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.
Nucor Steel
In re Nucor Steel (EAB PSD Appeal No. 02-09): petition dismissed as untimely
Nucor Steel sought review of conditions in an Indiana PSD permit covering burners and emissions controls at its galvanizing line. Nucor challenged the required continuous emissions monitoring system, the 24-hour nitrogen-oxide average, the identification of SCR/SNCR systems as best available…
AFGE Local 3529 and Defense Contract Audit Agency, Central Region
AFGE Local 3529 and DCAA Central Region (FLRA 0-NG-2675): Meter postmark supports denial of reconsideration
AFGE Local 3529 asked the Authority to reconsider dismissal of its negotiability petition as untimely. The union argued that the date on the agency's envelope came from a postage meter and did not prove when the agency mailed its allegation of nonnegotiability. The Authority applied its presumption…
AFGE Council Local 2128 and Defense Contract Management Agency, District West
AFGE Council Local 2128 and DCMA District West (FLRA 0-AR-3571): Union's arbitration exceptions denied
AFGE Council Local 2128 challenged an arbitration award involving the Defense Contract Management Agency's District West. The Authority found no defect on the grounds raised and denied the union's exceptions. The decision cites limits on procedural-arbitrability challenges and the requirements for…
Margaret M. Sumler v. Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company
Sumler v. Newport News Shipbuilding (BRB 02-0318): disability award affirmed, Special Fund issue returned
Margaret Sumler changed air conditioning filters in buildings at Newport News Shipbuilding's shipyard, including shops where ship parts were fabricated. The Board upheld the finding that this work was integral to shipbuilding, so she met the Longshore Act's maritime employment requirement. It…
Icarus Industrial Painting & Contracting Co., Inc.
Eight serious health-protection violations affirmed
Icarus removed paint and repainted an Ohio bridge using an enclosed abrasive-blasting operation. OSHA alleged numerous violations involving lead, inorganic arsenic, respirators, protective clothing, medical monitoring, and hazard communication. The judge vacated most items because air-sampling…
AFGE Local 3694 and Social Security Administration, Casa Grande District Office
AFGE Local 3694 and SSA Casa Grande (FLRA 0-NG-2638, 0-NG-2641): Specialty-assignment proposals outside duty to bargain
AFGE Local 3694 proposed allowing three new SSA claims representatives to choose benefit specialties by seniority and giving one employee first refusal of the next qualifying Title 2 assignment. The Authority found both proposals outside the duty to bargain because they required particular duties…
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and AFGE Local 1138
Rating increases replaced with reevaluation
An arbitrator found that Wright-Patterson Air Force Base had failed to give an employee the performance guidance required by the agreement and ordered higher ratings on two appraisal factors. Both the agency and AFGE Local 1138 challenged the award. The Authority denied the union's factual-error…
AFGE Local 1915 and William Jennings Bryan Dorn VA Medical Center
AFGE Local 1915 and Dorn VA Medical Center (FLRA 0-AR-3536): Union's arbitration exceptions denied
AFGE Local 1915 challenged an arbitration award involving the Dorn VA Medical Center in Columbia, South Carolina. The Authority concluded that the union had not established a defect under the statutory review standards and denied its exceptions. The decision cites requirements for a fair hearing…
United States Information Agency, Broadcasting Board of Governors and AFGE Local 1812
Broadcasting Board of Governors and AFGE Local 1812 (FLRA 0-AR-3435): Reconsideration and stay denied
The Broadcasting Board of Governors asked the Authority to reconsider its decision on exceptions to an arbitrator's award following an earlier remand. The agency alleged errors of law and fact and requested a stay. The Authority found that the agency was attempting to relitigate conclusions already…
Atlantic Bowling Installation Service
Failure to answer show-cause order led to $1,500 penalty
Atlantic Bowling Installation Service did not respond to an August 2, 2002 order to show cause. The judge found that this failure alone justified dismissing the company's notice of contest. He affirmed both serious citation items and assessed a total penalty of $1,500. The decision does not…
Amana Construction Co., Inc.
Lost OSHA mail did not excuse late contest
OSHA issued Amana Construction a citation alleging serious violations and proposing a $7,800 penalty. The company received the certified mailing but lost it without opening it and did not contact OSHA for replacement documents. The judge found that the company missed the 15-working-day contest…
Upstate Roofing, Inc.
