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.A. Bruder & Sons, Inc. d/b/a M.A.B. Paints, Inc.
In re M.A. Bruder & Sons, Inc. d/b/a M.A.B. Paints, Inc. (EAB RCRA (3008) Appeal No. 01-04): penalty increased after de novo review
M.A. Bruder & Sons operated a paint manufacturing facility in Terre Haute, Indiana, where it generated and stored used solvents classified as hazardous waste. EPA alleged that the company violated RCRA by accumulating hazardous waste without a permit after it failed to timely install air-emission…
Secretary of Labor v. Pioneer Aggregates, Inc.
Reopening request remanded over non-receipt of assessment
Pioneer Aggregates said it did not receive a proposed penalty assessment even though the document showed the company's correct address, and the assessment was reportedly returned to MSHA as undeliverable. Pioneer attached an MSHA delinquency letter and a copy of the assessment that it later…
Secretary of Labor v. Aurora Materials, Ltd.
Reopening request remanded despite missing explanation
Aurora Materials asked to reopen a final penalty order but did not explain why it failed to contest the proposed assessment on time. The Commission remanded the matter to a judge to determine whether Aurora could meet the Rule 60(b) criteria for relief. Commissioner Jordan dissented, stating that…
AFGE Council Local 2128 and Defense Contract Management Agency, DCMC Bell Helicopter
DCMC Bell Helicopter and AFGE Local 2128 (FLRA 0-AR-3529): Arbitration award upheld
The union challenged an arbitration award involving the Defense Contract Management Agency's Bell Helicopter office in Hurst, Texas. The Authority rejected claims that the award was incomplete, ambiguous, or contradictory, that the arbitrator exceeded his authority, and that the award rested on a…
Navy Military Sealift Command and International Organization of Masters, Mates and Pilots
Military Sealift Command and Masters, Mates and Pilots (FLRA 0-AR-3521): Shore-pay award set aside
An arbitrator found that the Navy improperly paid a First Officer at the Class C rate while assigned ashore after that position was removed from Class C ship manning scales. The Authority held that the arbitrator applied rules for positions aboard ships instead of the agency regulation governing…
United States Information Agency, Broadcasting Board of Governors and AFGE Local 1812
Broadcasting Board of Governors and AFGE Local 1812 (FLRA 0-AR-3435): Suspension reversal upheld after clarification
After an earlier remand, the arbitrator again reversed a broadcaster's five-day suspension for two on-air comments. He found that the comments amounted to performance errors governed by a critical element that the employee had satisfied. The Authority deferred to those factual findings and upheld…
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and AFGE Local 1923
CMS and AFGE Local 1923 (FLRA 0-AR-3497): Exceptions to interim contract award dismissed
CMS challenged an interim award requiring it to continue adhering to certain contract provisions while negotiations for a successor agreement remained underway. The arbitrator had divided the dispute into phases and left other contract questions and remedies unresolved. The Authority held that…
Jim Walter Resources, Inc.
Summary decision denied over mine closure motive
The United Mine Workers sought compensation for miners scheduled to work after explosions at Jim Walter Resources' No. 5 Mine. Jim Walter argued that the mine was voluntarily closed for safety before MSHA issued a control order, while the union argued that the closure was intended to avoid…
Freeman United Coal Company
Contest proceedings treated as finally disposed
Freeman United contested four citations at the Crown II Mine, but the contests did not include a request to assess civil penalties. After the Commission remanded the proceedings for a penalty assessment, Judge Gary Melick held that the Commission had no jurisdiction to impose a penalty in these…
Ingram Plastering and Company, Inc.
