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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County Concrete and Construction Co., Inc.
Penalty assessment remanded for a good-cause determination
County Concrete asked to reopen a penalty assessment that had become a final Commission order after the company failed to respond on time. Its president cited the seasonal nature of the company’s operations and a change in management in fall 2002. The Secretary did not oppose relief. The Commission…
Hanson Permanente Cement, Inc.
Penalty assessment remanded for a good-cause determination
Hanson Permanente Cement asked to reopen a penalty assessment that had become a final Commission order. Hanson said it timely contested the penalty by fax and certified mail, and that counsel received confirmation that MSHA had received the contest. MSHA later reported that it had no record of the…
Tacoma Diesel & Equipment Inc.
Penalty assessment remanded for a good-cause determination
Tacoma Diesel asked to reopen a penalty assessment that had become a final Commission order. Its service manager said he would have filed a timely hearing request but mistakenly believed Tacoma had 45 days to do so. Tacoma submitted the penalty assessment showing that its operator had checked the…
RAG Emerald Resources, LP
Penalty assessment remanded for a good-cause determination
RAG Emerald asked to reopen a penalty assessment that had become a final Commission order. The company said it paid the penalties for several citations but timely filed a green-card contest for Citation No. 7084326, which MSHA said it never received. RAG Emerald submitted the citation, assessment…
Enos Little, employed by Coastal Coal Company, LLC
Penalty assessment remanded for a good-cause determination
Enos Little asked to reopen an individual penalty assessment for an alleged Mine Act section 110(c) violation. He said he, his employer, and his counsel were not served when the assessment was issued. Counsel later received a copy with a postmarked certified-mail receipt; Little asserted that MSHA…
American Federation of Government Employees (Union) and Social Security Administration, Valrico, Florida (Agency)
AFGE and Social Security Administration, Valrico (FLRA 0-AR-3683): Steward reprimand upheld
The Social Security Administration reprimanded a union steward for delivering an offensive message to her supervisor during a dispute over official time procedures. The union argued that her conduct was protected representational activity and that the case should have used expedited arbitration…
U.S. Quarried Slate Products Inc.
Reopening motion remanded for good-cause determination
U.S. Quarried Slate Products asked to reopen penalty assessments that had become final after it did not timely contest two proposed penalties. The company said an ongoing special investigation led it to misunderstand which citations required a hearing request, and that an office error caused the…
Kingwood Mining Company
Penalty assessment remanded for a good-cause determination
Kingwood Mining asked the Commission to reopen a penalty assessment that had become a final Commission order. Kingwood said a secretary inadvertently paid the penalties for several section 104(a) citations, which were associated with section 104(d) orders that Kingwood wanted to defend. The…
Stillwater Mining Company
Penalty assessment remanded for a good-cause determination
Stillwater Mining asked the Commission to reopen a penalty assessment that had become a final Commission order. Stillwater said the employee responsible for handling contests had resigned, and its corporate safety director sent the contest to MSHA's regional office instead of the Civil Penalty…
Brown Sand, Inc.
Three penalty assessments remanded for a good-cause determination
Brown Sand asked the Commission to reopen three penalty assessments that had become final Commission orders. Brown said it had already filed notices contesting 29 citations and believed the language in those notices also contested the related penalties. The Secretary did not oppose relief. The…
Black Hills Bentonite, LLC
Three penalty assessments remanded for a good-cause determination
Black Hills Bentonite asked the Commission to reopen three penalty assessments that had become final Commission orders. Black Hills said it had contested the underlying citations, but later inadvertently paid the assessments for both the contested and uncontested citations. The Secretary did not…
Beco Construction Company
Penalty assessments remanded for a good-cause determination
Beco Construction asked the Commission to reopen two penalty assessments that had become final Commission orders. Beco said it did not recognize that the assessments involved new penalties and therefore did not timely forward them to counsel, although counsel later sent a notice of contest after…
Duane Ross, employed by Maple Creek Mining, Inc.
Individual penalty assessment remanded for a good-cause determination
Duane Ross asked the Commission to reopen an individual penalty assessment for an alleged section 110(c) violation. Ross said he received a different penalty assessment showing the subject balance, but never received the subject assessment itself. The certified-mail receipt for the subject…
Better Materials Corporation
Penalty assessment remanded for a good-cause determination
Better Materials Corporation asked the Commission to reopen a penalty assessment that had become a final Commission order. BMC said it was waiting for a companion assessment so it could contest both penalties together, and it sent its contest after the 30-day period because it believed the filing…
Tim Glasscock, employed by Maple Creek Mining, Inc.
