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.
United Steel Workers of America, Local 4880
Discrimination case dismissed after settlement
The Secretary brought a discrimination complaint on behalf of Lee Garrett against Alcoa World Alumina, LLC, with United Steel Workers of America, Local 4880, participating as an intervenor. The parties reported an amicable settlement, Garrett sought to withdraw his complaint, and the Secretary…
Alma A. Bolton v. Halter Marine, Incorporated
Bolton v. Halter Marine (BRB 01-0182): employer attorney fee liability affirmed
Alma Bolton injured her knee, wrist, and elbow while working for Halter Marine. After the employer paid temporary benefits at a lower weekly wage and later stopped paying them, a formal hearing produced a greater benefit award. Her lawyer received an $11,400 fee plus $511.05 in costs, payable by…
American Federation of Government Employees, Local 3309 (Union) and International Boundary and Water Commission, United States and Mexico, U.S. Section (Agency)
AFGE Local 3309 and International Boundary and Water Commission (FLRA 0-AR-3415): Challenges to arbitration award denied
AFGE Local 3309 challenged an award by Arbitrator Kathy L. Eisenmenger involving the U.S. Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission. The agency filed no opposition. The Authority found no defect under the statutory standards for reviewing arbitration awards. It cited precedent on…
United Metro Materials
Civil penalty proceedings dismissed for delayed assessment
United Metro Materials challenged civil penalties proposed more than 15 months after MSHA completed its investigation of two citations arising from a fatal conveyor-belt accident. Judge August F. Cetti found that the Secretary did not provide adequate cause for the delay and that the proposed…
Pea Ridge Iron Ore Company, Inc.
Temporary reinstatement ordered
The Secretary sought temporary reinstatement for William C. Allen, who alleged that Pea Ridge Iron Ore Company discharged him after he raised mine safety concerns with MSHA inspectors. Pea Ridge declined a hearing and argued that Allen was discharged for refusing a drug test. Judge Jacqueline R…
Justin Dees, employed by Rogers Group, Inc.
Reopening request remanded for further review
Rogers Group asked the Commission to reopen a penalty assessment issued to its employee Justin Dees after the assessment became a final Commission order. The company said it had tried to contest the underlying citation, later settled that citation, and believed the individual penalty should not…
Fieldbrook Farms, Inc.
Willful hearing-conservation violations affirmed
Fieldbrook produced ice cream and frozen desserts at a New York plant where employees were exposed to occupational noise. The company stopped the plant's annual audiometric testing program despite prior test records, consultant communications, an insurer's warning, and managers who knew OSHA's…
Everett Group
Case dismissed after the government's lawyer missed the pre-trial conference
This case was a dispute between the Secretary of Labor and an employer, Everett Group, over an OSHA citation. It never reached the safety issues. The judge scheduled a pre-trial telephone conference, rescheduled it twice to accommodate the government's counsel, and then the government's attorney…
Sema Construction, Inc.
Training citation vacated after a load unexpectedly kicked free of an excavator
SEMA Construction was doing bridge demolition work at a job site in Colorado Springs, Colorado. In September 2000 a laborer helping load scrap metal was struck and seriously injured when a long piece of box tubing being moved by an excavator unexpectedly kicked free of the bucket and was propelled…
Saint Vincent's Hospital
Withdrawal stipulation approved
OSHA issued Saint Vincent's Hospital a serious citation after inspecting its worksite in Staten Island, New York. The hospital timely contested the citation, and the case proceeded to a hearing. After the hearing closed, the parties submitted an executed stipulation of withdrawal addressing all…
Barajas & F Construction & Succ.
