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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Cannelton Industries, Inc.
Accumulation violation affirmed and remanded
Cannelton Industries was cited after inspectors found a large accumulation of coal and coal dust beneath a conveyor belt at its underground mine. The Commission affirmed that Cannelton violated 30 C.F.R. § 75.400, but vacated the finding that the violation resulted from unwarrantable failure and…
Harpis Exteriors
Late notice of contest dismissed
OSHA issued Harpis Exteriors a citation and proposed penalties in October 1997. The company received the citation on October 8 but did not send a notice of contest before the October 30 deadline. Its owner said he misread the citation, promptly corrected the cited conditions, and contacted OSHA and…
J & B Masonry and Construction, Inc.
Oral discussion did not preserve late contest
OSHA issued J & B Masonry and Construction a citation and proposed penalty in September 1997. The company's president said he spoke with the compliance officer after receiving the citation and believed that conversation was enough to make an appeal. He also said he did not carefully read the…
Reliance Environmental Management, Inc.
Asbestos violations affirmed but willful classification rejected
Reliance Environmental Management removed asbestos during renovation of an abandoned department store in Toledo, Ohio. OSHA cited monitoring, training, wet-method, work-practice, decontamination, and shower violations. The judge rejected the company's challenges to the inspection and its…
Social Security Administration, Baltimore, Maryland and American Federation of Government Employees
SSA and AFGE (FLRA 0-AR-3051): Official time for representational lobbying upheld
The Social Security Administration denied official time for union representatives to attend two legislative conferences. An arbitrator found that lobbying and training on workplace issues qualified for official time, but excluded partisan and internal union activities. The agency challenged the…
Headquarters, National Guard Bureau, Nevada Air National Guard, and Nevada Army National Guard and Association of Civilian Technicians, Silver Barons and Silver Sage Chapters
Nevada National Guard and ACT chapters (FLRA DE-CA-60314, DE-CA-60347): Earlier order reaffirmed after reconsideration
The National Guard Bureau and two Nevada Guard units faced unfair labor practice complaints over provisions imposed by the Federal Service Impasses Panel. The Authority's earlier decision found that the units had unlawfully refused to adopt an advisory arbitration provision, but rejected claims…
Woodcrest Manufacturing, Inc.
In re Woodcrest Manufacturing, Inc. (EAB EPCRA Appeal No. 97-2): liability affirmed and penalty reduced
Woodcrest Manufacturing, Inc. used three toxic chemicals during 1990 but did not submit the required Form R reports. EPA sought a $27,000 civil penalty, and the presiding officer found three separate violations through an accelerated decision. The Environmental Appeals Board rejected Woodcrest's…
CH2M Hill, Inc., f/k/a CH2M Hill Central, Inc.
Forty willful tunnel electrical violations yield $200,000
CH2M Hill provided engineering and program-management services for a Milwaukee wastewater tunnel project. After methane ignited in a tunnel explosion that killed three employees of the tunneling contractor, OSHA cited CH2M for unapproved electrical equipment and nonreversible ventilation. The…
American Federation of Government Employees, Local 3872 and U.S. Department of the Air Force, Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho
Mountain Home Air Force Base and AFGE Local 3872 (FLRA 0-AR-3055): Union's arbitration exceptions denied
AFGE Local 3872 challenged an arbitrator's award in a dispute with Mountain Home Air Force Base. The Authority concluded that the union had not shown the award to be deficient under the statutory grounds for arbitration review and denied its exceptions. The decision does not describe the underlying…
Hoover Incorporated
Drill citation affirmed without S&S designation
Hoover Incorporated operated a surface limestone quarry where a drill was left unattended while its operator measured holes 150 to 180 feet away. Judge Gary Melick found that the company violated the rule requiring operating drills to be attended. He rejected the significant and substantial…
Inland Steel Mining Company
One citation vacated and one modified
Inland Steel operated the Minorca open-pit taconite mine. Judge T. Todd Hodgdon vacated a citation for an allegedly unbarricaded trailer because the hazard was immediately obvious, and he dismissed that contest. He modified a second citation involving an unbarricaded overhead-crane work area by…
In re A-A-
Ineffective assistance did not extend the 180-day reopening deadline
The Board reviewed a motion to reopen an in absentia deportation order filed 721 days after the order, based on alleged ineffective assistance of counsel. The majority held that the statute's 180-day deadline for motions based on exceptional circumstances does not contain an exception for…
In re Guo Yu LEI
Ineffective assistance did not extend the reopening deadline
The Board reviewed a motion to reopen an in absentia deportation order after the respondent filed outside the statutory 180-day period, arguing that ineffective assistance of prior counsel caused the delay. The majority held that the time limit for reopening based on exceptional circumstances…
Southwest Marine, Inc.
