Defense Department employee, twisted her back and right foot after stepping on a twig on a sidewalk at work. OWCP accepted that the incident occurred but denied the injury claim for insufficient medical causation evidence. An emergency physician diagnosed a low back strain and right foot…
Shell Gulf of Mexico, Inc. & Shell Offshore, Inc.
In re Shell Gulf of Mexico, Inc. & Shell Offshore, Inc. (EAB OCS Appeal Nos. 11-02, 11-03, 11-04 & 11-08): Review of OCS PSD permits denied
Shell Gulf of Mexico, Inc. and Shell Offshore, Inc. were the permittees for two Clean Air Act permits covering the Noble Discoverer drillship and associated support vessels operating in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas off Alaska. The NVPH Petitioners, ICAS, and Daniel Lum sought review of the permits…
T.M. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Philadelphia, PA
T.M. (ECAB 11-1989): Increased impairment claim remanded for review
T.M., a postal worker with accepted upper-extremity conditions, had previously received schedule awards for 12 percent impairment of each arm. She submitted a new physician report asserting that her condition had worsened. OWCP treated the submission as an untimely challenge to the old award and…
R.B. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Augusta Veterans Administration Medical Center, Augusta, GA
R.B. (ECAB 11-1552): Shoulder injury claim denied for lack of medical explanation
R.B., a Veterans Affairs equipment mechanic, said he hurt his left shoulder while helping open a stuck door at work. OWCP accepted that the incident occurred. His surgeon diagnosed several shoulder conditions and attributed them to the incident because he had no prior symptoms. The Board found that…
C.D. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Capitol Heights, MD
C.D. (ECAB 11-1490): Benefit termination case returned for review of medical report
C.D., a postal worker, had an accepted neck injury from 2000. OWCP terminated his medical and wage-loss benefits after a second-opinion physician found no remaining injury-related condition. On reconsideration, C.D. submitted a surgeon's report linking his current disc condition and surgery to the…
C.B. and Department of Agriculture, Grain Inspection, Packers & Stockyards Administration, League City, TX
C.B. (ECAB 11-1482): Emotional condition claim returned for findings on work factors
C.B., an Agriculture Department employee, claimed that supervisors' conduct caused an emotional condition. She alleged delays in processing an earlier claim, accusations of fraud and forgery, and failure to restore leave. OWCP said an unspecified incident had occurred but denied her claim for…
B.M. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Mobile, AL
B.M. (ECAB 11-1468): Denial of additional schedule award affirmed
B.M., a postal worker, appealed the denial of an additional schedule award for permanent impairment. She did not challenge the impairment rating itself. She argued that OWCP should have used the fifth edition of the American Medical Association's impairment guides because she filed her claim before…
W.R. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Bronx, NY
W.R. (ECAB 11-1454): Five percent left leg impairment award affirmed
W.R., a postal letter carrier, had accepted left ankle injuries and received a schedule award for five percent impairment of her left leg. Her physician rated the impairment at 42 percent, while an OWCP medical adviser rated it at 20 percent, so OWCP obtained a referee physician's opinion. After…
C.R. and Department of the Navy, Navy Weapons Station, Coltsneck, NJ
C.R. (ECAB 11-1441): Thirty percent right arm impairment award affirmed
C.R. appealed a schedule award based on 30 percent permanent impairment of his right arm. He did not dispute the impairment rating itself. His lawyer argued that OWCP delayed deciding the claim until the sixth edition of the American Medical Association's impairment guides took effect, depriving…
N.S. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Billings, MT
N.S. (ECAB 11-1399): Reconsideration request returned for timely-request review
N.S., a postal worker, sought reconsideration of a prior Board decision about residuals of an accepted injury. Her lawyer sent a written request within one year of that decision. OWCP declined to process it without an appeal form and later treated a renewed request as late, applying the stricter…
E.G. and Department of the Air Force, Air Force Logistics Center, Hill Air Force Base, UT
E.G. (ECAB 11-1363): Escort vehicle driver wage capacity rating upheld
E.G., an Air Force painter with accepted arm and wrist conditions, asked OWCP to change its earlier finding that he could earn wages as an escort vehicle driver. He argued that OWCP had used too low an hourly wage and submitted a new medical report. The Board found that OWCP had properly averaged…
J.K. and U.S. Postal Service, Processing & Distribution Center, Fresno, CA
J.K. (ECAB 11-1227): Injury denial upheld on a different ground
J.K., a postal mail handler, claimed that a mail hamper struck his back while he sorted parcels. OWCP denied the claim because it found the incident had not occurred as alleged. The Board disagreed: J.K. reported the event promptly, sought treatment, and gave a consistent account, while the…
A.K. and Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, Hillard, FL
A.K. (ECAB 11-1208): Emotional condition claim returned to combine files