Individual penalty assessment remanded for a good-cause determination
Tim Glasscock asked the Commission to reopen an individual penalty assessment for an alleged section 110(c) violation. Glasscock said he never received the assessment and first learned about the penalty from a delinquency letter sent to an address that was not his residence or mailing address. The…
Philip Environmental Services, Inc.
Penalty assessment remanded for a good-cause determination
Philip Environmental Services asked the Commission to reopen a penalty assessment that had become a final Commission order. Philip Environmental said it timely mailed a hearing request contesting the assessment, but MSHA had no record of receiving it. The company also said its request may have been…
United States, Department of Defense, American Forces Radio and Television Broadcast Center, Riverside, California (Agency) and American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO, Local 2776 (Union)
Defense broadcast center and AFGE Local 2776 (FLRA 0-AR-3735): Five-shift schedule restored
A Defense Department broadcast center changed its alternative work schedule from five shifts to three. The union grieved, and an arbitrator ordered a return to the five-shift schedule established in the parties' memorandum of understanding. The agency argued that it did not have to bargain over the…
United States, Department of the Navy, Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division, Acoustic Research Detachment, Bayview, Idaho (Agency) and International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, District 160, Lodge 282 (Union)
Navy acoustic research detachment and IAM Lodge 282 (FLRA 0-AR-3612): Appraisal remedy upheld
Two union stewards at a Navy acoustic research detachment challenged performance ratings that fell from level 4 to level 3. An arbitrator found that antiunion animus caused the lower ratings and ordered the earlier level restored. The Navy argued that a previous unfair labor practice charge barred…
Frontier-Kemper Constructors Incorporated
Payment mistake sent to ALJ for good-cause review
Frontier-Kemper had contested a citation but later paid the $399 proposed penalty after an employee who was not involved in the project paid it during normal work duties. The company said the payment was inadvertent and asked to reopen the assessment so it could settle under an agreement with the…
Cannelton Industries, Inc.
Pumpers' exception applied to idle mine
Cannelton operated an idle underground coal mine while certified personnel entered to check pumps and keep the mine from flooding. MSHA cited the company after finding that no preshift examinations had been performed, and an ALJ vacated the citation under the regulation's pumpers' exception. The…
National Treasury Employees Union (Union) and United States, Department of the Treasury, United States Customs Service (Agency)
NTEU and Customs Service (FLRA O-NG-2615): Firearm storage proposal outside duty to bargain
The union proposed that Customs provide secure containers at offices where armed employees work and allow routine overnight storage of authorized firearms. The Authority found the proposal outside the agency's duty to bargain. Customs had decided that employees should retain their firearms when off…
In re Fernando MALTA-Espinoza, Respondent
Stalking offense was a crime of violence
The Board reviewed an appeal from an Immigration Judge's finding that a California stalking conviction was an aggravated felony that made the respondent removable and ineligible for cancellation of removal. The Board held that stalking involving harassment, a credible threat, and a court order…
Edward R. Newton, Sr. v. P & O Ports Louisiana, Incorporated
Newton v. P & O Ports Louisiana (BRB 04-0200): discovery appeal dismissed while claim continued
In Edward Newton's pending Longshore Act claim, his employer resisted a subpoena for the names and addresses of companies identified by its vocational expert as possible alternate jobs. A judge ordered disclosure, and the employer asked the Board to review that discovery order immediately. The…
Mary Mabile (widow of Lucien Mabile) v. Swiftships, Incorporated and Travelers Casualty and Surety Company
Mabile v. Swiftships (BRB 03-0424): estate settlement did not reduce widow's death benefits
Mary Mabile sought death benefits after her husband Lucien died from a work-related illness. She and her son had settled a lawsuit against Swiftships executives as representatives of his estate, without the employer's prior written approval. The Board held that the settlement concerned Lucien's own…
United States, Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Federal Detention Center, Houston, Texas (Agency) and American Federation of Government Employees, Local 1030, Council of Prison Locals (Union)
Houston federal detention center and AFGE Local 1030 (FLRA 0-AR-3600): Roster committee award set aside
The union sought a roster committee for employees in the Houston detention center's Inmate Systems Management department. An arbitrator found that the collective bargaining agreement required the committee to consider preferences in seniority order. The Authority set aside the award because that…
United States, Department of the Air Force, Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas (Activity) and American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO (Petitioner)
Lackland Air Force Base and AFGE (FLRA DA-RP-03-0010): Services Division election may proceed
AFGE petitioned for an election among nonappropriated fund employees in the Services Division at Lackland Air Force Base. The Air Force argued that three separate units would better reflect the division's different functions. The regional director found that one unit was appropriate and included…
Hansen Truck Stop, Inc.