General-duty citation dismissed because a shore-based crane fell under California's state plan
Southwest Marine repairs and refurbishes ships at a San Diego facility. In October 1996, the boom of a shore-based portal crane collapsed onto the USS Benfold moored at the pier. California's state OSHA program (CalOSHA) cited the company over crane operation and maintenance, and federal OSHA…
Black Construction Corp.
Eye-protection citation vacated, scaffold citation downgraded to de minimis
Black Construction Corporation was a contractor working on a Naval Hospital renovation project in Agana Heights, Guam. After a November 1996 inspection, OSHA cited the company for two serious violations: an employee drilling metal frames without eye protection, and a wood pole scaffold about 18…
Eastern Ridge Lime Company, L.P.
$85,000 penalty reaffirmed on remand
Eastern Ridge Lime's case returned to the ALJ after the Commission and the Fourth Circuit directed further analysis of the penalties for two cited violations. Judge Avram Weisberger found that the violations contributed to a fatal roof fall, that the company's aggravated negligence remained the…
Blue Circle, Incorporated
Settlement approved on remand
Blue Circle, Incorporated faced five consolidated civil penalty proceedings at its Tulsa Plant. On remand, the parties proposed modifying and vacating certain citations and reducing the total penalties. Judge Gary Melick found the settlement acceptable under the Mine Act penalty criteria, approved…
Canterbury Coal Company
Part 90 miner transfer citation affirmed
Canterbury Coal transferred a miner with pneumoconiosis to a different shift rotation without obtaining his written consent after dust sampling showed that his original job exceeded the respirable-dust standard. The Commission held that 30 C.F.R. § 90.102(a) clearly prohibited the transfer without…
National Air Traffic Controllers Association and U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, Tampa, Florida
FAA Tampa and NATCA (FLRA 0-AR-3061): Union's arbitration exceptions denied
The National Air Traffic Controllers Association challenged an arbitrator's award in a dispute with the FAA in Tampa. The Authority found no ground under the statutory arbitration review standard to disturb the award and denied the union's exceptions. The short decision does not state what the…
In re IZUMMI
EB-5 investment plan failed to meet regional-center, investment, and job-creation rules
The Associate Commissioner reviewed an immigrant-investor petition based on a $500,000 promissory note and participation in an export-lending partnership. The petitioner did not show that the lending activities and recipient businesses satisfied the geographic rules for the regional-center program…
Dawson Production Services
Rig-guying citation affirmed, anchor-capacity citation vacated after a fatal rig collapse
Dawson Production Services operated a well-servicing rig at a site in Chambers County, Texas. OSHA inspected after a fatality caused by a drill rig collapse and issued two general duty clause citations tied to how the rig was guyed and anchored. On the first item, the evidence showed the company…
P&P Inc. of Kentucky
Late penalty contests reopened for mistake
P&P Inc. of Kentucky asked the Commission to reopen three penalty assessments that became final after the company missed the 30-day deadline to contest them. P&P said it and its counsel each believed the other would send the hearing request, after MSHA issued proposed assessments for three…
Ernest R. McKnight, Jr. v. Carolina Shipping Company
McKnight v. Carolina Shipping (BRB 97-0618): knee benefits returned for recalculation
Ernest McKnight injured his knee while working as a longshoreman for Carolina Shipping in 1984 and later had knee surgery. The Board upheld the judge's findings that the later condition stemmed from that injury and that a May 1989 letter was a timely benefits claim. It vacated the temporary and…
Rausch Construction Company
Both excavation citations affirmed for a $5,100 penalty
Rausch Construction Company was doing sewer line connection work at an excavation site in Chicago. An OSHA compliance officer driving by in May 1997 stopped and measured the trench, finding it about 6.5 feet deep in Type C soil with vertical walls that should have been sloped to 34 degrees, and a…
U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, Washington, D.C. and National Air Traffic Controllers Association
FAA and NATCA (FLRA 0-AR-2967): Sunday premium pay award set aside
The FAA stopped paying Sunday premium pay to employees who were receiving continuation of pay after a workplace injury. An arbitrator sustained the union's grievance and ordered payment, reasoning that the FAA's appropriations restriction concerned voluntary leave rather than injury related pay…
In re S-O-S-
Advance parole led to exclusion proceedings in the Ninth Circuit
The Board reviewed a respondent's challenge to termination of deportation proceedings after he returned to the United States under advance parole while his asylum application was pending. It held that, in cases within the Ninth Circuit, an alien returning under advance parole is generally placed in…
In re G-A-C-
Advance parole did not preserve deportation proceedings
The Board reviewed an asylum applicant's challenge to being placed in exclusion proceedings after returning to the United States under advance parole and being paroled under section 212(d)(5) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. It held that parole under section 212(d)(5) is not an admission, so…
Secretary of Labor on behalf of Ronald Maxey v. Leeco, Inc.