Settlement agreement approved
OSHA issued Barajas & F Construction a serious citation after inspecting a worksite in The Colony, Texas. The employer timely contested the citation, and the parties reached an agreement at the hearing. The judge approved their executed settlement agreement, which resolved the case in full. The…
Tree of Life, Inc., d/b/a Gourmet Award Foods, NE Division
Emergency-exit violation reclassified as serious
Tree of Life operated a wholesale food warehouse where two emergency exit doors would not open promptly when employees applied reasonable pressure. The judge affirmed the exit violation as de minimis because the doors eventually opened. The Commission held that the violation was serious because…
U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Wapato Irrigation Project, Wapato, Washington (Agency) and Indian Educators Federation, AFT, AFL-CIO (Union)
Wapato Irrigation Project and Indian Educators Federation (FLRA 0-AR-3379): Backpay award lacked a mandatory promotion policy
An arbitrator ordered the Bureau of Indian Affairs to compensate an employee who performed irrigation system manager duties before his permanent promotion. The Authority found that the award lacked a nondiscretionary policy requiring a temporary promotion with backpay. The agreement's general…
Social Security Administration, Baltimore, Maryland (Agency) and American Federation of Government Employees, Local 1923 (Union)
Social Security Administration and AFGE Local 1923 (FLRA 0-AR-3358): Backpay upheld for denied overtime opportunity
An arbitrator found that the Social Security Administration violated its agreement by failing to offer an employee an equitable opportunity to work overtime on a claims project. The agency challenged the award's factual basis, its effect on management rights, credibility findings, and backpay…
American Federation of Government Employees, Local 987 (Union) and U.S. Department of the Air Force, Air Force Materiel Command, Robins Air Force Base, Georgia (Agency)
AFGE Local 987 and Robins Air Force Base (FLRA 0-AR-3324): Privacy Act damages claim returned to arbitrator
An arbitrator found that the Air Force improperly placed an employee's personnel file in a nonsupervisory coworker's custody but declined to award Privacy Act damages because he believed he lacked authority. AFGE Local 987 challenged that legal conclusion. The Authority held that Privacy Act claims…
U.S. Department of the Navy, Naval Sea Systems Command (Agency) and International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (Union)
Naval Sea Systems Command and IFPTE (FLRA 0-AR-3321): Overtime differential upheld for employees given compensatory time
The Navy challenged an award enforcing a settlement agreement for GS-12 employees who had been treated as exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act. The arbitrator found that compensatory time already used counted as straight-time compensation and that employees were owed the difference up to time…
U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Office of Marine and Aviation Operations, Marine Operations Center, Norfolk, Virginia (Agency) and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 80 (Union)
NOAA Marine Operations Center and IBEW Local 80 (FLRA 0-AR-3041): Standby-pay recovery limited and delay damages set aside
NOAA and IBEW Local 80 challenged a supplemental award concerning standby pay for electronic technicians aboard agency ships. The Authority upheld the two-year recovery period because the arbitrator found the original FLSA violation was not willful. It also upheld the finding that the agency acted…
D.A.S. Sand and Gravel, Inc.
Penalty reopening remanded after nonreceipt claim
D.A.S. Sand and Gravel asked to reopen a penalty assessment after saying it never received the proposed assessment. The company said it first learned of the penalties from a delinquency letter and could not match the assessment number to the citations it had received. Because the record did not…
Cominco Alaska, Inc.
Penalty reopening remanded after inadvertent payment
Cominco Alaska intended to contest the proposed $55 penalty for a citation, but it inadvertently paid that assessment with nine others it meant to pay. The company had already filed a notice contesting the underlying citation, but it provided no documents supporting its explanation for the payment…
Penn American Coal, L.P.
Penalty reopening remanded for fact finding
Penn American Coal received a proposed $2,350 penalty assessment covering nineteen alleged violations. It says it paid $1,850 for seventeen violations and mailed MSHA the hearing request for two $250 citations, but MSHA later treated those penalties as delinquent and final. The Commission could not…
Heartland Cement Company
Penalty assessment reopened after internal oversight
Heartland Cement received eight proposed penalty assessments and timely contested seven of them, which covered 124 citations. It says an internal processing error caused it to miss the hearing request for the remaining assessment, which it discovered after receiving a delinquency notice. The…
Social Security Administration (Agency) and American Federation of Government Employees, Local 1923 (Union)
Social Security Administration and AFGE Local 1923 (FLRA 0-AR-3336): Promotion and priority-consideration remedies upheld
The Social Security Administration challenged an award concerning the hiring and promotion of benefit authorizers. The arbitrator ordered make-whole relief for qualifying employees whose promotions were delayed, written reasons for certain non-selections, and restoration of priority consideration…
Department of Veterans Affairs, Ralph H. Johnson Medical Center, Charleston, South Carolina (Respondent) and National Association of Government Employees, Local R5-150, SEIU, AFL-CIO (Charging Parties/Unions)
VA Ralph H. Johnson Medical Center and NAGE Locals R5-136 and R5-150 (FLRA AT-CA-90904 and consolidated cases): Refusal to recognize designated union representative violated the statute
Two NAGE locals designated a national representative to act for them while their presidents attended national negotiations. The VA medical center refused to contact that representative about local bargaining matters and instead contacted officials who were absent or lacked authority for those…