Fourteen citations affirmed with reduced penalties
Hansen Truck Stop operated a small, intermittent sand and gravel mine with a crusher, washer, conveyors, stockpiles, and mobile equipment. The judge held that the processing plant was part of a mine subject to MSHA jurisdiction, and that MSHA could inspect it while it remained available for use…
Pennsylvania American Water
Withdrawal order set aside and remanded
The Secretary withdrew a citation against Pennsylvania American Water and told the ALJ that the employer had agreed to take specified actions. After the ALJ entered an order reflecting that notice, the employer petitioned for review and said it had not agreed to those actions. The parties jointly…
Structural Building Systems, Inc.
Steel-erection fall violation affirmed
Structural Building Systems supplied a steel-erection crew for a new Ohio middle school. A foreman and an employee moved a heavy steel tube about 20 feet above a concrete floor without tying off, and the employee fell and sustained serious injuries. The judge rejected the company's unpreventable…
American Federation of Government Employees, Local 1867 (Union) and United States, Department of the Air Force, United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado (Agency)
Air Force Academy and AFGE Local 1867 (FLRA 0-AR-3714): Reduction-in-force grievance denied
A motor vehicle operator at the Air Force Academy was displaced during a reduction in force and assigned to a waiter position in the cadet dining hall. An arbitrator found that the displacement followed applicable procedures and denied his grievance. The union argued that the arbitrator had…
Consolidation Coal Company
Contractor-related penalty reopening request remanded
Consolidation Coal asked to reopen a penalty assessment issued after a contractor employee suffered a fatal injury at its Blacksville No. 2 Mine. The company said the assessment was inadvertently misplaced while documents were being exchanged with the contractor under an indemnification agreement…
Consolidation Coal Company
Reopening request remanded for good-cause review
Consolidation Coal asked to reopen a penalty assessment for its idled Emery Mine after an employee signed for the proposal but did not know MSHA's penalty procedures. The company also said it could not obtain a civil penalty conference and did not file a timely hearing request. The Secretary did…
United States, Department of Homeland Security, Border and Transportation Security Directorate, Bureau of Customs and Border Protection, Washington, D.C. (Respondent) and National Treasury Employees Union (Charging Party)
Customs and Border Protection and NTEU (FLRA WA-CA-02-0189): Boarding policy complaint dismissed
Customs inspectors and their union challenged a policy limiting when they could board vessels away from a dock. The complaint alleged that the agency changed working conditions without giving the union notice and a chance to bargain. The administrative law judge found that the policy change had, at…
Social Security Administration, Office of Hearings and Appeals (Respondent) and Association of Administrative Law Judges, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (Charging Party/Union)
SSA Office of Hearings and Appeals and ALJ union (FLRA BN-CA-02-0206): Acting chief removal violated labor law
The Social Security Administration removed a judge from an acting hearing office chief assignment because she was a union vice president. An administrative law judge found that the removal discriminated against protected union activity, and the Authority agreed. The Authority rejected the agency's…
American Federation of Government Employees, Local 1858 (Union) and United States, Department of the Army, Army Missile Command, Army Communications Command Agency, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama (Agency)
Redstone Arsenal and AFGE Local 1858 (FLRA 0-AR-3766): Higher-grade pay grievance excluded
An Army employee at Redstone Arsenal sought higher pay after taking on duties ordinarily performed by employees at higher grades. An arbitrator found that the grievance challenged the grade assigned to her own position, rather than claiming a temporary assignment to a separate higher-grade…
Jim Walter Resources, Inc.
Roof-control violations affirmed with $7,400 penalty
The decision addressed several Jim Walter Resources contest dockets involving roof-support conditions and weekly examination records at a coal mine, along with a civil penalty proceeding. The judge found violations involving a roof control plan and the failure to record hazardous conditions, and…
Western National Construction
Late contest dismissed after nonappearance
Western National Construction received an OSHA citation but did not contest it before the deadline, so it became a final Commission order. Months later, a safety representative asked to file late, stating only that the citation had not reached the appropriate person and had fallen through the…
Stuck in the Mud
Scaffold violations affirmed after jurisdiction challenge
Thomas Slingluff, doing business as Stuck in the Mud, performed stucco work from an inadequately protected scaffold in Colorado. He admitted the scaffold conditions but argued that he was not an employer engaged in commerce and therefore was outside the OSH Act. The judge found that Slingluff hired…
Spirit Homes, Inc.