Safety-monitor violations resulted in $18,000 in penalties
An Upstate Roofing employee fell nearly 20 feet from a roof while the company used a warning-line and safety-monitor system instead of guardrails or personal fall protection. The designated monitor also retrieved and passed large insulation sheets, which repeatedly diverted his attention from…
Raymond Abshire v. D & L Coal Company and Kentucky Coal Producers Self-Insurance Fund
Abshire v. D & L Coal (BRB 01-0827): Benefit award returned for filing deadline and medical findings
Raymond Abshire filed another black lung benefits claim after two earlier denials, and the judge awarded benefits. The employer argued that the later claim was outside the three-year filing period after a physician's disability determination. The Board held that the judge needed to decide whether…
M&M Plastering, Inc.
Default dismissal referred back because of an incorrect ZIP code
An administrative law judge dismissed M&M Plastering's notice of contest after the company did not answer the Secretary's complaint or respond to an order to show cause. The Commission later found that the complaint and Commission correspondence had used the wrong ZIP code for the company's…
SSA Office of Hearings and Appeals, Paducah, Kentucky and AFGE Local 3627
SSA Paducah and AFGE Local 3627 (FLRA 0-AR-3484): Priority consideration replaces retroactive promotion
An SSA attorney challenged her nonselection for a senior attorney position after the agency failed to give internal candidates the required ten days of consideration. The arbitrator ordered removal of a selectee whose application was late and retroactive promotion of the grievant with backpay. The…
Federal Transfer Center, Oklahoma City and AFGE Local 171, Council of Prison Locals 33
Federal Transfer Center and AFGE Local 171 (FLRA 0-AR-3438): Staffing restrictions and committee remedy set aside
An arbitrator found that the Federal Transfer Center violated a safety provision by leaving correctional officer posts vacant and ordered it to stop doing so for administrative convenience. A later award required a union designee on the agency's manpower committee. In this decision, the Authority…
FCI Forrest City, Arkansas and AFGE Council of Prison Locals 33, Local 0922
FCI Forrest City and AFGE Local 0922 (FLRA 0-AR-3422): Restrictions on vacant correctional posts set aside
An arbitrator found that the prison violated its safety agreement by leaving correctional posts vacant for administrative convenience or to avoid overtime. The award ordered the agency to stop that practice. Applying the excessive interference standard described in a decision issued the same day…
Federal Correctional Institution, Ashland, Kentucky and AFGE Local 1286
FCI Ashland and AFGE Local 1286 (FLRA 0-AR-3411): Remedy for missing bargaining minutes returned to arbitrator
The prison changed housing-unit staffing, and the union challenged the bargaining process. An arbitrator found a contract violation involving missing bargaining minutes and ordered the parties to begin bargaining afresh. The Authority rejected challenges to the Justice Department's filing of…
HRH Construction Corp.
Late contest dismissal affirmed
HRH Construction received an OSHA citation on June 29, 1999, but did not file its notice of contest until September 3, well after the July 21 deadline. The Commission affirmed dismissal of the late contest, but the two members used different reasoning. Commissioner Rogers applied Second Circuit law…
In re Jacques MARTIN, Respondent
Connecticut third-degree assault was a crime of violence
The Board reviewed a removal order for a Canadian lawful permanent resident convicted in Connecticut of third-degree assault and sentenced to one year in prison. The Board held that the offense, as applied to intentional infliction of physical injury under Connecticut law, has the use of physical…
Frank Haire v. Destiny Drilling (USA), Incorporated
Haire v. Destiny Drilling (BRB 02-0106): marsh injury fell outside navigable waters
Frank Haire injured his back while pushing an air boat free from marsh vegetation during a waterway survey for Destiny Drilling. His claim depended on whether the shallow marsh was navigable water under the Longshore Act. The judge found that dense vegetation impeded even air boats and that the…
In re M-B-A-, Respondent
CAT deferral denied for insufficient proof of torture risk
The Board reconsidered a Nigerian lawful permanent resident's request for deferral of removal under Article 3 of the Convention Against Torture after federal drug convictions. The respondent argued that Nigeria's Decree No. 33 would lead to imprisonment and torture if she were returned. The Board…
Billy Ralph Furgerson v. Jericol Mining Incorporated
Furgerson v. Jericol Mining (BRB 01-0728): Benefit award returned for deadline and medical review
Billy Ralph Furgerson filed another black lung benefits claim after earlier denials, and the judge awarded benefits. Jericol Mining argued that a 1994 medical report had started the three-year period for filing the later claim. The Board held that the judge must determine whether that report…
