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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Independence Coal Company, Inc.
Partial summary decision denied
Independence Coal Company contested a civil penalty proceeding involving a berm or guard condition on an elevated roadway at the Twilight-Winifrede Mine. The Secretary asked the Judge to treat an earlier unchallenged imminent-danger order as conclusive proof that the related citation involved a…
Glenco Construction Services, Inc.
Steel erector held to general fall-protection rules, three items affirmed
Glenco Construction Services, Inc. was a steel-erection subcontractor at a Bloomsburg University library project in Pennsylvania. During a November 1996 inspection, OSHA found that cables at the tops of access ladders forced workers to step over them, that a stairwell opening had slack guard cables…
Sea-Jet Trucking Corp.
Five failure-to-abate items affirmed at a New Jersey warehouse, $101,200 in penalties
Sea-Jet Trucking Corp. ran an import-export warehouse in Bloomfield, New Jersey, where most workers were Spanish-speaking. After a 1994 inspection, OSHA cited the company for numerous violations, which it agreed to abate by April 1995 in a signed settlement. When OSHA did not receive an abatement…
Army and Air Force Exchange Service, Waco Distribution Center and American Federation of Government Employees, Local 4042
Waco Distribution Center and AFGE Local 4042 (FLRA DA-CA-30990): reduction in force dispute remanded
The Waco Distribution Center carried out a reduction in force while its union sought bargaining and a roster showing how employees were ranked. An administrative law judge found that the center had unlawfully failed to bargain and supply the requested roster, and recommended relief. The Federal…
Bailey's Limestone Quarry
Settlement approval denied pending support
Bailey's Limestone Quarry faced two alleged violations after a laborer was fatally injured at the quarry. One citation concerned an unblocked raised loader bucket, and the other concerned late reporting of the accident to MSHA. The parties proposed reducing the combined penalties from $22,500 to…
S & J Haas Construction, Inc.
Repeat roofing fall-protection item affirmed, training item vacated
S & J Haas Construction, Inc. is a small family-owned residential contractor that was building a home in O'Fallon, Illinois. An OSHA compliance officer driving by saw three workers offloading shingles on the roof without fall protection and, staying on the public street, photographed the scene and…
Fabricated Metal Products, Inc.
Commission requires reasonably predictable machine exposure
Fabricated Metal Products used automated presses with unguarded points of operation and horizontal camshafts. The Secretary argued that employees could contact the moving parts if they slipped or fell near the machines. The Commission held that exposure must be reasonably predictable through…
Tracy Bakery Production, Inc.
Commission restores and approves settlement
The Secretary asked the Commission to review a withdrawal filed after the area office and Tracy Bakery Production, Inc. had already settled the case. The Regional Solicitor's Office had been unaware of that settlement when it filed the withdrawal. Tracy did not oppose the request. The Commission…
Innovative Laminating Corp.
Commission corrects wrong-case settlement filing
The Secretary issued Innovative Laminating Corp. a failure-to-abate citation and later filed an unsigned settlement followed by a notice of withdrawal. A signed settlement for a different employer, Innovative Plastics, Inc., was then mistakenly filed under this docket number and approved by an…
Brian T. Gremillion v. Gulf Coast Catering Company and Liberty Mutual Insurance Company
Gremillion v. Gulf Coast Catering (BRB 97-0336): settlement credit and disability findings remanded
Brian Gremillion injured his back while working for Gulf Coast Catering on a housing barge. He later participated in litigation with other parties, and his employer joined an agreement that preserved its potential credit against future benefits. The Board held that the employer's active…
American Sterilizer Company
Commission vacates training item and affirms remaining violations
An American Sterilizer Company technician died from carbon monoxide exposure while cleaning medical sterilization equipment with a glass-bead blasting machine. Contrary to company rules, he connected his supplied-air respirator to the gasoline compressor powering the blaster instead of a separate…
Bickford, Inc.