Hardhat violation reduced from willful to serious
Employees at Spirit Homes worked below mobile-home roofs and scaffolds without hardhats while other employees used tools and materials overhead. The Commission agreed that the company violated the protective-helmet standard but reversed the ALJ's willful characterization. After an earlier citation…
Lanzo Construction Co., Inc
Diving and excavation violations reclassified as willful
Lanzo Construction installed large sewer pipe in a water-filled excavation using a surface-supplied diver. The Commission rejected Lanzo's request for dismissal based on the Secretary's counsel communicating with the diver, finding the record did not establish an ethical violation warranting…
Hercules, Inc., & Alliant Techsystems, Inc.
Explosion-hazard failure-to-abate notice vacated
Hercules had previously settled general-duty citations concerning explosion hazards at an explosives facility and agreed to abate them. OSHA later alleged that hazards remained at a loop road and a control building for 440 days and proposed $3.08 million in failure-to-abate penalties. The ALJ…
American Federation of Government Employees, Local 2586 (Union) and United States, Department of the Air Force, 97TH Mobile Wing, Altus Air Force Base, Oklahoma (Agency)
Altus Air Force Base and AFGE Local 2586 (FLRA 0-AR-3732): Steward discipline award remanded
A union vice president confronted a supervisor at the Altus base exchange while employees were concerned about working in a stockroom during a power outage. An arbitrator reduced his two-day suspension to a written reprimand. The union challenged the remaining discipline, arguing that his conduct…
United States, Department of the Treasury, Customs Service, Washington, D.C., (Agency) and National Treasury Employees Union (Union)
Customs Service and NTEU (FLRA 0-AR-3636): Assignment policy arbitration award set aside
Customs revised its national policy for assigning inspectors to tours and overtime work while it and NTEU were also discussing a replacement labor agreement. The union insisted that bargaining over the policy's impact be combined with negotiations over the broader agreement. An arbitrator found…
Granite Mountain Crushing, LLC
Twenty-three citations affirmed with $4,820 penalty
Granite Mountain Crushing contested 23 citations from an MSHA inspection of its granite-crushing operation. The company stipulated that it committed the cited violations but argued that its financial condition made the proposed $11,578 penalty inappropriate after it had ceased operations and…
Cold Spring Granite Co.
Fall-protection citation and $224 penalty upheld
Cold Spring Granite was cited after an inspector observed a rock-drill operator working above ground level without fall protection. The judge held that the applicable standard required protection where a fall could cause injury. The miner wore no fall protection while drilling near the edge of a…
United States, Department of the Navy, Navy Inventory Control Point, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania (Agency) and American Federation of Government Employees, Local 1156 (Union)
Navy inventory control point and AFGE Local 1156 (FLRA 0-AR-3716): Discipline remedy remanded
The Navy suspended an employee for one day after unauthorized changes were made to a slide presentation. An arbitrator upheld the suspension but ordered the disciplinary action removed from the employee's personnel record after six months without further discipline. The Authority rejected the…
Southwest Quarry & Materials, Incorporated
Nine citations affirmed by default
Southwest Quarry & Materials faced nine alleged violations and a proposed civil penalty of $1,096. The operator did not meaningfully respond to the judge's orders, the Secretary's discovery requests, or attempts to arrange a conference. The judge found the operator in default and affirmed all nine…
United States, Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation (Agency) and International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, Local 128 (Union)
Bureau of Reclamation and IFPTE Local 128 (FLRA 0-AR-3742): Overtime threshold appeal dismissed
The union filed an institutional grievance over employees' Fair Labor Standards Act classification and possible back pay. Before hearing the merits, the arbitrator ruled that the filing tolled the limitations period for covered employees. The Bureau of Reclamation appealed that threshold ruling…
United States, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Baltimore Field Office, Baltimore, Maryland (Agency) and American Federation of Government Employees, National Council of EEOC Locals, No 216 (Union)
EEOC Baltimore field office and AFGE council (FLRA 0-AR-3685): Overtime award partly remanded
An arbitrator found that employees in the EEOC's Baltimore field office had worked unpaid overtime and ordered payments of $1,500 each to five employees. He also ordered removal of an investigator's performance improvement plan and awarded attorney fees. The Authority upheld most of the award but…
Webster County Coal, LLC
Motion to compel conference worksheets granted in part