Scaffold and hard-hat violations resulted in $10,800 in penalties
Ingram Plastering employees performed exterior stucco work from scaffolding up to about 23 feet high. The judge found that work levels were not fully planked, no qualified competent person inspected the scaffold before shifts, employees did not consistently wear hard hats, and one employee lacked…
B. S. Carter Construction Co., Inc.
Training and cave-in violations affirmed
B. S. Carter Construction replaced a drainage pipe in an excavation at least 13.5 feet deep. The excavation collapsed, completely burying one employee and partially burying another; the first employee sustained multiple serious injuries. The judge found that the workers had received no…
VA Northern Arizona Health Care System and AFGE Local 2401
Northern Arizona VA and AFGE Local 2401 (FLRA 0-AR-3498): Retirement and buyout relief deleted
An arbitrator found that the VA improperly disciplined an accountant and ordered relief for her five-day suspension. He also offered options involving reinstatement and the employee's retirement buyout. The Authority held that retirement and buyout issues had not been submitted to arbitration, so…
Wyoming Fuels-Wyoming, Inc. d/b/a Dry Fork Coal Company
Extension granted in discrimination proceeding
Hazel Olson brought a discrimination action after MSHA declined to file a complaint on her behalf and asked for more time to obtain the agency's investigative file. Judge Richard W. Manning explained that a section 105(c)(3) action is an independent proceeding, not an appeal of MSHA's…
NPDES Permit for Washington Navy Yard
In re NPDES Permit for Washington Navy Yard (EAB NPDES Appeal No. 01-14): petition dismissed with prejudice
Anacostia Riverkeeper challenged conditions in the Washington Navy Yard's stormwater NPDES permit for discharges to the Anacostia River. The Board ordered further briefing on the permittee's argument that the petitioner was bound by an earlier settlement, then issued an order to show cause when the…
Joel Patterson Air Conditioning Recycling
Workplace violations resulted in $4,100 in penalties
Joel Patterson Air Conditioning Recycling paid workers daily to dismantle used air conditioners at its warehouse but labeled them subcontractors. Applying the economic-realities test, the judge found they were employees because the business controlled the workplace, pay, hours, equipment, hiring…
J-Lenco, Inc.
Lockout and machine-guarding violations resulted in $6,250 in penalties
J-Lenco manufactured sand molds using machines with electrical, hydraulic, and pneumatic energy. An operator's arm was crushed when he tried to push a drifting machine component back into place. The judge affirmed serious violations involving excess flammable-liquid storage, inadequate…
Vessell Mineral Products
Discrimination complaint dismissed
The Secretary alleged that Vessell Mineral Products discharged Tracy Allen Sansoucie in retaliation for safety complaints and for reporting a workplace accident. Judge Jacqueline R. Bulluck found that Sansoucie engaged in protected activity, including a call to MSHA about oxygen and acetylene…
Town of Marblehead
In re Town of Marblehead (EAB CERCLA § 106(b) Petition No. 97-3): reimbursement petition denied
The Town of Marblehead, Massachusetts, sought reimbursement of about $154,000 in costs it incurred while removing hazardous substances from a former railroad right-of-way near the former Chadwick Lead Mill. The town argued that CERCLA's third-party defense protected it from liability because…