Super Chem Corporation
In re Super Chem Corporation (EAB FIFRA Appeal No. 02-05): reconsideration denied and $45,000 penalty due
Super Chem Corporation asked the Environmental Appeals Board to reconsider its September 9, 2002 order dismissing the FIFRA appeal as untimely. The Board explained that reconsideration is available for a demonstrable error of law or fact, and found that Super Chem's motion did not show such an…
In re Ariadna Angelica Gonzalez RECINAS, et al., Respondent
Exceptional hardship supported cancellation of removal
The Board reviewed a Mexican single mother's appeal after an Immigration Judge denied cancellation of removal. She supported six children, had no immediate family remaining in Mexico, had limited financial resources, and showed that her four United States citizen children were unfamiliar with…
Kenny Industrial Services, LLC, d/b/a Kenny Manta Industrial Services
Scaffold fall-protection item affirmed
A Kenny Industrial Services employee applied fireproofing from a mobile scaffold near an unprotected fourth-floor edge. Although the scaffold platform itself was under 10 feet high, the worker could have fallen 20 to 24 feet to the second floor, and the scaffold's low toprail did not provide…
AFGE Local 3911 and Environmental Protection Agency
AFGE Local 3911 and EPA (FLRA 0-AR-3495): Denial of home-based union work upheld
An EPA union official entitled to full official time requested permission to perform representational work from home under the flexiplace agreement. The agency denied the request, and an arbitrator found no violation of the collective bargaining or flexiplace agreements. The Authority denied the…
Day Mining Incorporated
Electrical-work and hard-hat violations affirmed
Day Mining operated a coal mine where a transformer was being prepared for removal from an energized substation. The ALJ found that the work and inspection activities inside the substation were electrical work requiring a qualified person, and that the people entering the area were also required to…
VT Unfading Green Slate Co., Inc.
Unguarded trimmer citation affirmed on remand
VT Unfading Green Slate Co. operated a slate quarry and mill. The Commission remanded the case so the ALJ could consider additional testimony about the guard on a slate trimmer’s V-belt drive. The company did not respond to the hearing notice or the later show-cause order, so the hearing was…
Bailey Quarries Incorporated
Six quarry citations affirmed with reduced penalties
Bailey Quarries operated a limestone quarry in southwest Missouri. MSHA cited six conditions involving a haul-truck parking brake, a noise program, an electrical cover plate, machine guarding, and two backup alarms. The ALJ found all six violations, reduced the negligence classifications on two…
New York Power Authority - Poletti Power Project
In re New York Power Authority - Poletti Power Project (EAB PSD Appeal No. 02-08): petition withdrawn after settlement
The New York Public Interest Research Group petitioned for review of conditions in a PSD permit for the New York Power Authority's Poletti Power Project. It later moved to withdraw the petition, stating that the parties had entered into a settlement agreement resolving the matters raised in the…
Classic Hosiery, Inc.
Discovery violations resulted in default judgment
Classic Hosiery did not respond to or attempt to comply with orders compelling discovery. The judge found that this disobedience constituted extreme misconduct. He granted the Secretary's motion for default judgment. The citations, failure-to-abate notification, and proposed penalties were…
Corpus Christi Army Depot and AFGE Local 2142, NFFE Local 797, and IAMAW Lodge 2049
Corpus Christi Army Depot (FLRA 0-AR-3309, remedy order): Continuing pay and attorney-payment directions struck
The arbitrator issued additional orders implementing an asbestos-related environmental differential backpay award. The Authority struck continuing differential payments because the order lacked findings of continued qualifying exposure. It also struck directions sending employee checks to the…
Corpus Christi Army Depot and AFGE Local 2142, NFFE Local 797, and IAMAW Lodge 2049
Corpus Christi Army Depot (FLRA 0-AR-3309, attorney fees): Support-staff fees remanded and storage bill set aside
After employees won asbestos-related environmental differential backpay, the arbitrator awarded statutory attorney fees and billed the parties for storing arbitration records. The Authority rejected most of the agency's objections to the fee award, including its arguments about fees being incurred…
In re S-H-, et al., Respondents
Inadequate findings required an asylum remand
The Board reviewed the Immigration and Naturalization Service's appeal from an Immigration Judge's grant of asylum to adult respondents from Iraq. The Immigration Judge's decision summarized some testimony but made no specific factual findings, credibility determinations, or meaningful analysis of…
Frank Ravalli v. Pasha Maritime Services