Webster County Coal asked the Secretary to produce three categories of documents in two penalty proceedings. The parties resolved two categories, leaving a dispute over Health and Safety Conference Worksheets that the Secretary withheld under the deliberative process privilege. The judge held that…
Clifford N. Lacy v. Southern California Ship Services and AIG Claims Services
Lacy v. Southern California Ship Services (BRB 03-0381): worker covered as longshoreman
Clifford Lacy worked as a rigger and deckhand for Southern California Ship Services and injured his back while loading cargo from a boat onto a ship. The employer argued that his work made him a vessel crew member excluded from Longshore Act coverage. The Board upheld the judge's finding that most…
American Federation of Government Employees, Local 727 (Union) and Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency (Agency)
AFGE Local 727 and Court Services Agency (FLRA 0-NG-2720): Court attendance proposals require bargaining
The union proposed changes to how court supervision officers check in for hearings and receive compensation when court proceedings cause them to work through lunch. The agency argued that the proposals were outside the duty to bargain and that the revised proposals were not properly before the…
Social Security Administration, Boston, Region 1 (Agency) and American Federation of Government Employees, Local 1164 (Union)
Social Security Administration Boston and AFGE Local 1164 (FLRA 0-AR-3726): Suspension grievance returned for clarification
The Social Security Administration suspended an employee for two days after finding that the employee violated its policy on unauthorized system access. The arbitrator found a violation but considered the suspension excessive and substituted counseling. The agency argued that counseling was not…
American Federation of Government Employees, Local 1917 (Union) and United States, Department of Justice, Immigration and Naturalization, Service, New York District (Agency)
AFGE Local 1917 and INS New York District (FLRA 0-AR-3724): Three-day suspension upheld
An Immigration and Naturalization Service employee received a three-day suspension after an arbitrator found that he used profanity toward a co-worker in violation of the agency's handbook. The union argued that the employee had been denied a chance to reply orally to the proposed discipline. The…
United States, Food and Drug Administration, Detroit District (Agency) and National Treasury Employees Union, Chapter 230 (Union)
FDA Detroit District and NTEU Chapter 230 (FLRA 0-AR-3709): Flexiplace relief upheld
The FDA's Detroit District ended existing flexiplace agreements for some consumer safety officers and rejected several new requests. An arbitrator found that some terminations lacked the cause required by the bargaining agreement and that two South Bend requests had been improperly denied. The…
Social Security Administration, Office of Hearings and Appeals, Charleston, South Carolina (Respondent) and Association of Administrative Law Judges International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, AFL-CIO (Charging Party)
SSA Charleston hearing office and ALJ union (FLRA AT-CA-01-0093): Parking complaint dismissed
The Social Security Administration reduced reserved parking spaces for administrative law judges at its Charleston hearing office from six to two without bargaining with their union. An administrative law judge found a bargaining violation and recommended restoring the spaces. The Authority…
PAR Electrical Contractors, Inc.
Repeat energized-line violation affirmed
Two journeyman linemen worked from an aerial-lift bucket near a 12,470-volt conductor without insulating gloves, and one was electrocuted while the other sustained burns. The Commission found that the employees breached the required two-foot approach distance while maneuvering a heavy new conductor…
Colowyo Coal Company
Discrimination complaint dismissed
Leslie O. Gleason alleged that Colowyo Coal terminated his employment because of safety-related activities he engaged in while working for the company. The judge found that Gleason's safety concerns and related complaints were protected activities, but concluded that Colowyo placed him on long-term…
Morton L. Friedman and Schmitt Construction Company
In re Morton L. Friedman and Schmitt Construction Company (EAB CAA Appeal No. 02-07): $30,980 penalty assessed
Morton L. Friedman and Schmitt Construction Company removed regulated asbestos-containing material during the redevelopment of a shopping center. EPA alleged that they failed to provide required notice, failed to follow work-practice requirements, and failed to keep the material adequately wet…
Willie M. Richardson v. Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company
Richardson v. Newport News Shipbuilding (BRB 03-0355): lung claims returned for separate review
Willie Richardson claimed that shipyard exposures caused asbestos-related lung disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). He settled two lawsuits against asbestos manufacturers without his employer's written approval, and a judge held that the settlements barred both Longshore Act…
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.