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.D. and Department of the Air Force, Air Logistics Center, Robins Air Force Base, GA
M.D. (ECAB 10-2335): Aircraft mechanic’s hearing loss was not ratable for an award
M.D., an aircraft mechanic, sought a schedule award for hearing loss from workplace noise. A specialist attributed left ear hearing loss to occupational exposure, but OWCP’s medical adviser calculated no ratable impairment in either ear under the applicable guide. The Board checked the audiogram…
C.E. and Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, San Juan, PR
C.E. (ECAB 10-2328): Fall claim lacked a reasoned medical link to injury
C.E., a Census Bureau crew leader assistant, reported injuring her knees and hand when she stumbled over wood at work. The Board accepted that the fall occurred. Her medical reports, however, did not explain how the incident caused a diagnosed condition; checked boxes and imaging reports were…
Chicago Bridge & Iron
Crane swing-radius barricade violation affirmed
Chicago Bridge used a crane with a broken swing-radius barricade while constructing a water tower. A walkway to the job trailer passed through the crane's danger zone, and employees worked nearby while cylinders were moved. The judge found employee access reasonably predictable even apart from…
D.B. and Federal Judiciary, Chief Probation Office, Salt Lake, Utah
D.B. (ECAB 10-2094): Termination of carpal tunnel benefits upheld
D.B., a probation clerk, received benefits for accepted right carpal tunnel syndrome. OWCP later ended those benefits based on an impartial specialist’s examination and review of the medical history. The Board found his opinion well reasoned: the accepted condition had ceased and later symptoms…
D.A. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Administration Medical Center, Detroit, MI
D.A. (ECAB 10-2075): Knee claim lacked a reliable medical link to stairs at work
D.A., a VA employee, claimed that walking up stairs at work caused a right knee condition. Several medical reports described symptoms or diagnoses, but either used a different injury date or did not explain how the work incident caused or aggravated the condition. The Board found that the evidence…
T.D. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Charlotte, NC
T.D. (ECAB 10-2058): Letter carrier’s occupational disease claim and reconsideration denied
T.D., a letter carrier, claimed that job duties caused or aggravated back and knee conditions. The Board found that the medical evidence did not adequately explain how the duties caused the diagnosed conditions. A later report largely repeated an earlier one and did not provide the missing medical…
D.E. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, North Benton, OH
D.E. (ECAB 10-1976): Emotional condition claim lacked an established work factor
D.E., a postmaster, attributed an emotional condition to an audit, a warning, and alleged workplace harassment. The Board found that the record did not show error or abuse in the employer’s administrative actions or establish the alleged harassment. Because D.E. had not established a compensable…
D.W. and U.S. Postal Service, Knoxville Processing & Distribution Center, Knoxville, TN
D.W. (ECAB 10-1967): Travel costs to work and reconsideration refusal upheld
D.W., a postal employee, asked OWCP to pay transportation costs for travel to and from work during a short period. The Board found no basis under the compensation law for the requested commuting costs. Her reconsideration request also offered no relevant new evidence or argument meeting the…
R.W. and Department of Defense, Defense Distribution Depot, Richmond, VA
R.W. (ECAB 10-1964): Bilateral leg impairment awards upheld
R.W., a Defense Department employee with accepted knee conditions, sought greater schedule awards for both legs. Her physician rated each leg at 20 percent but did not identify the guide tables or adequately explain his calculations. OWCP’s medical adviser applied the relevant tables and modifiers…
M.C. Dean, Inc.
