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.
No decisions match these filters
Try fewer or different words, check the spelling, or clear the filters to browse everything.
Albert F. Garofalo v. Penn Big Bed Slate Co., Inc.
Discrimination complaint dismissed after workplace fight
Slate worker Albert Garofalo alleged that Penn Big Bed Slate fired him after he complained about smoke, dust, equipment conditions, and threatened to report hazards to MSHA or OSHA. Judge Kenneth Andrews found that Garofalo did not credibly establish that he made a safety-report threat before his…
A.J. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Los Angeles, CA
A.J. (ECAB 11-896): Untimely oral hearing request denied
A.J. asked for an oral hearing after OWCP denied her claim. The request was postmarked more than 30 days after the denial, so she had no hearing right. The Board found that OWCP reasonably declined a discretionary hearing because reconsideration could address the causal relationship issue. It…
S.B. and Department of the Navy, Naval Air Systems Command Stations, Cherry Point, NC
S.B. (ECAB 11-858): Three percent binaural hearing award affirmed
S.B., a Navy employee, challenged the percentage and start date of a hearing-loss schedule award. The Board found that the medical adviser correctly applied the hearing-loss formula to the audiogram, yielding three percent binaural impairment. That produced 9.36 weeks of compensation under FECA’s…
R.B. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Liberal, KS
R.B. (ECAB 11-838): Right arm award reopening refusal affirmed
R.B. sought reconsideration of a schedule award for 10 percent right upper extremity impairment. He said an earlier carpal tunnel surgery supported a greater award but supplied no medical documentation or new impairment opinion. The Board held that the request presented no qualifying evidence or…
R.H. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Camden, NJ
R.H. (ECAB 11-799): Right arm and left leg impairment awards affirmed
R.H., a postal employee, sought larger schedule awards for right arm and left leg conditions. The Board reviewed the medical ratings and found no evidence establishing impairment above 10 percent for the arm or 9 percent for the leg. It also rejected the argument that an older edition of the A.M.A…
R.B. and U.S. Postal Service, Processing & Distribution Center, Essex Junction, VT
R.B. (ECAB 11-791): Arm injury claim reopened for new medical report
R.B. sought reconsideration after OWCP accepted a work incident but denied an arm injury for insufficient medical causation evidence. She submitted a previously unconsidered physician report that diagnosed an arm sprain and related it to the incident. The Board found the report relevant to the…
V.L. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Administration Medical Center, Buffalo, NY
V.L. (ECAB 11-747): Total disability recurrence claim denied
V.L., a VA nurse, claimed she could no longer perform modified work after an accepted injury. The Board found insufficient medical evidence linking total disability to the accepted condition. It also found that the record did not substantiate her claim that the light-duty assignment exceeded her…
D.M. and U.S. Postal Service, Logistics & Distribution Center, Tampa, FL
D.M. (ECAB 11-678): Back claim reconsideration refusal affirmed
D.M. sought reconsideration of an OWCP decision concerning a back condition he linked to an earlier injury. The Board found that his submission repeated existing evidence and did not present a qualifying new legal argument. It held that OWCP properly denied further merit review. The Board did not…
D.W. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Philadelphia, PA
D.W. (ECAB 11-652): Left arm impairment award sent to impartial physician
D.W., a postal employee, challenged a nine percent permanent impairment rating for her left upper extremity. The Board found an unresolved conflict between medical opinions about the degree of impairment. OWCP had relied on one side of that conflict without referring the case to an impartial…
C.T. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Dallas, TX
C.T. (ECAB 11-625): Foot claim denial affirmed on medical proof grounds
C.T., a postal employee, claimed that years of walking and standing on concrete floors aggravated foot conditions. OWCP questioned whether the work factors occurred, but the Board found the concrete-floor exposure established. The physicians did not adequately explain how those duties caused or…
G.R. and Department of the Navy, Marine Corps Air Station, Beaufort, SC
G.R. (ECAB 11-616): Right arm award and late hearing refusal affirmed
G.R., a Navy employee, challenged an eight percent right upper extremity impairment award and sought an oral hearing. The Board found the medical evidence did not establish greater impairment. Her hearing request was postmarked more than 30 days after the award decision, and OWCP reasonably…
S.M. and Department of the Army, Anniston Army Depot, Anniston, AL
S.M. (ECAB 11-529): Hip injury claim remanded for medical development
S.M., an Army employee, claimed a left hip injury from a February 2009 work incident. The Board found that the existing medical evidence did not conclusively prove causation but was enough to require OWCP to develop the record. OWCP had not obtained the further specialist opinion needed to address…