S. E. Johnson Companies, Inc.
Defective guardrail violations resulted in $7,500 in penalties
S. E. Johnson employees replaced a missing guardrail section on a bridge work platform with a single two-by-four tied to columns with wire. A subcontractor employee leaned or sat against the rail, it slipped from the wire, and he fell 17 feet and sustained severe injuries. The judge vacated the…
IFPTE Association of Administrative Law Judges and Social Security Administration
SSA and Association of Administrative Law Judges (FLRA 0-AR-3514): Ethics-based grievance dismissal upheld
SSA denied an administrative law judge permission to participate in a Florida private-judge program. The arbitrator dismissed the resulting grievance because the federal ethics regulation did not create an enforceable right or benefit. The Authority upheld that conclusion based on the regulation's…
Navy Naval Weapons Station, Yorktown and NAGE Local R4-1
Naval Weapons Station Yorktown and NAGE R4-1 (FLRA 0-AR-3478): Selection remedy for denied prior consideration upheld
A settlement required the Navy to give four employees prior consideration for a supervisory vacancy. The arbitrator found that merely referring their names and marking them not selected did not establish bona fide consideration. He directed the agency to select one of them for the next vacancy. The…
TRW/Ramsey Site
In re TRW/Ramsey Site (EAB RCRA Appeal No. 02-02): corrective-action remedy petition dismissed for lack of jurisdiction
The City of Sullivan challenged a Final Remedy Decision for the TRW/Ramsey Site, a RCRA corrective-action site in Missouri. The city relied on 40 C.F.R. § 124.19 and argued that public-participation policies for RCRA permit corrective action should also allow an appeal from a corrective-action…
The American Coal Company
Manufacturer approval marking required for diesel engines
American Coal operated an underground coal mine with diesel-powered personnel carriers whose engines had approval tags fabricated by the operator rather than supplied by the engine manufacturer. The Commission majority held that the approval marking required by 30 C.F.R. § 7.90 had to come from the…
Indian Health Service, Quentin N. Burdick Memorial Health Care Facility and LIUNA Local 580
Indian Health Service Belcourt and LIUNA Local 580 (FLRA CH-CA-00465): Unbargained housing rent increase rescinded
The Indian Health Service raised government-housing rents for about 35 employees at its remote Belcourt facility without notice and an opportunity to bargain. The Authority found the housing connected to employees' working conditions because private housing was not readily available and the housing…
Trico Recycling, Inc.
Penalty assessment reopened after nondelivery
Trico Recycling asked the Commission to reopen a proposed penalty assessment after the assessment was returned to MSHA as undelivered. The Commission found that Trico's failure to request a hearing resulted from inadvertence or mistake rather than a deliberate default. It granted relief, reopened…
AFGE Local 1030 and Federal Detention Center, Houston
Houston Federal Detention Center and AFGE Local 1030 (FLRA 0-NG-2622): Perimeter-shelter proposals nonnegotiable
The union proposed a larger guard shelter, furnishings and equipment, and toilet access for officers patrolling the detention center's perimeter. The Authority found a reasonable connection between constant perimeter oversight and the agency's security goals. It held that the proposals affected…
Air Force, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base and NAGE Local R5-188
Seymour Johnson Air Force Base and NAGE R5-188 (FLRA WA-CA-00424, WA-CA-00425): Military-deployment complaint dismissed
The complaint alleged that the Air Force removed an Air Reserve Technician from a deployment-alternate list because of union activity and made a coercive statement explaining that removal. The Authority held that the deployment decision concerned the military aspect of the technician's dual-status…
Freeman United Coal Mining Company
Manufacturer approval marking required, penalty remanded
Freeman United used diesel-powered personnel carriers whose approval tags had been fabricated by the operator rather than supplied by the engine manufacturer. Two Commissioners reversed the ALJ's vacatur of the citations and remanded for penalty assessment. Both rejected the operator's substitute…
Secretary of Labor v. Texas Mining, L.P., d/b/a Oglebay Norton Industrial Sands, Inc.
Penalty assessment reopened after internal mailing mistake
Texas Mining, doing business as Oglebay Norton Industrial Sands, contested two citations and reached a settlement with the Secretary before the proposed penalty assessments were issued. After MSHA issued one assessment, an employee mistakenly failed to send the hearing request green card, so the…
AFGE Local 1592 and Hill Air Force Base
Hill Air Force Base and AFGE Local 1592 (FLRA 0-AR-3451): Settlement election of EEO process enforced
An employee settled an age-discrimination complaint and later alleged that the Air Force had breached the settlement. The arbitrator dismissed a grievance because the settlement bound her to pursue compliance disputes through statutory EEO procedures. The Authority deferred to that unchallenged…
BGS Construction, Inc.