Unguarded skylight violation affirmed after fatal fall
An M.C. Dean electrician went onto a warehouse roof to inspect exhaust fans and fell through an unguarded skylight nearly 26 feet to the floor. He died from his injuries two weeks later. The judge found constructive knowledge because the onsite field supervisor failed to inspect the unfamiliar…
Black Beauty Coal Company
Dust, ventilation, belt, and safeguard violations largely upheld
Black Beauty Coal contested 15 violations at its underground Air Quality #1 mine and settled the remaining violations in two dockets. Judge Margaret A. Miller affirmed an S&S respirable-dust overexposure but reduced negligence to moderate and assessed $20,000. She also upheld violations involving…
Black Beauty Coal Company
Belt hazards upheld, examination and roof-plan citations vacated
Black Beauty Coal contested seven violations at its underground Air Quality #1 mine and settled the remaining violations in three dockets. Judge Margaret A. Miller upheld two unwarrantable belt-accumulation orders and assessed $70,000 for each because combustible material was running in or near…
C.H. and Department of the Army, Corps of Engineers, Memphis, TN
C.H. (ECAB 10-2331): Wage-earning capacity modification request requires a merits ruling
C.H. submitted new medical evidence about his ability to work after OWCP reduced compensation based on a wage-earning capacity finding. OWCP treated the submission as an untimely reconsideration request. The Board held that it was a request to modify the wage-earning capacity determination, which…
P.B. and Department of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration, Reston, VA
P.B. (ECAB 10-2200): Investigator job supported reduced wage-loss compensation
P.B., a TSA employee with accepted arm and wrist conditions, had work restrictions but could perform some full-time work. OWCP selected an investigator position as a measure of his wage-earning capacity. The Board found that the job fit his physical restrictions and experience and was reasonably…
P.A. and Department of the Navy, Military Sealift Command, Norfolk, VA
P.A. (ECAB 10-2189): Shipboard back injury claim lacked a reasoned medical link
P.A., a Navy employee, attributed a back condition to opening a freezer door on a ship. The doctors’ reports either relied on a different account of the incident, inferred causation from the timing of symptoms, or gave no causal opinion. The Board found no reasoned medical explanation linking a…
R.T. and U.S. Postal Service, James C. Brown, Jr. Facility, Las Vegas, NV
R.T. (ECAB 10-2059): Termination of thoracic sprain benefits upheld
R.T., a postal employee, received benefits for an accepted thoracic sprain. OWCP concluded that the accepted condition had resolved and ended benefits. The Board found the medical evidence supported that conclusion. It also found no reasoned medical opinion linking R.T.’s later lumbar condition and…
P.C. and Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Blue Ridge Parkway, Asheville, NC
P.C. (ECAB 10-2033): Right arm award and reconsideration refusal upheld
P.C., a National Park Service employee, sought an award above the 10 percent impairment already recognized for her right arm. The Board found that the evidence did not establish a higher rating. Her reconsideration request repeated earlier arguments and evidence rather than adding relevant new…
J.S. and U.S. Postal Service, NJ Processing & Distribution Center, Trenton, NJ
J.S. (ECAB 10-1938): Left leg award upheld; right knee question returned
J.S., a postal employee, challenged her 25 percent left leg award and sought recognition of a right knee condition as a consequence of her accepted left knee injury. The Board found no basis for a higher left leg rating. On the right knee question, physicians gave conflicting opinions, and the…
J.H. and Department of the Navy, Long Beach Naval Shipyard, Long Beach, CA
J.H. (ECAB 10-1840): Disability claim lacked medical proof of inability to work
J.H., a former shipyard employee, sought compensation for disability beginning in October 1979 from accepted work conditions. The Board reviewed medical reports from several years but found that they did not explain why the accepted conditions prevented work during the claimed period. Two reports…
G.H. and Department of Labor, Occupational Safety & Health Administration, Washington, DC
G.H. (ECAB 10-1788): Conflicting medical opinions require an impartial examination
G.H., an OSHA employee with impaired vision, attributed neck, back, and shoulder conditions to the way he used a computer at work. His treating doctors linked the conditions to his duties, while OWCP’s referral physician disagreed. The Board found a conflict between the medical opinions. It set…
K.H. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Washington, DC
K.H. (ECAB 10-1645): Elbow condition claim lacked a reasoned medical explanation
K.H., a postal employee, reported striking her left elbow at work and later received a diagnosis of ulnar neuropathy. OWCP accepted that the reported incident occurred, but the physicians did not explain medically how it caused the diagnosed condition. A testing report also gave no causal opinion…
L.S. and Department of Labor, Energy Employees’ Occupational Illness Compensation Program, Denver, CO
L.S. (ECAB 10-0594): Board finds workplace insect bites and returns claim for medical review
L.S. reported insect bites while working in a Denver office. Coworker statements and medical observations supported her account, although an exterminator had not identified a biting insect. The Board found that she had established the workplace injury. It set aside the denial and returned the case…
