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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West Sand & Gravel Co., Inc.
Defective welding truck citation affirmed
West Sand & Gravel operated the Lynwood Farm Plant, where an MSHA inspector found a welding truck's left front tire leaning into the fender and loose control-arm bolts. The operator had known about the condition for weeks, and the judge found that it had not corrected the defect in a timely manner…
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and National Treasury Employees Union, Chapter 208
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (FLRA 0-AR-3171): higher-duty back pay through personnel notice upheld
A Grade 13 reactor inspector had previously won temporary-promotion back pay for performing Grade 14 duties. The parties disputed whether a 1996 audit or the April 28, 1997 personnel notice ended that entitlement. The arbitrator found that the audit was prepared to defend the existing…
Berwind Natural Resources Corp., Kentucky Berwind Land Company, Kyber Coal Company, and Jesse Branch Coal Company
Berwind Natural Resources Corp. and related companies (FMSHRC KENT 94-574-R through KENT 94-797-R, KENT 94-862-R): Operator-status rulings after Elmo No. 5 Mine explosion
These consolidated proceedings involved 225 citations and orders issued after an explosion at the Elmo No. 5 Mine that killed one miner. The Commission held that operator status under the Mine Act turns on an entity's substantial involvement in engineering, financial, production, personnel, and…
Applegate Aggregates, Inc.
Five crushing-plant citations affirmed
Applegate operated a small shale crushing plant with a crusher, conveyor belts, screens, and stockpiles. After an inspection, MSHA alleged five violations involving electrical grounding records, a cracked loader windshield, a nonfunctional backup alarm, an uncovered junction box, and the lack of a…
Bobby D. Cochran v. Matson Terminals, Incorporated
Cochran v. Matson Terminals (BRB 99-0307): settlement bars Special Fund reimbursement
Marine mechanic Bobby Cochran and Matson Terminals agreed to settle his injury claim for a further $34,000, subject to a $10,000 advance payment credit, plus attorney fees and costs. Matson asked the judge to decide its request for Special Fund relief before approving the settlement. The Board held…
Moniger Excavating, Inc.
Trench protection and ladder items vacated for lack of employee exposure
OSHA cited Moniger Excavating after finding a narrow trench about 4.5 to 5.5 feet deep with vertical walls, no protective system, and no nearby ladder. No employee was inside the trench during the inspection, and the company explained that its force-main sewer pipe was assembled and measured from…
Russell B. Le Frois Builder, Inc.
Citation vacated after Secretary declined to file complaint
The Commission remanded Russell B. Le Frois Builder's case for further proceedings. Chief Judge Irving Sommer then ordered the Secretary of Labor to file a complaint within twenty days. The Secretary declined to do so, and the judge vacated the May 14, 1998 citation in its entirety.
In re K-V-D-, Respondent
State simple-possession felony was not an aggravated felony for immigration purposes
The Board reviewed the appeal of a Vietnamese lawful permanent resident after an Immigration Judge treated his Texas conviction for simple possession of cocaine as an aggravated felony and found him ineligible for relief from removal. The Texas offense was a felony under state law, but the Board…
Lumex Medical Products, Inc.
Failure-to-abate notice dismissed because the presses were never cited
Lumex settled an earlier power-press case covering two cited presses and separately agreed to a correction schedule for 57 additional presses. After a reinspection, OSHA issued a $178,500 failure-to-abate notice for 12 of the additional presses. The Commission held that the settlement did not amend…
Montgomery KONE, Inc. and Parsons Brinckerhoff Construction Services, Inc.
Elevator-pit training violation affirmed
Montgomery KONE employees were modernizing a hydraulic freight elevator at a Philadelphia postal facility when a welding arc ignited flammable vapors in the elevator pit, causing an explosion that injured two workers. The vapors came from primer and cement used to assemble a 70-foot PVC liner and…
American Federation of Government Employees and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center
VA contracting reorganization (FLRA 0-NG-2466): seniority placement proposal negotiable
AFGE proposed selecting qualified employees by seniority for temporary transitional contracting positions during a VA contracting-office consolidation. The Authority found the proposal negotiable as an arrangement protecting employees who otherwise risked losing their jobs. It construed the…
Black Diamond Construction Inc.
EAJA award increased on remand
Black Diamond Construction had successfully defended an earlier Mine Act matter and received an Equal Access to Justice Act award of $14,390.25. After the Commission remanded the fee proceeding, the parties agreed that Black Diamond should receive another $15,234.04 for fees and expenses incurred…
Hi-Tech Builders, Inc.