Settlement approved and appeal dismissed
Leeco, Inc. agreed to pay the penalty assessed by the judge and reached a settlement with miner Ronald Maxey in a discrimination case. The Commission approved the confidential settlement, ordered the record sealed, vacated its earlier direction for review, and dismissed the proceeding. The majority…
Lois Taylor, widow of Glenn Taylor v. Plant Shipyard Corporation
Taylor v. Plant Shipyard (BRB 97-1432): widow's death benefits reduced by settlements
Glenn Taylor worked as a shipfitter and was exposed to asbestos at Plant Shipyard before dying of lung cancer. His widow, Lois Taylor, received third-party settlement proceeds before his death and later received a Longshore Act death-benefit award. The Board held that Plant could credit the $41,272…
CoZinCo, Inc.
In re CoZinCo, Inc. (EAB CERCLA § 106(b) Petition Nos. 95-5 and 96-4): reimbursement petitions denied
CoZinCo, Inc. operated a zinc sulfate production facility near Salida, Colorado, where elevated zinc levels were found in nearby residential water supplies. EPA Region VIII issued unilateral administrative orders requiring CoZinCo to provide bottled water at some properties and replace an…
CoZinCo, Inc.
In re CoZinCo, Inc. (EAB CERCLA section 106(b) Petition Nos. 95-5 and 96-4): reimbursement petitions denied
CoZinCo operated a zinc sulfate production facility near Salida, Colorado, and sought reimbursement for response costs related to EPA orders addressing elevated zinc in nearby residential water supplies. The company filed one petition for costs incurred under the original order and its 1994…
Local 1702, District 31, United Mine Workers of America v. Consolidation Coal Company
Miner compensation claim dismissed
Local 1702, District 31 of the United Mine Workers of America sought compensation under Mine Act section 111 for 141 miners at Consolidation Coal Company's Blacksville No. 2 Mine. The union argued that the miners were entitled to compensation after MSHA issued an imminent-danger withdrawal order…
City of San Marcos
In re City of San Marcos (EAB NPDES Appeal No. 97-6): appeal dismissed for failure to preserve issues
The San Marcos River Foundation sought review of an EPA Region VI decision involving the reissuance of the City of San Marcos's NPDES permit for its publicly owned treatment works. The Foundation argued that the permit should reduce wastewater discharge volume when a planned drinking-water…
R.K. Construction & Development Co.
All five demolition-site citations affirmed with penalties reduced to $4,250
R.K. Construction & Development Co. is a small family-owned demolition and building restoration contractor in Savannah, Georgia. While the company was tearing down a three-story building, an OSHA compliance officer driving by saw employees on a scaffold about 25 feet up and stopped to inspect. OSHA…
United Mine Workers of America on behalf of William Keith Burgess, Glenn Loggins, David McAteer, B. Ray Pate and others
MSHA agency dismissal affirmed and official dismissals remanded
The United Mine Workers brought Mine Act discrimination complaints on behalf of miners against MSHA and several MSHA officials. The union alleged that officials disclosed the identities of miners who made safety complaints and retaliated against representatives who raised safety concerns. The…
Hoosier Spline Broach Corporation
In re Hoosier Spline Broach Corporation (EAB EAJA Appeal No. 96-2): fee award vacated
Hoosier Spline Broach Corporation manufactured steel broaches and had disposed of grinding sludge at its Kokomo, Indiana plant. EPA pursued a hazardous-waste enforcement action based on evidence that the waste pile contained chromium above the regulatory threshold, and the case later settled with a…
James Lee Stroup v. Bayou Steel Corporation
Stroup v. Bayou Steel (BRB 97-1406): steel plant shipping bay outside Longshore coverage
James Stroup fell while loading steel onto a truck in Bayou Steel's warehouse shipping bay. The truck was bound for a barge, but the bay was separated from the Mississippi River docks by a road and levee and served truck loading for several destinations. The Board upheld the judge's finding that…
In re Edgar MANCERA-Monroy
Lack of notice excused late reopening motion
The Board reviewed a motion to reopen deportation proceedings that had been conducted in absentia after the respondent missed a 1987 hearing. It held that a motion showing the respondent did not receive notice of the scheduled hearing is exempt from the ordinary time and numerical limits for…
Small Business Administration and Jeffrey W. Eisinger and American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO
SBA and Jeffrey Eisinger (FLRA SF-RP-80004): Individual unit clarification petition dismissed