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (Respondent) and National Association of Government Employees, Local R5-136, SEIU, AFL-CIO (Charging Party/Union)
Department of Veterans Affairs and NAGE Local R5-136 (FLRA AT-CA-90578): Excluding union counsel from grievance meeting violated the statute
The VA barred a private attorney chosen by NAGE Local R5-136 from a second-step grievance meeting at its Charleston medical center. The Authority reversed the ALJ's conclusion that the agreement justified that exclusion. It found that the relevant provisions did not preclude the union's chosen…
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Ralph H. Johnson Medical Center, Charleston, South Carolina (Agency) and National Association of Government Employees, Local R5-136 (Union)
VA Ralph H. Johnson Medical Center and NAGE Local R5-136 (FLRA 0-AR-3373): Sick-leave grievance award upheld
The VA medical center denied a food service employee sick leave and recorded her absence as AWOL after seeking medical details beyond the certificate she supplied. An arbitrator sustained the grievance, finding the certificate sufficient in light of her leave history and the absence of leave…
Alan Lee Good, an individual doing business with Good Construction
Mixed citation ruling sent back for fair-notice review
Good Construction operated the Brown Road Quarry, a sand and gravel operation in Washington. The Commission affirmed the finding that an inoperative parking brake violated 30 C.F.R. § 56.14101(a)(3), and reversed the two handrail findings because the cited unused platform areas were not shown to be…
U.S. Steel Mining Company, LLC
Discrimination dismissal vacated and remanded
U.S. Steel Mining discharged Terry McGill after he complained to his foreman and an MSHA inspector that planned mining work could enter a roof area that was not fully bolted. The ALJ found that McGill’s safety complaints were protected and contributed to the discharge, but dismissed the…
Association of Civilian Technicians, Evergreen and Rainier Chapters (Union) and U.S. Department of Defense, National Guard Bureau, Military Department, State of Washington, Camp Murray, Tacoma, Washington (Agency)
ACT Evergreen and Rainier Chapters and Washington National Guard (FLRA 0-NG-2483): Three hiring and uniform proposals negotiable
The Association of Civilian Technicians sought bargaining over three proposals concerning Washington National Guard civilian technicians. The Authority found all three proposals negotiable and ordered the Agency to bargain upon request or as otherwise agreed. The candidate-rating proposal supplied…
American Federation of Government Employees, Local 704 (Union) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 5, Chicago, Illinois (Agency)
AFGE Local 704 and EPA Region 5 (FLRA 0-AR-3342): Promotion grievance denial upheld
AFGE Local 704 challenged an award denying an EPA employee's grievance over her nonselection for a GS-9 Environmental Protection Specialist position. The grievance alleged race discrimination, retaliation for earlier complaints, and preferential treatment of the selected candidate. The Authority…
Target Industries, Inc., Phillip K. Peterson, and Gregory L. Golden
Split vote leaves fan violations affirmed
Target Industries operated an underground bituminous coal mine with two surface bleeder fans serving its ventilation system. After fan stoppages and failures in daily examinations, MSHA cited Target under the main mine fan regulations and cited Phillip Peterson and Gregory Golden individually under…
Salmon River Wood Products
Settlement approved and fee application dismissed
The case arose after a Salmon River logging employee was killed when a tree he felled struck a rotted Douglas fir, causing it to fall on him. The administrative law judge had affirmed danger-tree, backcut, and retraining violations with $12,500 in total penalties and vacated four other items. After…
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Care Financing Administration (Agency) and American Federation of Government Employees, Local 1923 (Union)
Health Care Financing Administration and AFGE Local 1923 (FLRA 0-AR-3386): Grievance-meeting staffing restriction vacated
An Arbitrator interpreted the parties' agreement to limit the Health Care Financing Administration to one representative at Step 1 grievance presentations unless the Union agreed to additional representatives. The Agency challenged that restriction as inconsistent with management rights. The…
Social Security Administration, Headquarters, Baltimore, Maryland (Agency) and American Federation of Government Employees, General Committee (Union)
SSA Headquarters and AFGE General Committee (FLRA 0-AR-3381): Computer-security penalty table grievance denial upheld
SSA implemented a table of penalties for unauthorized computer-system security violations after offering the Union an opportunity to bargain over its impact and implementation. The Union declined bargaining and claimed that the agreement prevented implementation; an Arbitrator denied its…
American Federation of Government Employees, Local 3529 (Union) and U.S. Department of Defense, Defense Contract Audit Agency, Central Region, Irving, Texas (Agency)
AFGE Local 3529 and Defense Contract Audit Agency (FLRA 0-AR-3365): Research-service bargaining claim remanded
The Defense Contract Audit Agency replaced an online research service with CD-ROM access, prompting a grievance alleging a contract violation and an unfair labor practice for failing to bargain. The Arbitrator found no contract violation and said that he lacked authority to decide the statutory…
Reading Anthracite Company
Discrimination dismissal vacated and remanded again
Reading Anthracite discharged haulage-truck driver Leonard Bernardyn after he drove slowly on foggy, slippery roads and complained that driving faster was unsafe. During a radio complaint to a union safety committeeman, Bernardyn used profanity and allegedly threatened a supervisor, and Reading…
Ohio County Coal Company
Four citations affirmed, two vacated
Ohio County Coal Company operated the Freedom Mine. MSHA alleged six violations involving a methane monitor, the mine's ventilation plan, and an emergency parking brake, and proposed $330 in penalties. The Secretary vacated two citations, and the company agreed to pay $55 for another citation…
Hunt Midwest Mining, Inc.