Michael W. Luttrell v. Alutiiq Global Solutions and Chubb Indemnity Insurance Company
Luttrell v. Alutiiq Global Solutions (BRB 10-0555): weekly rate corrected and benefits award restored
Michael Luttrell injured his neck while working as a security officer on the Kwajalein Atoll under the Defense Base Act. The parties agreed that he was temporarily totally disabled but disputed the wages used to calculate benefits. The Board upheld the judge's use of Luttrell's pay at the time of…
Modern Building Solutions, LLC
Steep-roof fall violation affirmed at church project
A Modern Building Solutions worker replaced missing roof-sheathing nails and removed boards on an 8-in-12 church roof without conventional fall protection. The judge found the church was a commercial project, so the alternative residential-construction provision did not apply. The inspection…
E.P. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Somerdale, NJ
E.P. (ECAB 10-2398): One percent shoulder impairment award upheld
E.P., a postal employee, sought a schedule award above one percent for his right arm. He argued that an older edition of the impairment guides should apply. The Board held that the edition in force when OWCP decided the award controlled, and two medical opinions using that edition agreed on one…
R.T. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Huntsville, TX
R.T. (ECAB 10-2299): New challenge to temporary job requires merits review
R.T., a postal employee, challenged a finding that his actual earnings represented wage-earning capacity. He newly argued that the modified job was temporary. The Board held that a temporary position cannot support such a finding and that his relevant new legal argument required a merits review. It…
D.K. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Pearl City, HI
D.K. (ECAB 10-2260): Reconsideration request lacked new evidence about work events
D.K., a postal employee, sought reconsideration of a denied back injury claim. The unresolved question was factual: whether the reported work events happened as described. Her request repeated an earlier statement, provided medical records that did not answer that question, and did not include the…
J.C. and Department of Health & Human Services, Northeast Regional Laboratory, Jamaica, NY
J.C. (ECAB 10-2256): Eye condition claim lacked a reasoned work connection
J.C., a laboratory quality systems manager, attributed a condition affecting both eyes to her work. A doctor diagnosed dermatitis but gave a speculative opinion about its cause and did not describe the work duties he believed responsible. Other medical records did not address causation. The Board…
M.B. and U.S. Postal Service, New Jersey International & Bulk Mail Center, Newark, NJ
M.B. (ECAB 10-2181): Arm impairment award returned for a valid rating
M.B., a postal employee with accepted carpal tunnel syndrome in both arms, received a schedule award based on a physician’s one percent rating. The Board found that the physician had changed the diagnosis to lateral epicondylitis without explanation and had not shown how he applied the impairment…
W.S. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Stockton, NJ
W.S. (ECAB 10-2005): Wage-earning capacity finding remained in force after job withdrawal
W.S., a postal employee, sought wage-loss compensation after his limited-duty assignment ended. The Board found no evidence that his injury-related condition had materially changed, that he had been retrained, or that the original wage-earning capacity determination was wrong. The employer’s later…
M.W. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Birmingham, AL
M.W. (ECAB 10-1921): Wage-loss denial and finding of abandoned hearing upheld
M.W., a postal employee with accepted carpal tunnel syndrome, sought wage-loss compensation for a period when she said she could not perform her sedentary job. The Board found insufficient medical evidence of disability during that period. She also missed a scheduled telephone hearing and gave no…
J.R. and U.S. Postal Service, Bulk Mail Center, Philadelphia, PA
J.R. (ECAB 10-1919): Recovery of $8,788.39 overpayment upheld
J.R., a postal employee, received compensation beyond the period covered by his schedule award, creating an $8,788.39 overpayment. The Board agreed with OWCP’s calculation. Although J.R. was not at fault, his reported income and assets showed that repayment would not cause financial hardship, and…
Framers R Us, Inc.
Ladder violations affirmed and repeat fall item vacated
Framers R Us employees used a closed A-frame ladder as the only access to the third level of a motel construction project. The judge held the company responsible even though it did not own or place the ladder because its employees used it and the company took no alternative protective steps. The…
K.B. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Medical Center, Sioux Falls, SD
K.B. (ECAB 10-1749): Shoulder disability recurrence claim lacked medical support
K.B., a VA employee, sought compensation for renewed shoulder disability beginning in January 2010. A prior Board decision had found her accepted shoulder strains resolved and a rotator cuff tear unrelated to the work injury. The newer medical notes diagnosed pain and another shoulder condition but…
American Federation of Government Employees, Local 1547 (Union) and United States Department of the Air Force, Luke Air Force Base, Arizona (Agency)
AFGE Local 1547 and Luke Air Force Base (FLRA 0-AR-4615): Temporary guards' terminations upheld