B.H. and Department of the Air Force, Robins Air Force Base, GA
B.H. (ECAB 11-379): Suitable-work benefit termination reversed
B.H., an Air Force employee, was offered a position that OWCP considered suitable and lost benefits after refusing it. The medical opinions on her ability to perform the work conflicted and were of comparable weight. The Board held that OWCP needed an impartial medical examination before…
F.W. and Department of the Army, White Sands Missile Range, NM
F.W. (ECAB 11-191): Back condition schedule award denials affirmed
F.W., an Army employee with an accepted back condition, sought a permanent impairment schedule award. FECA’s schedule does not cover impairment of the back or whole person by itself. The medical evidence showed no related impairment of an extremity that could qualify for an award. The Board…
Freeport-McMoRan Morenci, Inc. and Ronald Y. Jurado
Open floor hole leads to $77,000 in penalties
Contract worker Raymond Saldana died after falling about 28 feet through a 4-by-5-foot opening created by removing walkway grating during a belt-replacement project at Freeport-McMoRan's Morenci Mine. Judge William B. Moran held that a strand of yellow caution tape did not provide the railing…
E.G. and Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, Lafayette, LA
E.G. (ECAB 11-1730): Suitable-work termination reversed
E.G., a Geological Survey employee, had an accepted respiratory condition in addition to the claim OWCP considered when offering work. OWCP terminated compensation after he declined the position. The Board found that OWCP had not assessed whether the accepted pulmonary conditions affected his…
P.H. and U.S. Postal Service, Fair Oaks Post Office, Fair Oaks, CA
P.H. (ECAB 11-911): Knee injury benefit termination reversed
P.H., a postal employee, received benefits for an accepted right knee injury. OWCP ended them after a second opinion examination. The Board found that the same physician still diagnosed a condition tied to the accepted knee injury, and the record did not establish that medical residuals had ceased…
R.S. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Oak Lawn, TX
R.S. (ECAB 11-879): Late hearing request remanded for discretionary decision
R.S. asked for a hearing long after OWCP denied his recurrence claim. The Board agreed that he had missed the period for a hearing as of right. OWCP’s decision, however, gave no indication that it considered whether to grant a discretionary hearing. The Board set aside that decision and required…
M.M. and Department of Labor, Mine Safety & Health Administration, Morgantown, WV
M.M. (ECAB 11-820): Emotional condition claim denial affirmed
M.M., a mine safety inspector, experienced distress after seeing news of the Upper Big Branch mine explosion while at work. He had not inspected that mine or been assigned duties connected with the incident. The Board found that witnessing news coverage was not a compensable factor of his…
H.M. and U.S. Postal Service, Processing & Distribution Center, Columbus, OH
H.M. (ECAB 11-810): Partial disability recurrence claim denied
H.M., a postal employee with an accepted back injury, claimed that he could no longer work his modified schedule beyond six hours a day. The Board found that the medical reports did not adequately explain why the accepted injury caused partial disability beginning January 30, 2010. His own account…
D.F. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Edison, NJ
D.F. (ECAB 11-793): Meniscal tear disability termination affirmed
D.F., a postal letter carrier, received wage-loss compensation for an accepted left knee meniscal tear. The impartial medical examiner concluded that the accepted tear no longer disabled him from work. The Board found that opinion adequately reasoned and based on an accurate history. It affirmed…
J.M. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Minerva, OH
J.M. (ECAB 11-773): Claimed total disability period denied
J.M., a postal employee with accepted left hip and upper extremity injuries, claimed she could not work from February 2010 onward. The Board found that her physician did not explain why those accepted conditions made her unable to perform work, especially after earlier releasing her to light duty…
P.F. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Cherry Hill, NJ
P.F. (ECAB 11-729): Bilateral arm impairment award affirmed
P.F., a postal employee, sought a larger bilateral upper extremity schedule award. The Board found that the medical evidence did not establish more than 30 percent impairment on the left or 5 percent on the right. It also held that the sixth edition of the A.M.A. Guides applied because OWCP issued…
J.H. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Philadelphia, PA
J.H. (ECAB 11-726): Ankle impairment question remanded
J.H., a postal employee, sought a schedule award for a left ankle condition. The Board found no employment-related permanent impairment from tarsal tunnel syndrome. The impartial physician’s range-of-motion measurements, however, appeared to support possible impairment that he had not explained…
G.S. and U.S. Postal Service, Chattanooga Processing & Distribution Center, Chattanooga, TN