Ravalli v. Pasha Maritime Services (BRB 01-0572): reconsideration of benefits termination denied
Frank Ravalli asked the Board to reconsider its decision making termination of his permanent partial disability benefits effective December 1, 1998. He argued that later wages should have been considered, that the parties had settled his compensation claim, and that he should receive nominal…
Social Security Administration, Lansing, Michigan and AFGE
SSA Lansing and AFGE (FLRA 0-AR-3455): Written-warning remedy set aside
Two SSA employees received two-day suspensions for unauthorized access to benefit records. An arbitrator found their conduct improper but replaced the suspensions with written warnings in their personnel files and ordered reimbursement. The Authority set aside the remedial portion of the award…
USDA Federal Grain Inspection Service and AFGE Local 3157
Federal Grain Inspection Service and AFGE Local 3157 (FLRA 0-AR-3429): Future overtime opportunity replaces backpay
Grain inspection employees lost five hours of weekend overtime after being assigned to the elevator that worked fewer hours. An arbitrator found that the agency had not fully followed contractual procedures for assigning priority employees and awarded five hours of overtime backpay. The Authority…
HUD Kentucky State Office, Louisville and AFGE Local 3980
HUD Kentucky and AFGE Local 3980 (FLRA CH-CA-00694): Information-disclosure order upheld after unanswered complaint
HUD's Kentucky office failed to provide the union sanitized applications and competitive placement records for four vacancies. The administrative law judge granted summary judgment after the agency failed to answer the complaint or respond to the motion. The Authority adopted the unfair labor…
Lattimore Materials Co., L.P.
Safe-access citation sustained with reduced penalty
Lattimore Materials operated a sand and gravel processing plant near Cleburne, Texas. Employees lubricated elevated conveyor pulleys by walking on steel beams inside a tower while using both hands on a grease gun and relying on a safety harness and lanyard. The ALJ found that this arrangement did…
Knaak Sand
Recusal request denied and hearing kept on schedule
Knaak Sand asked Judge Jerold Feldman to recuse himself after a conference about the company’s jurisdictional objections. The Judge held that disagreement with the governing case law did not establish a basis for recusal and denied the request. The hearing remained scheduled for October 16, 2002.
Coastal Bridge Company, L.L.C.
Bridge-edge fall violation affirmed with reduced penalty
Coastal Bridge employees applied a finish coating while leaning over a 32-inch concrete bridge barrier above an active interstate highway. The fall distance was more than 24 feet, and the company used no safety net or personal fall arrest system. The judge applied the general unprotected-edge…
Luna Tech, Inc.
Settlement approved with $50,000 in combined penalties
The two cases arose from OSHA inspections of Luna Tech's fireworks-manufacturing plant, including an inspection after explosions and fires injured three employees and one later died. While the cases were under Commission review, the parties settled all remaining issues. The Secretary withdrew…
Air Force San Antonio Air Logistics Center, Kelly AFB and AFGE Local 1617
Kelly AFB and AFGE Local 1617 (FLRA 0-AR-3469, supplemental order): Backpay implementation order rendered moot
An arbitrator issued a supplemental order requiring employee information and backpay calculations to implement an environmental differential pay award. The Authority had set aside that underlying award in a related decision. It therefore found the supplemental order moot and set it aside. The…
AFGE Local 1617 and Air Force San Antonio Air Logistics Center, Kelly AFB
Kelly AFB and AFGE Local 1617 (FLRA 0-AR-3469): Asbestos differential award set aside under agency regulation
The union sought environmental differential pay for employees exposed to asbestos at Kelly Air Force Base. An arbitrator awarded backpay using a standard he selected rather than the OSHA exposure level specified by agency regulations. The Authority held that an agency regulation could establish the…
VA Ralph H. Johnson Medical Center and NAGE Local R5-136
VA Charleston and NAGE Local R5-136 (FLRA AT-CA-00260): Suspension for protected grievance statements must be rescinded
The medical center suspended a police officer for fourteen days on several grounds, including statements he made while pursuing a grievance. The Authority upheld the finding that disciplining him for those protected statements violated the labor statute. The judge found exaggeration rather than…
SSA Region 5 and AFGE Local 3239
Priority consideration award upheld
SSA selected an outside candidate for a public affairs position after considering internal candidates for ten days. An arbitrator found that the agency had not established real and meaningful consideration of two qualified internal applicants and awarded them priority consideration for the next…
Becon Construction, Inc.