Luke Air Force Base ended the appointments of two temporary security guards after they fought while on duty. An arbitrator found that their grievances could be heard, but that the agreement's due process and just-cause standards did not govern these temporary appointments. The guards had signed…
Small Mine Development
Fall-protection violation upheld, unwarrantable failure removed
Two miners, including project superintendent John Boltz, worked without fall protection on top of an approximately eight-foot-eight-inch-high shipping container at the underground Midas gold mine. Judge Kenneth R. Andrews found that the unguarded edge, ladder access, movement required to secure…
L.R. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, Marion, IN
L.R. (ECAB 10-2253): Forty-three percent right arm award upheld
L.R., a VA employee, sought a right arm schedule award above 43 percent after shoulder surgery. OWCP’s medical adviser used the required edition of the impairment guides and adjusted the rating to 43 percent. The higher rating from her physician used an older edition. The Board found the 43 percent…
D.P. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Elmer, NJ
D.P. (ECAB 10-2177): Eight percent right arm award upheld under current guides
D.P., a postal employee, argued for a right arm award above eight percent and challenged OWCP’s use of the newer impairment guides. The Board held that the guide edition in force when OWCP issued the award applied, even if the claim or maximum improvement came earlier. It found no evidence…
B.C. and Department of the Army, Army Depot, Anniston, AL
B.C. (ECAB 10-2149): Hearing loss did not qualify for a schedule award
B.C., an Army depot employee, sought a schedule award for hearing loss from workplace noise. A specialist attributed hearing loss to occupational exposure, but the measured loss did not reach a ratable level under the applicable formula. Other audiograms lacked physician certification and could not…
J.B. and Department of the Navy, Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, VA
J.B. (ECAB 10-2025): Employer knowledge makes hearing loss claim timely
J.B., a retired Navy shipyard employee, filed a hearing loss claim more than three years after his last exposure to workplace noise. The Board found that the employer’s hearing conservation program had documented hearing loss while he worked there. That knowledge satisfied an exception to the…
B.S. and Department of Defense, Defense Education Activity, Yigo, Guam
B.S. (ECAB 10-1993): Stress claim lacked a compensable work factor
B.S., a Defense Department employee, attributed a stress condition to personnel actions and alleged harassment. The Board found no evidence that the administrative actions involved error or abuse. It also found insufficient proof of the alleged harassment. With no compensable employment factor…
M.C. and U.S. Postal Service, Milton Post Office, Milton, VT
M.C. (ECAB 10-1962): Carpal tunnel claim lacked a medical link to mail duties
M.C., a rural letter carrier, attributed bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome to her work. OWCP accepted her account of her rural carrier duties, but the Board found that the physician’s report diagnosed the condition without explaining its cause. A physician assistant’s note also could not supply the…
C.A. and U.S. Postal Service, Southern Maryland Processing & Distribution Center, Capitol Heights, MD
C.A. (ECAB 10-1932): Disability recurrence and reconsideration denials upheld
C.A., a postal employee, sought compensation for a recurrence of total disability beginning in October 2009. The Board found that the medical evidence did not establish disability causally related to the accepted work injury. His later reconsideration request offered no relevant new argument or…
P.A. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, East Stockton Station, Stockton, CA
P.A. (ECAB 10-1907): Wage-earning capacity finding remained supported
P.A., a postal employee, challenged a finding that reduced compensation based on work she was considered able to perform. The medical reports she submitted described symptoms and diagnoses but did not establish that her injury-related condition had materially changed or that she could no longer…
P.S. and U.S. Postal Service, Bulk Mail Center, Jersey City, NJ
P.S. (ECAB 10-1865): Six percent left arm impairment award upheld
P.S., a postal employee, sought a left arm schedule award above six percent. Medical reviewers used the applicable impairment guide to rate loss of shoulder motion and found no additional ratable sensory loss. The Board found no evidence supporting greater impairment. It also rejected the argument…
Knife River Corporation, Northwest
Platform and structural-defect violations upheld with modifications
Knife River contested safety actions at its Reed Pit sand-and-gravel mine involving a dock, two work boats, a damaged tunnel beneath a surge pile, a deteriorated barrier wall, and compliance with a withdrawal order. Judge Alan G. Paez held that the dock and work boats were working platforms that…
A.H. and U.S. Postal Service, Northern Florida Performance Cluster, Jacksonville, FL
A.H. (ECAB 10-2367): Late written-record review request properly denied
A.H., a postal employee, sought written-record review months after the 30-day deadline to request it as a matter of right. OWCP considered whether to allow a late review but declined because reconsideration remained available. The Board found no abuse of discretion in that decision. It affirmed the…
T.B. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA
T.B. (ECAB 10-2294): Carpal tunnel claim returned for impartial medical review