Willful steel-erection fall violations affirmed for $60,000
Hi-Tech Builders erected structural steel at the Guam International Airport while employees repeatedly worked without tying off and without temporary floors or nets below them. OSHA videotaped the conduct from a public parking lot, and Judge Nancy J. Spies rejected Hi-Tech's challenge because the…
Consolidation Coal Company
Two coal-accumulation orders affirmed
Consolidation Coal operated the Humphrey No. 7 Mine, where an inspector found large accumulations of coal spillage in active workings and found that a preshift examiner had not recorded the conditions. Judge Gary Melick affirmed two section 104(d)(2) orders, concluding that the accumulations…
U.S. Borax Incorporated
Late review proceedings reopened
Louis W. Dykhoff, Jr. filed a petition for discretionary review of an ALJ decision dismissing his discrimination complaint, but the petition arrived ten days after the 30-day deadline. The Commission had denied the late petition, then considered Dykhoff’s motion for relief from default and…
Sutter Power Plant
In re Sutter Power Plant (EAB PSD Appeal Nos. 99-6 and 99-73): permit review denied
Calpine Corporation sought a prevention of significant deterioration permit to build a 500-megawatt natural-gas power plant in rural Sutter County, California. One petitioner challenged the Region's treatment of plant siting, alleged respiratory-health effects and impacts on farming communities…
Exterior Insulation & Stucco, Inc.
Citations affirmed after incomplete discovery responses
Exterior Insulation & Stucco did not answer the Secretary's discovery requests until a judge ordered it to do so. Its eventual responses omitted witnesses, financial information, and the factual basis for its denials, and repeatedly promised information later instead of providing it. Chief Judge…
In re Theodore M. MINKOVA, beneficiary, as child of the widow of Milko Nikodov Mankov
Child could qualify derivatively but separate petition was unavailable
The Board reviewed an appeal from the denial of a petition seeking immediate-relative classification for the child of a widow of a United States citizen. It agreed that the Immigration and Naturalization Service had properly denied the petition because the Immigration and Nationality Act and its…
Department of the Navy, Naval Weapons Station, Yorktown, Virginia and Department of the Navy, Atlantic Ordnance Command, Yorktown, Virginia and National Association of Government Employees, Local R4-1
Navy Yorktown activities (FLRA WA-CA-80545 and WA-CA-80560): reorganization does not suspend official-time obligations
Two Yorktown Navy activities denied official time to union negotiators after a reorganization placed each negotiator in a different activity from the employees she would represent. Competing representation petitions remained pending, so the previously certified single bargaining unit continued to…
Social Security Administration, Baltimore, Maryland and American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO, National Council of SSA Field Operations Locals and Social Security Administration, Region IX, Mesa District Office, Mesa Arizona and American Federation of Government Employees, Local 3694, AFL-CIO
Social Security Administration (FLRA WA-CA-60600 and DE-CA-70354): staffing bargaining and information complaints dismissed
AFGE sought bargaining over national staffing allocations and additional staff and computer terminals at the Mesa district office. The union relied on Executive Order 12871 and the parties' partnership agreements to argue that SSA had elected to negotiate these otherwise permissive subjects. The…
Standard Products Co.
In re Standard Products Co. (EAB UIC Appeal No. 99-6): permit decision vacated and remanded
Standard Products Co. held an underground injection control permit issued by EPA Region V. Tom O. Palmer petitioned the Environmental Appeals Board, asserting that Region V had not responded to comments and issues concerning the draft permit. Region V acknowledged that it had not fully addressed…
Nolichuckey Sand Co., Inc.
Stay of abatement denied
Nolichuckey asked the Commission to stay abatement of six citations involving guards on conveyor belts while review of the ALJ decision was pending. The Commission held that the Mine Act bars temporary relief from citations issued under section 104(a), even when the operator disputes the citations…
Mountain Top Trucking Company, Inc., Elmo Mayes, William David Riley, Anthony Curtis Mayes, and Mayes Trucking Company, Inc.