Motion for reconsideration and interlocutory review denied
BGS Construction asked the judge to reconsider a ruling that denied its motion to dismiss a civil penalty case based on delay in proposing the penalty. The company argued that the Secretary specially assessed penalties unnecessarily, failed to consider cited authority and policy guidance, and did…
Town of Concord Wastewater Treatment Plant
In re Town of Concord Wastewater Treatment Plant (EAB NPDES Appeal No. 01-24): negotiated permit resolution approved
The Town of Concord appealed an NPDES permit issued for its wastewater treatment plant. Concord and EPA Region I reached a negotiated resolution, and the Region issued a permit modification reflecting that resolution. After the modification became final, the parties told the Board that the appeal…
Rita M. Childers (widow of and on behalf of James R. Childers) v. Drummond Company, Incorporated
Childers v. Drummond Company (BRB 01-0585): Employer's attorney fee share increased
Rita Childers obtained black lung benefits on behalf of her late husband and in her own survivor's claim. Her lawyer appealed a fee order that assigned part of the survivor's claim fees to her rather than Drummond Company. The Board majority held that the two claims were separate and that the…
National Labor Relations Board, Tampa and National Labor Relations Board Union
NLRB Tampa and NLRB Union (FLRA 0-AR-3496): Manager-reassignment remedy set aside
An arbitrator denied a field attorney's grievance alleging anti-union harassment and a contract violation. Although she found neither claim established, she directed the agency to assign a different manager to oversee his work. The Authority held that this remedy addressed an issue outside the…
Virginia Slate Company
Unwarrantable-failure findings and penalties vacated for further review
Virginia Slate operates an open pit slate mine that produces building materials. The Commission reviewed unwarrantable-failure findings for two orders, concerning a crusher hopper and preshift equipment examinations, and penalty assessments for five violations. The majority found insufficient…
Michael Ilaszczat v. Kalama Services
Ilaszczat v. Kalama Services (BRB 01-0774): atoll recreation injury covered under Defense Base Act
Michael Ilaszczat managed a self-help store for Kalama Services on remote Johnston Atoll and injured his hip during an off-duty incident at a social club. The Board upheld the judge's finding that isolation, limited recreation, and access to alcohol made the incident foreseeable under the Defense…
NAGE Local R14-143 and Bureau of Reclamation, Yuma Area Office
Bureau of Reclamation Yuma and NAGE R14-143 (FLRA 0-NG-2380): Sunday-pay proposal dismissed after court remand
The Ninth Circuit reversed an earlier Authority ruling that a Sunday-pay differential proposal was negotiable. It concluded that the parties had not negotiated that pay practice before the statutory August 19, 1972 cutoff. On remand, the Authority adopted that conclusion as the law of the case. It…
Cactus Canyon Quarries of Texas Incorporated
One citation dismissed and case reassigned
Cactus Canyon Quarries faced two citations involving fall protection on a conveyor pulley and an inoperable backup alarm on a track loader. The Secretary filed her penalty petition after the proposed penalties, and then sought more time to respond to the operator’s motion to dismiss. Judge David F…
Cactus Canyon Quarries of Texas Incorporated
Motion to dismiss denied and case reassigned
Cactus Canyon Quarries operated the Fairland Plant and Quarries. The Secretary issued a citation and an order after an inspection, but proposed the penalties 364 days later. The operator argued that the delay was unreasonable and had prejudiced its defense because witnesses’ memories had faded and…
Gerry Hodges v. Caliper, Incorporated
Hodges v. Caliper (BRB 01-0742): delayed eye injury claim was timely
A welding spark injured Gerry Hodges's right eye while he worked for Caliper in 1995. He returned to welding after treatment, and his doctor considered the condition resolved. When a vision cloud developed in 1999, he filed a compensation claim for a period of disability following eye surgery. The…
Sam Houston Electric Cooperative, Inc.
Power-line tagging citation vacated
Two Sam Houston Electric linemen volunteered to assist Rusk County Electric with storm-damaged lines and worked under a Rusk County supervisor. The combined group operated at separated locations without tags or effective direct communication, and an employee of another company was electrocuted…
Rusk County Electric Cooperative, Inc.