T.B., a VA employee, claimed that work duties caused bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome. His physician related the condition to work, while OWCP’s referral physician attributed it to other factors. The Board found an unresolved conflict in the medical opinions. It ordered an updated account of the…
J.W. and Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Idaho Falls, ID
J.W. (ECAB 10-2284): Medical treatment denial needs findings and reasons
J.W., a Bureau of Land Management employee, sought authorization for a cardiac study and further medical care. OWCP closed the claim and denied treatment without explaining how it assessed the evidence or why the request failed. The Board held that the decision lacked the findings and reasons…
A.S. and U.S. Postal Service, Processing & Distribution Center, Capitol Heights, MD
A.S. (ECAB 10-2142): Termination for refusing modified work reversed
A.S., a postal employee, declined a modified contract technician position because her treating physician found its hand movements outside her work restrictions. OWCP relied on a vocational counselor who considered the job suitable. The Board held that a physician, rather than a vocational…
P.M. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Administration Medical Center, Washington, DC
P.M. (ECAB 10-1912): Shoulder disability recurrence lacked a reasoned medical link
P.M., a VA employee, sought compensation for renewed shoulder disability after an accepted lifting injury. One physician attributed her current condition to an earlier problem, while another linked it to work without addressing the prior condition or explaining the connection. The Board found no…
J.J. and Department of the Navy, Naval Air Weapons Division, China Lake, CA
J.J. (ECAB 10-1908): Additional travel time for medical appointment denied
J.J., a Navy employee, sought nine hours of wage-loss compensation for travel to a medical appointment; OWCP paid four. The Board found that OWCP had considered the distance, available services closer to home, and J.J.’s condition. It held that OWCP did not abuse its discretion by declining to pay…
L.P. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Louisville, KY
L.P. (ECAB 10-1905): Reconsideration request repeated earlier medical evidence
L.P., a postal employee, sought review of a finding that her accepted conditions had no continuing residuals. The new medical statements either addressed a condition the physician said was unrelated to work or repeated earlier opinions already considered. The Board found no relevant new evidence or…
I.P. and Department of the Navy, San Francisco Naval Shipyard, San Francisco, CA
I.P. (ECAB 10-1847): Schedule award and written-review denials upheld
I.P., a former Navy shipyard employee, sought a schedule award and review of the written record. The Board found that the medical evidence did not establish entitlement to an award. His injury preceded the law granting a hearing as a matter of right, and OWCP reasonably declined discretionary…
N.T. and Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Administration Medical Center, Oklahoma City, OK
N.T. (ECAB 10-1648): Termination for refusing work reversed; benefits to be restored
N.T., a VA employee, was offered a three-hour daily position after an impartial specialist said she could work less than three hours. OWCP had also recently found that her disability was too severe for employment, without explaining the change. The Board held that the offered job was not shown…
American Federation of Government Employees, Local 1164 (Union) and Social Security Administration, Roslindale, Massachusetts (Agency)
AFGE Local 1164 and Roslindale Social Security office (FLRA 0-NG-3093): Relocation proposals rejected
AFGE Local 1164 proposed two terms for the Social Security Administration's planned move of its Roslindale office. One specified features of the new floor plan, including a separate public interview area and employee workstations. The Authority found that proposal outside the duty to bargain…
State of Alaska, Department of Transportation
Mobile sand screener held subject to MSHA jurisdiction
The Alaska Department of Transportation used a portable screener to separate beach sand by size for traction control on the Nome airport runway. It argued that the screener was outside MSHA jurisdiction because it was mobile, was not attached to a registered extraction site, and qualified for the…
Secretary of Labor on behalf of Charles Scott Howard v. Cumberland River Coal Company
Immediate temporary reinstatement ordered
The Secretary sought temporary reinstatement for miner Charles Scott Howard while MSHA investigated his discrimination complaint against Cumberland River Coal. Cumberland received the application by fax on May 27, 2011, but did not request a hearing until June 13. Chief Judge Robert J. Lesnick held…
Larry Johnson v. Del Monte Tropical Fruit Company and Lumbermen's Mutual Casualty Company
Johnson v. Del Monte Tropical Fruit (BRB 10-0541): separate hearing loss payment denied
Larry Johnson received total disability benefits after a back injury while working as a longshoreman for Del Monte Tropical Fruit. A judge later found that work noise had also caused a 24.4 percent hearing loss, but denied a separate scheduled disability payment because it would overlap with the…
B.T. and U.S. Postal Service, Bulk Mail Center, Memphis, TN
B.T. (ECAB 10-2349): Separate recurrence claim entitled to its own hearing
B.T., a postal employee, requested a hearing on a claim of disability beginning in August 2009. OWCP refused because she had already had a hearing on an earlier recurrence claim. The Board found that the two claims concerned different disability periods and that the new hearing request was timely…
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.