Mountain Top Trucking Company, Inc. and others (FMSHRC KENT 95-613-D): Backpay award vacated and remanded
The Commission reviewed a remand decision awarding truck driver Walter Jackson $32,642 in net backpay plus interest after finding that his discharge violated the Mine Act's discrimination provision. The operators argued that newly submitted evidence about Jackson's college attendance, prior…
In re Ydalia CRUZ-GARCIA, Respondent
In absentia reopening challenge dismissed
The Board reviewed Ydalia Cruz-Garcia's appeal from the denial of a motion to reopen deportation proceedings that had been conducted in her absence. The Board held that the regulation governing in absentia deportation proceedings under former section 242(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act…
In re Saleem Hassan MASRI, Respondent
Rescission proceedings properly terminated
The Board reviewed a certified decision terminating rescission proceedings against a lawful permanent resident whose status had been adjusted through the special agricultural worker program. It held that Immigration Judges and the Board have jurisdiction over rescission proceedings under section…
American Federation of Government Employees, Local 1985 and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Dublin, Georgia
VA Dublin (FLRA 0-NG-2409): four nursing-duty proposals outside bargaining
AFGE Local 1985 submitted four proposals concerning nursing assistants' medication duties at the VA medical center in Dublin, Georgia. The Authority dismissed the negotiability appeal. Reserving medication administration to licensed staff restricted management's right to assign work and did not…
U.S. Department of Defense, Education Activity, Pensacola, Florida, and Fort Campbell Education Association
DOD Education Activity, Pensacola (FLRA 0-AR-3152): above-scale employees receive the negotiated 10 percent raise
An interest arbitrator imposed a 10 percent salary increase for employees represented by the Fort Campbell Education Association. The agency raised its salary scale but withheld the increase from eleven employees already paid above that scale. A grievance arbitrator ordered retroactive raises and…
U.S. Department of Defense, Dependents Schools and Federal Education Association
DOD Dependents Schools (FLRA 0-AR-3146): oral notice agreement invalidates changed housing-allowance rules
The agency changed its living quarters allowance rules without supplying the union an agreed summary of changes to existing policy. An arbitrator found that the parties' oral agreement was already binding even though the union signed the written memorandum months later. He declared the revised…
U.S. Department of the Navy, Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, Virginia and Tidewater Virginia Federal Employees Metal Trades Council, Local 734
Norfolk Naval Shipyard (FLRA 0-AR-3138): recurring-condition sick leave and reprimand relief upheld
The shipyard denied an employee's sick leave requests because he had not supplied fresh medical certificates under its leave restrictions. An arbitrator found that the contract permitted self-certification for short absences caused by his documented recurring conditions. He ordered the leave…
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 80 and U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Office of NOAA Corps Operations, Atlantic Marine Center, Norfolk, Virginia
NOAA Atlantic Marine Center (FLRA 0-AR-3041): reconsideration of relief denied
The union asked the Authority to reopen the relief issue in an earlier arbitration decision and permit comprehensive briefing. It cited the importance of the issues and the Authority's technical views. The Authority treated that request as an attempt to relitigate conclusions already reached. The…
Dags Branch Coal Co., Inc.
Bleeder-system orders affirmed
Dags Branch operated an underground coal mine where MSHA found that water blocked the bleeder system while miners were retreating pillars, allowing air from the gob area to pass toward active workings. The inspector also found that the bleeder evaluation point could not be reached and that…
National Association of Government Employees, Local R1-203 and U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Hadley, Massachusetts
Fish and Wildlife Service, Hadley (FLRA 0-NG-2244): five workplace proposals negotiable and four rejected
The Authority resolved nine disputed proposals from NAGE Local R1-203. It required bargaining over employees' choice among approved award forms, bargaining on the effects of transfers of functions, reemployment of qualified retrainable candidates, pre-layoff cost studies, and continuous rather than…
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Brooklyn Veterans Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York and American Federation of Government Employees, Local 1667
Brooklyn Veterans Medical Center (FLRA 0-AR-3225): agency arbitration exceptions denied
The agency challenged an arbitration award involving AFGE Local 1667. The Authority denied the exceptions in a short decision that does not describe the underlying grievance or remedy. Its cited precedents explain that disagreement with an arbitrator's weighing of evidence is insufficient to…
Buford Sims v. Ingalls Shipbuilding, Incorporated and Mississippi Insurance Guaranty Association
Sims v. Ingalls Shipbuilding (BRB 99-0292): hearing aid dispute supports attorney fee
Former shipyard worker Buford Sims settled a hearing loss claim, and the settlement required the employer to pay related future medical bills. When he later requested hearing aids, the insurer’s guaranty association required more proof and a second hearing evaluation. After the aids were paid for…
Chicopee Coal Company, Inc.