G.S. (ECAB 11-691): Suitable-work benefit termination affirmed
G.S., a postal employee, declined a modified position that did not require use of his injured right arm. The Board found OWCP had established the position’s suitability and that the medical submissions did not justify his refusal. It noted that monetary compensation remained due until the actual…
B.A. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Los Angeles, CA
B.A. (ECAB 11-686): Vocational rehabilitation reduction affirmed
B.A., a postal employee, did not attend directed computer training in a rehabilitation plan. She said medical preparation for bariatric surgery conflicted with the classes, but the record lacked probative medical evidence that she could not participate. The Board found OWCP reasonably estimated the…
A.B., claiming as widow of F.B., and Department of the Navy, Fort Lejeune, NC
A.B., claiming as widow of F.B., (ECAB 11-675): Death benefit claim remanded for medical conflict
A.B. sought survivor benefits after her husband’s death. His physicians and an OWCP second-opinion physician disagreed about whether an accepted work-related aggravation of asthma contributed to or accelerated the death. The Board found a medical conflict requiring an impartial examiner and noted…
C.E. and Department of Justice, Federal Correctional Institution, El Reno, OK
C.E. (ECAB 11-637): Eleven percent bilateral arm impairment confirmed
C.E., a correctional institution employee, challenged the impairment rating and how OWCP accounted for an earlier award. The Board accepted the physician’s C6 nerve-root based rating of 11 percent impairment for each arm. Because C.E. had already received four percent for each arm, OWCP properly…
G.G. and Department of the Army, Corps of Engineers, Portland, OR
G.G. (ECAB 11-548): Late hearing-loss claim and reopening refusal affirmed
G.G., a Corps of Engineers employee, sought compensation for hearing loss attributed to work noise. The Board found his claim was filed beyond FECA’s applicable time limit. His reconsideration request repeated arguments already considered and supplied no qualifying new evidence or legal ground. The…
A.S. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Coppell, TX
A.S. (ECAB 11-524): Late reconsideration request rejected
A.S. asked OWCP to reconsider an earlier decision concerning disability from a 1985 injury. The request came long after the ordinary reconsideration period. The Board found that the submitted records did not show clear evidence that OWCP had erred in the earlier decision. It affirmed the refusal to…
Jungbunzlauer Inc.
In re Jungbunzlauer Inc. (EAB TSCA Appeal No. 11-06(C)): $74,535 penalty settlement approved
The United States Environmental Protection Agency and Jungbunzlauer Inc. signed and consented to entry of an attached Consent Agreement. The Environmental Appeals Board incorporated that agreement into its Final Order. The Board ordered Jungbunzlauer Inc. to comply with the agreement and pay a…
Matter of Robert BAUTISTA
Attempted arson is an aggravated felony
The Board reviewed the appeal of a Dominican lawful permanent resident who had been convicted in New York of attempted arson in the third degree. It held that the New York offense is an aggravated felony under the immigration statute because it is described by the federal arson offense in 18 U.S.C…
Southern Pacific Transportation Company and The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway
In re Southern Pacific Transportation Company and The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway (EAB CERCLA § 106(b) Petition No. 94-12): reimbursement petition dismissed with prejudice
Southern Pacific Transportation Company and The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway sought reimbursement for costs incurred while complying with an EPA Region 9 administrative order issued under CERCLA section 106(a). The companies told the Environmental Appeals Board that they were withdrawing…
C.M. and Department of the Navy, Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, WA
C.M. (ECAB 11-1077): Emotional condition benefit termination reversed
C.M., a naval shipyard employee, had received benefits for an accepted emotional condition. OWCP relied on a physician’s opinion to end those benefits. The Board found that OWCP had posed leading questions that suggested the desired answer, so the report had to be excluded from the record. Without…
C.C. and Department of the Army, Corps of Engineers, Memphis, TN
C.C. (ECAB 11-826): Four percent binaural hearing award affirmed
C.C., a Corps of Engineers employee, sought a larger hearing-loss award. The Board found that OWCP’s medical adviser correctly applied the hearing-loss formula to the audiogram, producing four percent binaural loss. Under the compensation schedule that equaled eight weeks, more than the alternative…
A.L. and Department of the Navy, Naval Air Depot, North Island, CA
A.L. (ECAB 11-818): Bilateral knee impairment award remanded
A.L., a Navy employee, challenged a schedule award for impairment in both legs. OWCP’s medical adviser used a knee arthritis rating that required cartilage measurements absent from the x-rays. The adviser also omitted the grade modifiers and adjustment calculation required by the A.M.A. Guides. The…