An employee at the Small Business Administration's Fresno loan servicing center sought to remove that center's employees from a bargaining unit represented by AFGE. The regional director dismissed his petition because an Authority regulation allows only an agency or a labor organization to file a…
Longview Sand & Excavating Company
Windshield citation vacated and life-jacket citation affirmed
Longview Sand & Excavating Company operated a small surface sand-dredging business in Texas. The judge vacated a citation involving a cracked front-end-loader windshield because the Secretary did not prove that the damage obscured visibility needed for safe operation. The judge affirmed an S&S…
Social Security Administration, Malden District Office, Malden, Massachusetts and American Federation of Government Employees, Local 1164, AFL-CIO
SSA Malden and AFGE Local 1164 (FLRA BN-CA-50227): Duty reassignment complaint dismissed
The Social Security Administration reassigned former data review duties to claims representatives in its Malden office. An administrative law judge found that the new duties changed working conditions by more than a minimal amount and that the agency implemented the change without required…
Association of Civilian Technicians, Pennsylvania State Council and U.S. Department of Defense, Adjutant General of Pennsylvania, Fort Indiantown Gap, Annville, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania National Guard and ACT (FLRA 0-NG-2337): Vacancy notice proposal negotiable
The Association of Civilian Technicians proposed that the Pennsylvania National Guard identify how it would fill a vacant position before announcing it and tell the union the applicable rules. The Guard argued that the proposal would limit its choice of applicants and interfere with military…
National Association of Government Employees, Local R1-109 and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Medical Center, Newington, Connecticut
Newington VA Medical Center and NAGE (FLRA 0-NG-2239): Contract worker proposals dismissed
The Newington VA Medical Center arranged for veterans from a Connecticut state home to perform some work at the facility. NAGE Local R1-109 proposed limits on assigning those workers, protections for bargaining unit employees, disclosure of the program's legal basis, and more time to submit…
American Federation of Government Employees, Local 2723 and Defense Logistics Agency, Defense Contract Management Command, Sunnyvale, California
Defense Contract Management Command and AFGE Local 2723 (FLRA 0-AR-3062): Union's arbitration exceptions denied
AFGE Local 2723 challenged an arbitrator's award in a dispute with the Defense Contract Management Command in Sunnyvale. The Authority found no ground under the statutory review standard to set aside the award and denied the union's exceptions. The release does not describe the underlying grievance…
American Federation of Government Employees, Local 2408 and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Medical Center, San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan VA Medical Center and AFGE Local 2408 (FLRA 0-AR-3059): Grievance meeting award upheld
AFGE Local 2408 challenged an arbitrator's award concerning a labor relations specialist's attendance at grievance meetings at the San Juan VA Medical Center. The arbitrator had found no violation of the parties' agreement. The Authority denied the union's exceptions, finding no statutory ground to…
U.S. Department of Defense, Dependents Schools and Federal Education Association
Defense Dependents Schools and FEA (FLRA 0-AR-3017): Attorney fee award upheld
Defense Dependents Schools paid employees late while centralizing its pay system, then reimbursed the withheld pay before an arbitrator issued a merits award. The arbitrator found that the delay violated the Back Pay Act, awarded interest, and later awarded the union attorney fees for the…
American Federation of Government Employees, Local 3615 and Social Security Administration, Office of Hearings and Appeals, Falls Church, Virginia
SSA work at home pilot and AFGE Local 3615 (FLRA 0-AR-2916): Grievance denial upheld
Three employees asked to work at home under a Social Security Administration pilot program that had formally ended in 1993. An arbitrator denied their grievance, finding that continued participation by eight original employees did not extend the pilot or establish a practice requiring new…
U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, New York Terminal Radar Control Facility, Westbury, New York and National Air Traffic Controllers Association
New York FAA radar facility and NATCA (FLRA 0-AR-2890): Promised pay struck, remedy returned
Air traffic controllers applied for positions at the FAA's New York radar facility after a vacancy announcement said the jobs carried special demonstration project pay. The FAA selected them after that project had expired, so they did not receive the advertised pay. An arbitrator found that the…
Black Mesa Pipeline, Inc.