Bankruptcy stay denied
The Commission proceedings involving Becon Construction and Morton Engineering at a cement plant were stayed to allow discovery, with a hearing date set for November 19, 2002. Morton sought an indefinite automatic stay after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The ALJ denied the request because the…
Super Chem Corporation
In re Super Chem Corporation (EAB FIFRA Appeal No. 02-05): appeal dismissed as untimely
Super Chem Corporation appealed an Administrative Law Judge's decision assessing a $45,000 penalty for distributing or selling a pesticide that was not registered with EPA. The initial decision was served on April 24, 2002, making May 29 the deadline for an appeal under the Consolidated Rules of…
Department of Housing and Urban Development and AFGE Local 3701
HUD and AFGE Local 3701 (FLRA CH-CA-90527): Receptionist rotation required further bargaining
HUD assigned receptionist duties to four employees after the employee who had volunteered for the work retired. The Authority reversed the judge's dismissal and found that implementing the rotation violated the duty to bargain. The majority held that the union's proposal to rotate duties fairly was…
Sherman F. Lester, Jr. v. Peabody Coal Company
Lester v. Peabody Coal (BRB 02-0193): Withdrawal reversed after benefits denial
Sherman Lester sought black lung benefits through a later claim, which an administrative law judge denied. While seeking modification of that denial, he asked to withdraw the claim, and the judge allowed it over Peabody Coal's objection. The Board held that the employer could appeal because…
Mineral Recovery Specialists, Inc.
Discrimination case set for answer and settlement conference
Thomas P. Dye alleged that Mineral Recovery Specialists did not hire him as a permanent employee because he insisted that repaired equipment be fully safety-tested before it returned to service. The ALJ explained that the case concerned protected safety activity under the Mine Act, outlined the…
ACT Wichita Air Capitol Chapter and Kansas National Guard
ACT Wichita and Kansas National Guard (FLRA 0-NG-2581): Military-training proposal outside duty to bargain
The technicians' union proposed notice, documentation, and bargaining requirements for military training assigned as civilian work. The Authority held that a portion conditioning military training assignments concerned terms of military service and conflicted with 10 U.S.C. § 976(c). The…
Federal Aviation Administration, Washington, D.C. and Professional Airways Systems Specialists
FAA and PASS (FLRA 0-AR-3457): Computer-specialist salary award upheld
FAA declined to apply an OPM special salary rate to computer specialists represented by the union. An arbitrator found that the agency's interim personnel system retained the general schedule pay system and awarded backpay from the special rate's effective date. The Authority denied the agency's…
S. A. Storer and Sons Company
Repeat scaffold fall violation affirmed with reduced penalty
S. A. Storer employees performed masonry work from scaffolding about 19 to 20 feet above the ground. The judge found that the overhand-bricklaying exception did not cover an open window or the materials staging area because employees were not laying block at those openings. A controlled access zone…
Texas Electric Utility Construction, Inc.
Power-line tagging citation vacated
Texas Electric sent a journeyman foreman and four apprentice linemen to help another electric cooperative restore storm-damaged power lines. The host cooperative split the crew and placed two apprentices under its supervisor, who controlled the site and reenergized a line without required tags…
Aggregate Industries, West Central Region, Inc.
Special-assessment discovery ordered and deposition request denied
Aggregate Industries, West Central Region, Inc., at its Fort Collins Plant, sought documents and depositions about MSHA's special assessment process in contest and civil penalty proceedings. Judge Richard W. Manning held that the special assessment process was not relevant to the judge's…
Original Sixteen to One Mine, Incorporated
Safety citations affirmed with two negligence findings reduced
Original Sixteen to One Mine, Incorporated operated a small mine with about nine miners when MSHA issued citations for conditions involving mine equipment and facilities. Judge August F. Cetti rejected the operator's argument that the Securities and Exchange Commission's view of its reserves…
MCN Oil and Gas Company
In re MCN Oil and Gas Company (EAB UIC Appeal No. 02-03): permit review denied
MCN Oil and Gas Company received a UIC permit for construction and operation of a Class II nonhazardous-waste injection well in Antrim County, Michigan. Shelby Ziegler challenged the permit based on alleged factual errors, concerns about the well location and effects on nearby water sources, and…
Mille Lacs Wastewater Treatment Facility and Vineland Sewage Lagoons
In re Mille Lacs Wastewater Treatment Facility and Vineland Sewage Lagoons (EAB NPDES Appeal No. 01-16): permit remanded in part
The EPA Region issued an NPDES permit for a proposed wastewater treatment facility owned and operated by the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Indians, along with a permit for the Vineland Sewage Lagoons. Mille Lacs County Commissioner Frank Corteau challenged EPA's authority to issue the facility permit…
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.