Settlement approved and proceedings dismissed
Chicopee Coal Company agreed to settle discrimination complaints brought on behalf of Lewis Frank Bates and Earl Charles Albu after both miners raised safety concerns about supervisors and equipment at the Lilly Branch Surface Mine. Bates was economically reinstated while the proceedings were…
Storm Water Discharge Permit for the Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System of Anchorage, Alaska
In re Storm Water Discharge Permit for the Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System of Anchorage, Alaska (EAB NPDES Appeal No. 99-1): review denied
Cook Inlet Keeper challenged an EPA Region X decision involving the municipal storm sewer permit for Anchorage, Alaska. The organization argued that the permit should expressly require compliance with Alaska water quality standards. The Environmental Appeals Board held that the petition did not…
In re G-D-, Respondent
Sua sponte reconsideration denied
The Board denied G-D-'s untimely motion to reconsider and declined to reopen or reconsider the case on its own motion. The majority held that a legal change must be fundamental rather than incremental to qualify as an exceptional situation for sua sponte action, and it found that Matter of O-Z- &…
Zoo Med Laboratories, Inc.
In re Zoo Med Laboratories, Inc. (EAB FIFRA Appeal No. 99-10): interlocutory review denied
EPA brought a FIFRA enforcement case against Zoo Med Laboratories involving alleged sales of unregistered and adulterated pesticides and an alleged failure to register a pesticide-producing facility. An ALJ had dismissed four counts under res judicata, and EPA sought immediate EAB review of that…
James E. Huff v. Mike Fink Restaurant, Benson’s, Incorporated
Huff v. Mike Fink Restaurant (BRB 99-0269): harbor master's work remains covered
James Huff maintained a floating restaurant and dock on the Ohio River, supervised vessels moored there, and sometimes worked on related riverboats. He was injured while adjusting the floating structure during high water. The employer argued that the Longshore Act’s restaurant exclusion barred his…
Mohegan Glass & Window Company, Inc.
Late contest dismissed despite personal hardships
Mohegan Glass & Window filed its notice of contest after the 15-working-day deadline in the OSHA citation had expired. The company's president said he had limited written English, his usual business advisers were away, his wife was hospitalized, and he believed correcting the cited conditions ended…
Reading Anthracite Company
Discrimination complaint dismissed
William Kaczmarczyk, an applicant for employment with Reading Anthracite Company, claimed that the company discriminated against him by placing another employee in an electrician position instead of recalling him from layoff. He argued that the decision violated the collective bargaining agreement…
American Federation of Government Employees, Local 1302, Council of Prison Locals C-33 and U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Florence, Colorado
Bureau of Prisons, Florence (FLRA 0-NG-2484): mandatory overtime before leaving posts vacant is nonnegotiable
AFGE proposed that the prison use overtime procedures before leaving any post unstaffed except during emergencies. The Authority read the proposal as requiring overtime assignments to maintain coverage and found it conflicted with management's right to assign work. The union referred generally to…
Jane Davis (widow of Hank Davis) v. Morganti National, Incorporated
Davis v. Morganti National (BRB 99-0280): overseas work death benefits affirmed
Hank Davis supervised construction of a U.S. radio station on Sao Tome and died from complications of Hepatitis B during that employment. His widow sought death benefits under the Defense Base Act. The Board rejected the employer’s argument that its contract had to name Longshore Act insurance to…
Kenneth M. Stephens v. Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company
Stephens v. Newport News Shipbuilding (BRB 99-0250): arm injury award stayed on schedule
Pipefitter Kenneth Stephens had surgery for carpal tunnel syndrome in both arms and returned to regular work before a shipyard layoff. He sought temporary partial disability benefits for the layoff because he earned less elsewhere and argued that his recovery was still continuing. The Board upheld…
Ferne L. Troup, Executrix of the Estate of Delbert D. Troup v. Reading Anthracite Coal Company
Troup v. Reading Anthracite Coal (BRB 98-0143): Black lung award returned for combined evidence review
Delbert Troup received a black lung benefit award on a later claim, which his estate continued after his death. Reading Anthracite challenged the judge's treatment of the new medical evidence and asked to reopen the record after a change in case law. The Board held that the later-claim rule did not…
St. James Stevedoring Co., Inc.
First-aid and emergency-plan items affirmed on Mississippi crane barges
St. James Stevedoring used crane-mounted barges for midriver cargo transfers on the Mississippi River and refused an on-site OSHA inspection because it believed the Coast Guard had exclusive authority. Judge Ken S. Welsch held that OSHA could regulate the cited conditions because the barges were…
Tyson Foods, Inc.
Forklift training and repair items vacated after farm fatality
A Tyson Foods employee was fatally injured when a specialized three-wheeled forklift overturned while he collected frozen chicken carcasses from a contract poultry farm. Judge Nancy J. Spies held that the agricultural-operations exception did not apply because collecting the carcasses was…
American Federation of Government Employees, Local 3369 and Social Security Administration, New York Region, New York, New York
SSA New York Region (FLRA 0-AR-3153): two-day misuse-of-authority suspension upheld
An SSA employee was suspended for two days after attempting to force a client to repay a benefits overpayment without affording her full appeal rights. An arbitrator found just cause, and the Authority denied the union's exceptions. The union did not identify the omitted evidence or explain how…
Seyforth Roofing Co., Inc.