A.K., a former Federal Aviation Administration employee, filed an emotional condition claim alleging workplace stress, seizures, and post-traumatic stress disorder. OWCP denied the claim after referring to evidence and findings from an earlier stress-related claim. That earlier claim file was…
S.N. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Richmond, VA
S.N. (ECAB 11-1206): Finger impairment claim returned for a new rating
S.N., a postal letter carrier, had accepted fractures of three left fingers and a trigger finger condition. OWCP awarded one percent impairment of her left arm and later denied her request for a larger award. The Board agreed that OWCP should use the sixth edition of the American Medical…
B.R. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Oklahoma City, OK
B.R. (ECAB 11-1196): Claimed workplace threat returned for review of both files
B.R., a postal worker, had an accepted emotional condition claim involving an alleged coworker threat on June 6, 2009. He filed another claim describing a threat on June 10, 2009. OWCP denied the later claim as a duplicate, but the Board found that the differing dates meant the claims did not…
G.W. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Tennessee Valley Health Care System, Nashville, TN
G.W. (ECAB 11-1159): Wage loss for home shoulder therapy denied
G.W., a Veterans Affairs police officer instructor, had an accepted left shoulder injury and underwent surgery. He sought 16 hours of wage-loss compensation for time spent using a prescribed motion chair at home on January 7, 10, 12 and 21, 2011. OWCP denied that request while paying for some time…
M.B. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Cherry Hill, NJ
M.B. (ECAB 11-1003): Benefit termination returned for a new impartial examination
M.B., a postal worker with accepted back and wrist conditions, received wage-loss benefits after stopping work. OWCP ended her wage-loss and medical benefits based on an impartial specialist's opinion that the accepted conditions had resolved. M.B. challenged whether OWCP had properly selected that…
D.B. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Mount Vernon, NY
D.B. (ECAB 11-950): Part-time wage capacity ruling reversed
D.B., a postal clerk, had an accepted knee injury while working full time. After a recurrence of disability, she returned to a light-duty job for 20 hours a week, and OWCP used those earnings to reduce her compensation. The employer later reduced her hours further, and she sought a change to the…
E.O. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Administration Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA
E.O. (ECAB 11-943): Prerecoupment hearing request found timely
E.O., a Veterans Affairs laundry worker, requested a hearing before OWCP recouped a preliminary overpayment. OWCP found the request late because the original was absent from its file and it received a later copy after the deadline. The Board found that E.O.'s lawyer had mailed the original request…
B.H. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Liverpool, NY
B.H. (ECAB 11-812): Denial of right knee contusion claim reversed
B.H., a postal letter carrier, struck his right knee on a vehicle doorframe while working. OWCP accepted that the incident happened but denied his injury claim for lack of a physician's reasoned medical opinion. The Board found that a visible knee contusion was a minor injury that could be…
E.M. and Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, Dallas, TX
E.M. (ECAB 11-796): Emotional condition claim denial affirmed
E.M., a Wage and Hour Division employee, attributed an emotional condition to alleged harassment and unfair treatment by coworkers and supervisors. She described raised voices, work monitoring, critical emails, and leave and performance disputes. The Board found that the personnel matters were…
M.W. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Troy, MI
M.W. (ECAB 11-750): Pay rate decision returned for missing comparison data
M.W., a postal worker, moved from a delivery supervisor job to part-time flexible carrier work shortly before his disability began. A prior Board decision instructed OWCP to gather information about comparable employees to calculate his compensation pay rate. OWCP confirmed that a selected employee…
M.R. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Jersey City, NJ
M.R. (ECAB 11-641): Schedule award case returned to reconstruct the record
M.R., a postal mail handler with an accepted lower back strain, sought a schedule award for left leg impairment. OWCP denied the award, finding no ratable impairment related to that injury. But the record sent to the Board omitted a physician's left leg impairment report and an OWCP medical…
S.J. and Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, Detroit, MI
S.J. (ECAB 11-621): Wage capacity modification request returned for merits review
S.J., a former Federal Aviation Administration engineering technician, had an accepted back injury and a wage-earning capacity rating based on an electronics technician position. OWCP obtained a second-opinion report from Dr. Bethea. S.J. then requested reconsideration, asserting that his condition…
V.P. and U.S. Postal Service, Bulk Mail Center, Jersey City, NJ
V.P. (ECAB 11-605): Arm impairment award returned for new impartial examiner
V.P., a postal mechanic with accepted left hand conditions, received an additional schedule award based on an examiner's impairment rating. He challenged how OWCP had selected that examiner. The Board found that the examiner was serving as an impartial specialist to resolve an existing conflict in…
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.