Frankie Underwood v. Hunt Midwest Mining, Inc. (FMSHRC CENT 2001-192-DM): Discrimination complaint dismissed
Frankie Underwood alleged that Hunt Midwest Mining discharged him after he refused to report for work because he believed the assignment could be hazardous. Judge Gary Melick found that Underwood had accepted the offered work by saying “okay” and then failed to report without further communication…
City of Blackfoot Wastewater Treatment Facility
In re City of Blackfoot Wastewater Treatment Facility (EAB NPDES Appeal No. 00-32): permit review denied
The City of Blackfoot, Idaho, operates a wastewater treatment facility that discharges treated effluent to the Snake River. The City challenged E. coli effluent limits and sampling requirements, along with ammonia limits, in its NPDES permit. The Environmental Appeals Board held that the City's E…
Vester Osborne
Reopening request remanded
Vester Osborne, a former mine supervisor cited for individual liability, asked to reopen a $5,825.67 penalty assessment after he missed the hearing deadline. He said he had given the assessment to Stanley Osborne, his former employer, who promised to handle it, and that he could not pay it…
Alcoa Alumina & Chemicals, L.L.C.
Part 48 training orders affirmed
Alcoa Alumina & Chemicals operated the Bayer Alumina Plant at Point Comfort, Texas, which processed bauxite into alumina. MSHA found that more than 80 supervisors lacked annual refresher training and six salaried employees lacked hazard training, then issued withdrawal orders under Mine Act section…
D.C. Pagers, Inc., d/b/a Superior Services
Electrical-training and eye-protection items vacated
D.C. Pagers performed electrical contracting work at a site in St. Clairsville, Ohio. OSHA alleged that employees lacked safety training for live electrical work and did not use appropriate eye protection while checking an electrical panel or cutting PVC pipe. The judge found that OSHA had not…
Quebecor World - Salem Division, and its successors
Lockout/tagout citations vacated for a plastic-wrapping machine
Quebecor World ran a commercial printing plant in Salem, Illinois. After an inspection of its bindery, OSHA issued three serious lockout/tagout citations tied to the Spiral Grip 8150 Strapper/Wrapper machine, faulting the company for not providing lockout hardware, not training operators in energy…
John Richards Construction
21 citations resolved with $3,350 penalty
John Richards Construction operated a very small sand and gravel pit with a crushing plant and two employees. MSHA alleged 21 violations involving guarding, mine operations, firefighting equipment, electrical protection, and communications, with proposed penalties totaling $19,073. Judge Richard W…
Rencor, Inc.
Default judgment affirms a $3,600 citation after the employer failed to appear
OSHA issued Rencor, Inc. a serious citation with a $3,600 penalty on December 4, 2000. The Secretary of Labor moved to dismiss the company's notice of contest as untimely and a hearing on that motion was scheduled in New York. The Secretary appeared ready for trial with witnesses, but no one from…
Brand Scaffold Rental and Erection, Inc.