Propane-tank traffic violation affirmed with penalty reduced
Seyforth Roofing used a 250-gallon propane tank to heat a tar kettle while a large forklift repeatedly passed within several feet of the tank. Caution tape had been installed earlier but Seyforth's kettleman allowed another trade to remove it and relied on verbal warnings to the forklift driver…
Social Security Administration, Baltimore, Maryland and American Federation of Government Employee
Social Security Administration (FLRA 0-AR-3107): staffing recommendation must return to the partnership process
SSA treated an unresolved staffing-methodology recommendation as finished when its National Partnership Council failed to reach consensus. An arbitrator found that the partnership agreements instead required efforts to use alternative dispute resolution for accepted issues of this kind. He returned…
John Nicastro v. Maher Terminals
Nicastro v. Maher Terminals (BRB 99-0223): disability denial upheld, medical bills sent back
John Nicastro was injured after fainting and falling while being taken from a ship to a work yard. The administrative law judge ended his total disability benefits in November 1995 and later denied modification based on new MRI scans. The Board upheld those decisions because the judge reasonably…
Craig A. Morvant v. Louisiana Local Contractors, Incorporated and Louisiana Workers’ Compensation Corporation
Morvant v. Louisiana Local Contractors (BRB 99-0207): alternate jobs ended total disability award
Welder and shipfitter Craig Morvant aggravated a back condition when he slipped against a barge. He sought continued total disability benefits and payment for two diagnostic procedures. The Board upheld the finding that the employer identified suitable alternate jobs by June 14, 1996, and that…
Oasis Contracting, Inc.
Discrimination complaint dismissed
Oasis Contracting provided temporary labor to coal companies, and Anthony Williams worked at Performance Coal Company’s Upper Big Branch mine. Williams claimed that Performance laid him off and Oasis later terminated him because he might testify about a fatal mine accident and because he had…
Donald J. Riffe, employed by Knox Creek Coal Corporation
Late penalty petition dismissed
The Secretary of Labor filed a civil-penalty petition against Donald J. Riffe, employed by Knox Creek Coal Corporation, 26 days after the deadline. The Solicitor asked permission to file late and explained that she misunderstood the office procedure for drafting a new petition in a section 110(c)…
In re Adewunmi ADENIJI, Respondent
Bond appeal remanded under general custody rules
The Board held that Adewunmi Adeniji, who had been released from criminal custody before the Transition Period Custody Rules expired, was not subject to mandatory detention under section 236(c). It held that the general bond provisions applied and that he had to show that release would not endanger…
Black Diamond Construction, Inc.
EAJA award affirmed and remanded for additional fees
Black Diamond Construction performed work to eliminate a coal refuse impoundment so longwall mining could proceed beneath it. MSHA cited Black Diamond under the Part 48 training rules for violations involving two employees, but the Secretary later vacated the citations before trial. An ALJ awarded…
Pickus Construction and Equipment Company, Inc.
Trench citation affirmed after repeated foreman warnings
OSHA observed a Pickus Construction employee grading inside an unprotected trench that was six feet deep in Type B soil. Chief Judge Irving Sommer credited the compliance officer's measurements over conflicting company testimony and found the cave-in-protection rule violated. Pickus argued…
The Doe Run Company
Penalty assessment reopened for inadvertent payment
The Doe Run Company intended to contest a $55 proposed penalty for Citation No. 7860390, but it paid the assessment with sixteen other assessments and did not return the contest card. Doe Run said that the employee normally responsible for reviewing assessments was out of the country, which caused…
Donald Cranor v. Peabody Coal Company
Cranor v. Peabody Coal (BRB 97-1668): Reconsideration sends benefit award back on coal dust cause
A judge awarded Donald Cranor black lung benefits after finding pneumoconiosis and total disability. The Board originally affirmed, but Peabody Coal asked it to reconsider a physician's x-ray comment that the disease was not coal workers' pneumoconiosis. The Board held that the positive x-ray…
American Federation of Government Employees, Local 2006 and Social Security Administration, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
SSA Philadelphia (FLRA 0-AR-3217): union arbitration exceptions denied
AFGE Local 2006 challenged an arbitration award involving SSA in Philadelphia. The Authority denied the union's exceptions in a short decision that does not identify the underlying grievance or remedy. The cited review standards require more than disagreement with disputed arbitration facts or an…
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.