Power-line tagging violation affirmed
Rusk County Electric supervised several outside crews repairing storm-damaged power lines at three locations along the same deenergized line. Its supervisor knew tagging was required when multiple crews worked at separate points but did not place a tag at the disconnect. He later reenergized the…
Georges Colliers, Inc.
EAJA fee application denied
Georges Colliers applied for attorney fees and expenses under the Equal Access to Justice Act after the judge reduced civil penalties in consolidated Mine Act proceedings. The company argued that the Secretary’s proposed penalties and litigation positions were not substantially justified. Judge…
Air Force, 913th Air Wing, Willow Grove Air Reserve Station and NAGE Local R3-32
Willow Grove Air Reserve Station and NAGE R3-32 (FLRA BN-CA-00252, BN-CA-00354): Bargaining violations upheld, staffing rollback removed
The Air Force added supervisory duties to lead guards and increased minimum guard staffing without adequate notice and an opportunity to bargain. The Authority upheld findings that the agency also improperly refused to send notices to the union's designated president. The notices presented changes…
United States Department of the Air Force, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina (Agency) and National Association of Government Employees, Local R5-188 (Union)
Air Force, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base (FLRA 0-AR-3425): Arbitrator fee-collection award set aside
An arbitrator billed Seymour Johnson Air Force Base $9,199.60, but the agency paid $4,354.60 after disputing his research and writing charges. At his urging, the union filed a grievance seeking payment under the contract’s loser-pays provision. A second arbitrator sustained that grievance. The…
AFGE Local 201 and Defense Finance and Accounting Service, Rome
DFAS Rome and AFGE Local 201 (FLRA 0-AR-3412): Temporary-appointment grievance denial upheld
The union challenged an award denying a grievance over the nonrenewal of an accounting technician's one-year Schedule A appointment. The Authority held that the regulation then governing the appointment did not guarantee two years of employment. It deferred to findings that the employee's…
HST Roofing, Inc.
Low-slope roof fall citation vacated
HST Roofing employees spread stone in the center of a large multiplex roof that had parapet protection except at two open-edge areas. The judge found that the employees' work and access route did not take them near those two unprotected areas, so the Secretary did not prove exposure. He also found…
Mine Management Consultants, Inc.
Individual case dismissed and company citation modified
Mine Management Consultants provided engineering and surveying services to an underground coal mine. A survey crew worked under unsupported roof while setting survey points, and MSHA cited the company and Tony M. Stanley. Judge T. Todd Hodgdon found that the company violated the roof-support…
Robert Terrell v. Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority
Terrell v. WMATA (BRB 99-0509): Board limits fee after unsuccessful appeal position
Robert Terrell's lawyer sought $4,148 in fees and $192.89 in costs for work on a Board appeal about whether the employer could participate in his disability modification case. The Board held that the employer could not be charged because it had been excluded from the case and did not contest the…
Robert Terrell v. Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority
Terrell v. Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (BRB 99-0509): claimant owes reduced appeal fee
Bus driver Robert Terrell received disability compensation after work injuries. His lawyer sought $4,148 in fees and $192.89 in costs for work on an earlier Board appeal brought by the Director of Workers’ Compensation Programs. The Board held that the employer did not owe the fee because Terrell…
United States Department of Defense, National Imagery and Mapping Agency, St. Louis, Missouri (Agency) and American Federation of Government Employees, Local 1827 (Union)
National Imagery and Mapping Agency (FLRA 0-AR-3428): Performance-pay grievances held nonarbitrable
Four National Imagery and Mapping Agency employees challenged the contribution levels used to determine their performance pay. An arbitrator found their grievances arbitrable and planned to hear the merits. The Authority reviewed that interim ruling because the agency raised a plausible legal…
In re Eduardo BLANCAS-Lara, Respondent
Nonimmigrant residence counted toward cancellation eligibility