D.M. and Department of the Navy, Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, WA
D.M. (ECAB 11-815): Pulmonary claim reopened for merit review
D.M. attributed pulmonary conditions to mold exposure at a water-damaged naval workplace. OWCP had denied the claim for insufficient medical causation evidence. Her reconsideration request included a new physician report directly addressing that missing link. The Board held that the report was…
D.E. and Department of the Navy, Norfolk Naval Air Station, Norfolk, VA
D.E. (ECAB 11-742): Cervical injury claim denial affirmed
D.E., a Navy employee, reported a cervical injury after an October 2009 work incident. The Board accepted that the incident occurred but found the medical reports did not explain how it caused or aggravated the diagnosed neck condition. That missing causal explanation left the injury claim…
M.M. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Atlanta, GA
M.M. (ECAB 11-690): Benefit termination and reopening refusal affirmed
M.M., a postal employee, challenged the end of benefits for an accepted injury. The Board found that OWCP’s medical evidence supported termination and that she had not proved continuing work-related disability or residuals after the effective date. Her later letters challenged the doctors’ opinions…
F.L. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Bellmawr, NJ
F.L. (ECAB 11-638): Emotional condition claim denied
F.L., a postal employee, attributed an emotional condition to workplace personnel matters and alleged harassment. The Board found that she had not established a compensable work factor: the claimed management misconduct was not shown to be erroneous or abusive, and the alleged harassment lacked…
A.N. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Beverly, NJ
A.N. (ECAB 11-483): Seven percent right arm award affirmed
A.N., a postal employee, sought a higher right arm impairment award. The Board found that the medical rating under the sixth edition of the A.M.A. Guides supported seven percent and no greater percentage was established. It also rejected the claim that an earlier edition must govern the award. It…
M.R. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Scranton, PA
M.R. (ECAB 11-446): Emotional condition claim remanded for medical review
M.R., a postal employee, alleged several workplace events caused an emotional condition. The Board rejected unsupported allegations of harassment but found that management had erred when it denied timely union representation during a March 2009 route instruction. That established a compensable…
R.B. and U.S. Postal Service, Capital Metro Operations, Gaithersburg, MD
R.B. (ECAB 11-431): Seven percent bilateral leg awards affirmed
R.B., a postal employee, sought greater bilateral leg impairment awards. The Board found that the accepted knee arthritis supported seven percent impairment in each leg under the applicable guide. Meniscal tears had not been accepted as work related, and the medical record did not establish a…
M.L. and Architect of the Capitol, Senate Office Buildings, Washington, DC
M.L. (ECAB 11-400): Vocational rehabilitation noncooperation reduction affirmed
M.L., an Architect of the Capitol employee, was directed to participate in the early stages of vocational rehabilitation. OWCP reduced her compensation to zero after repeated noncooperation. The Board found that the rehabilitation process had not advanced to a later placement stage and that OWCP…
G.L. and U.S. Postal Service, Frankford Station, Philadelphia, PA
G.L. (ECAB 11-30): Three percent bilateral arm awards affirmed
G.L., a postal employee, sought larger arm impairment awards and argued that an additional trigger-finger condition should count. The Board found no reasoned medical evidence establishing that claimed condition as work related. It accepted the medical adviser’s rating under the sixth edition of the…
Fraternal Order of Police (Petitioner/Labor Organization) and National Federation of Federal Employees, Local 2049 (Exclusive Representative/Labor Organization) and United States Department of the Army, White Sands Missile Range, White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico (Activity)
FOP, NFFE Local 2049, and White Sands Missile Range (FLRA DA-RP-11-0010): Severance petition remains dismissed
The Fraternal Order of Police sought to separate police officers and security guards at White Sands Missile Range from an existing unit represented by NFFE Local 2049, then hold an election in the proposed unit. A regional director dismissed the petition after finding that the existing unit…
W.C. and Department of the Army, Corps of Engineers, Vicksburg, MS
W.C. (ECAB 11-753): No ratable hearing-loss award affirmed
W.C., a Corps of Engineers employee, had an accepted employment-related hearing loss and sought a schedule award. The Board found that the qualifying audiogram produced no ratable impairment under the applicable formula. Acceptance of the condition did not itself establish a compensable percentage…
C.E. and U.S. Postal Service, James A. Farley Building, New York, NY
C.E. (ECAB 11-745): Examination refusal suspension and reopening refusal affirmed
C.E., a postal employee, did not attend a scheduled medical examination and challenged the resulting suspension. The Board found that he had not shown good cause for failing to submit to the examination. His reconsideration materials, including an unrelated disability benefits statement and older…