Scaffold-access allegations vacated
OSHA observed Brand employees climbing scaffold members while erecting a scaffold at a Boston construction site. The judge vacated the primary access allegation because the cited provision did not apply to employees erecting or dismantling supported scaffolds. The alternative provision did apply…
American Federation of Government Employees, Local 3529 (Union) and United States Department of Defense, Defense Contract Agency, Central Region, Irving, Texas (Agency)
AFGE Local 3529 and Defense Contract Agency (FLRA 0-NG-2583): Gross-negligence property-liability proposal nonnegotiable
AFGE Local 3529 proposed replacing a simple-negligence standard with gross negligence when determining employee financial liability for lost or damaged government property. The Authority found the proposal outside the duty to bargain and dismissed the petition. It held that the liability standard…
Weatherproofing Systems
Default case returned for address inquiry
A chief administrative law judge dismissed Weatherproofing Systems' notice of contest after the company failed to answer the Secretary's complaint or respond to a show-cause order. The case file contained both New Hampshire and Massachusetts addresses, and critical Commission mail sent to the…
Central Mountain Materials
Default order vacated and remanded
Central Mountain Materials requested a hearing on eight alleged violations, but it did not answer the Secretary's penalty petition. An Administrative Law Judge entered default and ordered the operator to pay the proposed $777 penalty. Central Mountain, appearing without counsel, said it had…
Rio Algom Mining Corporation
And Pronghorn Drilling Company (FMSHRC WEST 2000-559-M, et al.): Citations vacated for lack of Mine Act jurisdiction
Rio Algom Mining Corporation and Pronghorn Drilling Company operated an in-situ uranium recovery project in Wyoming where uranium was extracted in liquid form without workers underground. Both companies sought summary decision, arguing that the Smith Ranch Project was not a “mine” under the Mine…
G&K Services, and its successors
Training and guard-removal citations affirmed after a commercial dryer amputation
G&K Services ran a commercial laundry in San Antonio, Texas. A worker reaching into an uncovered inspection port on a large Smith Grantham dryer had his arm pulled into the rotating basket and amputated. OSHA issued three serious citations. The judge vacated the general machine-guarding item…
Midwest Masonry Inc., and its successors
Scaffold midrail violation reclassified as repeated
Midwest employees stocked bricks, a masonry saw, and other materials on a scaffold platform about 13 feet above the ground before midrails were installed. The judge affirmed the violation as serious and assessed $100, reasoning that the employees were only stocking the platform and Midwest believed…
Hawaii Federal Employees Metal Trades Council (Union) and United States Department of Defense, Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, Intermediate Maintenance Facility, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (Agency)
Hawaii Federal Employees Metal Trades Council and Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard (FLRA 0-NG-2573): Pumpwell shift-start proposal nonnegotiable
The Union proposed limits on changing pumpwell employees' start times during the fourth day of a submarine drydocking process at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard. The proposal generally required the normal 6:30 a.m. start and, for later projected completion times, a start at least fourteen hours before…
American Federation of Government Employees, Local 1709 (Union) and United States Department of the Air Force, Dover Air Force Base, Dover, Delaware (Agency)
AFGE Local 1709 and Dover Air Force Base (FLRA 0-AR-3372): Alternative-work-schedule denials remanded
Ten Aero Repair Shop employees challenged Dover Air Force Base's refusal to allow alternative work schedules. The Arbitrator found a contract violation and ordered individual reconsideration of the requests, but ruled that the Work Schedules Act did not apply because the agreement did not expressly…
Architectural Glass & Metal Co., Inc.
Dismissal remanded for inquiry into missed conference
A judge dismissed OSHA's serious citation with prejudice after the Secretary's attorney missed a prehearing telephone conference. Notice of the conference had been faxed on a Sunday in an informal one-page document, and the assigned attorney never received it. The Commission found no evidence of…
In re Min Song, Respondent
Resentencing below one year defeated aggravated-felony classification
The Board considered an amended record showing that a criminal court reduced the respondent's one-year theft sentence to 360 days. Because the immigration statute required a theft offense to have a term of imprisonment of at least one year to qualify as an aggravated felony, the amended sentence…
Mayflower Vehicle Systems, Inc.
Power-press control violation reclassified as serious
Mayflower manufactured truck parts with a mechanical power press whose two-hand controls were mounted on a movable stand. Employees other than supervisors or safety engineers could unbolt and relocate the stand, and the stand was not consistently secured during press operation. The judge affirmed…
Miller Electric Company
Electrical violations affirmed before Commission remand
A Miller Electric journeyman was electrocuted while connecting a light fixture to an energized 277-volt circuit at a medical-center construction project. The judge found that Miller permitted work near the energized circuit and failed to ascertain and warn employees that the circuit was live. She…
BR&D Enterprises, Inc.
Discrimination complaint dismissed
Dewayne York raised concerns about unstable draw rock, dust, deep cuts, and a roof-bolting practice that violated BR&D Enterprises' approved roof control plan. Judge Michael E. Zielinski found that York engaged in protected activity and was discharged after leaving the mine during a…
Eagle Energy Inc.
Escapeway water case remanded for unwarrantable-failure review
Eagle Energy operated an underground coal mine with recurring water accumulation problems in an escapeway. The judge had found an S&S violation of 30 C.F.R. § 75.380(d)(1). On review of the unwarrantable-failure issue, the Commission left that violation undisturbed but vacated the judge's…
Bridger Coal Company
Crane-training order vacated and case dismissed
Bridger Coal operated the Jim Bridger Mine, where an experienced miner occasionally pressed a bridge-crane control button at the direction of trained mechanics. During one track-changing operation, a chain slipped, fatally injuring one mechanic and pinching another's arm. MSHA later alleged that…
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.