Electrical citations split by the ALJ
Black Mesa Pipeline operated a coal-slurry preparation plant with electrical equipment. Judge Jacqueline Bulluck vacated Citation No. 3850060 under 30 C.F.R. § 77.103 and affirmed Citation Nos. 4366052 and 4366053. The judge found the § 77.502 violation significant and substantial, but did not find…
Exterior Erecting Systems, Inc.
Secretary's illness did not excuse late contest
Exterior Erecting Systems received an OSHA citation on September 2, 1997, but did not contest it before the September 23 deadline. The company explained that its secretary signed for the citation and then left work for two months because of a serious illness. Other office staff handled her duties…
Auto Shred Recycling, L.L.C.
Conveyor machine-guarding citation vacated
Auto Shred Recycling operated a metal-scrap shredding facility in Pensacola, Florida. After an employee was caught in a conveyor tail pulley and later died from his injuries, OSHA cited the company for inadequate machine guarding. The judge found that a guardrail protected employees during normal…
U.S. Department of Defense, Ogden Air Logistics Center, Hill Air Force Base, Utah and American Federation of Government Employees, Local 1592
Ogden Air Logistics Center and AFGE Local 1592 (FLRA 0-AR-2989): Performance rating remedy upheld
An employee at Hill Air Force Base grieved several elements of a performance appraisal. An arbitrator found that the agency had applied the standards contrary to the parties' agreement and reconstructed a higher rating using prior appraisals, approved employee suggestions, the supervisor's…
Eastern Associated Coal Corporation
Dust violations modified and penalties reduced
Eastern Associated Coal operated the Lightfoot No. 2 underground coal mine in West Virginia. The judge found that respirable-dust levels exceeded the applicable limit and that required follow-up samples were not submitted, but found that the operator's good-faith dust-control efforts and a misfiled…
Tanoma Mining Company, Inc.
Three citations vacated and one settled
Tanoma Mining Company operated the Tanoma Mine, an underground coal mine in Pennsylvania. The case involved respirable-dust sampling pumps that were not carried directly to and from the mine portal and working areas during extended shifts. The judge vacated three citations because the Secretary did…
In re SOFFICI
Hotel investment petition denied because capital was structured as loans
The Associate Commissioner reviewed an immigrant-investor petition for an Argentine petitioner who purchased a Howard Johnson hotel through Ames Management, Inc. The decision held that amounts the petitioner lent to the corporation were not qualifying capital, that corporate borrowing secured by…
In re X-G-W-, Applicant
Coerced population-control persecution justified reopening
The Board considered an untimely motion to reopen exclusion proceedings by a Chinese applicant who had been punished for violating China's population-control policy. It held that a fundamental change in the refugee definition allowed the Board to reopen the case despite the ordinary time and number…
Pappy's Sand & Gravel
Seat-belt and berm violations affirmed
Pappy's Sand & Gravel operated a Texas sand and gravel pit where a dump truck traveled on a levee above a pond. The judge found that a driver was not wearing a seat belt and that the levee lacked a required berm, conditions connected to an accident that caused serious injuries. Both violations were…
M & M Road Recycle, Inc.
$5,000 in attorney fees awarded for one duplicative citation under the EAJA
After largely defeating OSHA's citations in an earlier case, M & M Road Recycle, Inc. asked for its attorney fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act, which lets small employers recover costs when the government's position was not substantially justified. In the underlying case, the judge had…
Jim Walter Resources, Inc.
Discrimination complaint dismissed on remand
Marvin E. Carmichael claimed that Jim Walter Resources suspended him after he refused to falsify a task-training form. On remand from the Commission, Judge T. Todd Hodgdon found that Carmichael did not establish that he engaged in protected activity or that the company acted because of it. The…
George Livingston v. Jacksonville Shipyards, Incorporated
Livingston v. Jacksonville Shipyards (BRB 97-1339): total disability awarded for earlier period
George Livingston injured his ankle while working for Jacksonville Shipyards and could not return to his usual job. The Board agreed that the employer eventually identified suitable alternative jobs, including driving positions after Livingston's temporary license suspension ended. But the jobs…
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.