D.L. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, South Hamilton, MA
D.L. (ECAB 11-581): Falling shelf injury claim denied
D.L., a postal distribution clerk, reported that a shelf fell onto her back and neck at work. OWCP accepted that the incident occurred. The Board found that her physician recorded pain and treatment but did not explain how the event caused a diagnosed shoulder, neck, or back condition. It affirmed…
J.M. and Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, Richmond, VA
J.M. (ECAB 11-511): Fall injury claim and late hearing denial affirmed
J.M., an IRS employee, slipped on ice in a parking lot while arriving at work. The Board accepted that she fell but found the medical evidence insufficient to establish a compensable injury from the event. Her hearing request was postmarked after the 30-day deadline, and OWCP reasonably declined a…
D.M. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Cleveland, OH
D.M. (ECAB 11-466): No additional right leg schedule award
D.M., a postal employee, already had a schedule award for 35 percent right lower extremity impairment. The current medical ratings under the sixth edition of the A.M.A. Guides supported six percent impairment, below the amount previously paid. No conforming report established impairment above the…
D.R. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Birmingham, AL
D.R. (ECAB 11-397): Claimed wage-loss period denied
D.R., a postal employee, claimed she could not work during a period following an accepted injury. The Board found that the physicians did not explain how residuals of that injury caused the claimed disability. Some reports concerned other degenerative conditions or lacked a causal opinion. It…
M.W. and U.S. Postal Service, Main Post Office, Elizabeth, NJ
M.W. (ECAB 11-187): Two percent left arm award and reopening refusal affirmed
M.W., a postal employee, challenged a two percent left upper extremity impairment award. The Board found that the medical record supported that rating and did not establish greater impairment. Her later reconsideration request offered no pertinent new medical evidence or qualifying legal argument…
G.C. and Department of Justice, Bureau of Prisons, Federal Correctional Institution, Jessup, GA
G.C. (ECAB 11-82): Upper extremity schedule award denied
G.C., a correctional institution employee, sought compensation for permanent upper extremity impairment. A physician initially gave a whole-person rating but later clarified that there was no objective upper extremity impairment; FECA does not award whole-person ratings. A competing arm rating came…
NRG Sound & Communications, LLC.
Worker found to be an employee
NRG Sound & Communications installed speakers on a school football stadium roof using an aerial lift. NRG claimed that the second worker was a silent partner or independent contractor rather than an employee, but both men initially identified him as an employee and described NRG's owner as the…
United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics (Agency) and American Federation of Government Employees, Local 12 (Union)
Bureau of Labor Statistics and AFGE Local 12 (FLRA 0-AR-4743): Probationary-employee arbitration award set aside
The Bureau of Labor Statistics terminated an employee during his probationary period. The union grieved the termination, alleging religious and national-origin discrimination, and an arbitrator ruled that the grievance could proceed. The agency challenged that ruling before the arbitration ended…
Oak Grove Resources, LLC
Reopening denied after repeated assessment-processing failures
Oak Grove Resources asked the Commission to reopen a $47,152 penalty assessment that became final when its contest was not mailed to MSHA. The company said its safety director left the reviewed assessment for a clerk, but the clerk never received it. The Commission held that this unexplained…
Mach Mining, LLC
Fan citation vacated and escapeway penalties assessed
MSHA litigated several violations at Mach Mining's underground Mach No. 1 Mine. Judge Avram Weisberger vacated a surface-fan guarding citation because the Secretary did not prove a reasonable possibility that a person would contact the exposed fan blades. He affirmed a separate violation for…
P.S. and Department of the Army, Fort Hamilton, Brooklyn, NY
P.S. (ECAB 11-857): Impairment claim reopening refusal affirmed
P.S. sought reconsideration of an OWCP impairment decision. His request made a general assertion of error and resubmitted a medical report that OWCP had already considered. The Board held that duplicate evidence and an unsupported assertion did not meet the reopening standard. It affirmed the…
D.T. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Chicago, IL
D.T. (ECAB 11-807): Occupational claim remanded for imaging and specialist opinion
D.T., a postal employee, sought recognition of neck, shoulder, and back conditions linked to repetitive work. OWCP referred her to an impartial specialist, who said further MRI imaging was necessary before he could give a definitive opinion. OWCP did not obtain that testing or a supplemental…
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.