The Board reviewed the Service's appeal from an Immigration Judge's grant of cancellation of removal to a lawful permanent resident from Mexico. The respondent had first entered the United States as a nonimmigrant and later adjusted to lawful permanent resident status, leaving less than seven years…
Titan Wheel Corporation of Iowa
In re Titan Wheel Corporation of Iowa (EAB RCRA (3008) Appeal No. 01-3): penalty and compliance order upheld
Titan Wheel Corporation operated a steel-wheel manufacturing facility in Walcott, Iowa, where it generated solid and hazardous wastes. EPA Region VII alleged that Titan stored hazardous waste without a permit, failed to develop or implement required personnel training, and failed to maintain an…
Cactus Canyon Quarries of Texas, Incorporated
Motions to dismiss denied
Cactus Canyon operates a small quarry in the Texas Hill Country. The company asked the judge to dismiss seven civil penalty proceedings because MSHA took too long to assess penalties and file petitions. Judge Irwin Schroeder found that the delays were not so long or prejudicial as to bar hearings…
United States Department of the Army, Corps of Engineers, United States Army Engineer Research Development Center, Vicksburg, Mississippi (Agency/Petitioner) and American Federation of Government Employee, Local 3310, AFL-CIO (Labor Organization/Incumbent Intervenor) and National Federation of Federal Employees, Federal District 1, Iamaw, AFL-CIO (Labor Organization/Incumbent Intervenor) and International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, Local 4, Chapter 1, AFL-CIO, Clc (Labor Organization/Incumbent Intervenor) and International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, Local 1017, AFL-CIO, Clc (Labor Organization/Incumbent Intervenor)
Army Engineer Research Development Center (FLRA AT-RP-00038, WA-RP-00080): Classified-information access excludes 177 employees
Following an Army research-center reorganization, a union sought to keep approximately 177 employees in the bargaining unit. The employees held clearances and badges allowing unescorted access to a facility containing highly classified information. The Authority affirmed the regional director’s…
United States Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Federal Correctional Institution, Forrest City, Arkansas (Respondent) and American Federation of Government Employees, Local 0922 (Charging Party/Union)
Federal Correctional Institution, Forrest City (FLRA DA-CA-80834): Information-disclosure order narrowed
A prison union sought information to assess an employee’s suspension and possible unequal discipline. The Authority upheld findings that the prison unlawfully withheld investigation and disciplinary policy materials, its investigative manual, and the employee’s investigative file. The union had…
In re Anderson David Justin SMALL, Respondent
Misdemeanor sexual abuse qualified as an aggravated felony
The Board reviewed the Service's appeal after an Immigration Judge terminated proceedings against a lawful permanent resident from Trinidad and Tobago. The respondent had been convicted in New York of second-degree sexual abuse involving a person under 14 and had received a one-year sentence. The…
European Craft Construction, Inc.
Default affirmed three safety items and $4,000 penalty
European Craft Construction stopped participating after an initial prehearing conference. The company did not join later conference calls, return messages, help prepare the joint prehearing statement, or respond to an order to show cause. The judge found that the company had received the…
Ranch Masonry, Inc.
Scaffold-gap and balcony fall violations resulted in $9,000 in penalties
Ranch Masonry employees applied stucco from a fifth-level scaffold about 33 feet above the ground. An employee fell between the scaffold and building and died. The judge found that the scaffold platform was more than the permitted 18 inches from the wall, employees routinely crossed a roughly…
American Federation of Government Employees, Local 31 (Union) and United States, Department of Veterans Affairs, Louis Stokes Medical Center (Agency)
AFGE Local 31 and Louis Stokes Medical Center (FLRA 0-AR-3481): Union’s arbitration exceptions denied
AFGE Local 31 challenged an arbitration award involving the Louis Stokes Medical Center. The Authority found that the union had not shown the award was contrary to a law, rule, or regulation. It also found no demonstrated failure to draw the award’s essence from the collective bargaining agreement…
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.