In re Bickford, Inc. (EAB TSCA Appeal No. 95-7): appeal withdrawn and dismissed
EPA Region V moved to withdraw its appeal because it determined that continuing the appeal was no longer in the Agency's best interest in light of the EAB's decision in In re Lazarus, Inc. The Board found good cause, granted the motion, and dismissed the appeal. The October 18, 1995 Initial…
Faith Coal Company
Methane-monitor violation found on remand
Faith Coal Company’s consolidated proceedings returned to the Judge after the Commission reinstated a citation and directed a decision under the methane-monitor standard. The Judge found that a scoop loader’s methane monitor had been bypassed and was not maintained in permissible and proper…
Bob Bak Construction
Safety orders affirmed with $1,840 penalty
Bob Bak Construction operated a sand and gravel crusher in South Dakota. Judge Avram Weisberger found that the operator failed to guard two moving pulleys, allowed a front-end loader operator to work without a seat belt, and stored an oxygen cylinder in a truck containing oil and grease. The Judge…
Trine Construction Corp.
Repeat unprotected-excavation citation affirmed at a water main project
Trine Construction Corp. was the contractor on a 3-mile water main project for the City of Wheeling, Illinois. During a January 1997 inspection, an OSHA compliance officer found an excavation 8 to 9 feet deep with essentially vertical walls and no cave-in protection. Witnesses said a Trine employee…
In re Thay Khourn, Respondent
In re Thay Khourn (BIA ID 3330): cocaine distribution was moral turpitude
The Board reviewed the Service’s appeal from an Immigration Judge’s termination of deportation proceedings against a Cambodian respondent. The respondent had convictions for cocaine possession with intent to distribute and distribution under 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1), as well as theft of property. The…
Continental Roof Systems, Inc.
Commission affirms serious classification for scaffold violations
Continental Roof Systems repaired the roof and chimneys of the Franklin D. Roosevelt home for the National Park Service. The judge affirmed 16 violations but reduced two scaffold-guardrail items from willful to serious, assessing $32,100 in total penalties. The Secretary sought review only of the…
Darlene Brown v. Cedar Coal Company
Brown v. Cedar Coal (BRB 97-0350): Discovery order for employer legal bills deferred
Darlene Brown requested records and expense information while her survivor benefit claim was pending. A judge ordered Cedar Coal to provide its employment file, medical evidence expenses, and legal bills. The Board found the first two issues moot because Cedar Coal had already supplied that…
Internal Revenue Service, North Atlantic Region, Brookhaven Service Center and Raymond Ernst
IRS Brookhaven Service Center (FLRA BN-CA-60018): reassignment retaliation complaint dismissed
An IRS employee claimed that the Brookhaven Service Center reassigned him because he had filed grievances. The administrative law judge found that filing grievances was protected activity, but that the evidence did not show it motivated the reassignment. The judge credited testimony that the move…
Robert E. Hansen v. Container Stevedoring Company and Director, Office of Workers' Compensation Programs
Hansen v. Container Stevedoring (BRB 97-0873/97-0873A): disability and overlapping benefits sent back for findings
Robert Hansen, a longshoreman, sought benefits for a pulmonary condition he said was aggravated by workplace exposure at Container Stevedoring Company. The Board upheld the judge's finding that this condition contributed to Hansen's departure from work, so he was not treated as a voluntary retiree…
Newmont Gold Company
Mercury citations modified with $1,800 penalty
Newmont Gold operated a gold mine where elemental mercury was generated during carbon-handling operations. The Judge found violations involving food and beverages in areas exposed to mercury vapor and mercury-contaminated equipment that lacked warnings or barricades. The Judge held that the mercury…
Miriam Casey and David E. Casey v. Georgetown University Medical Center and Aetna Casualty and Surety Company
Casey v. Georgetown University Medical Center (BRB 97-0975): survivor benefits upheld
George Casey was an anesthesiology resident at Georgetown University Medical Center when he was exposed to halothane gas in 1977; he later died from liver disease. His widow and son sought death benefits under the Longshore Act as extended to District of Columbia workers. The Board held that…
Windsor Coal Company
Coal-accumulation orders modified
Windsor Coal Company faced two orders involving weekend examination records and extensive coal dust and spillage along a 6,000-foot conveyor belt. The parties settled the examination-record violation, reducing its penalty from $1,000 to $500, and the Judge approved that settlement. For the…
Southeast Steel Erectors, Inc.
Contest dismissed and citations affirmed after company stopped responding
OSHA cited Southeast Steel Erectors, Inc. for an unguarded roof deck and a portable ladder that did not extend three feet above its landing. After filing a notice of contest, the company reported that it had dissolved and then stopped responding. It did not provide a current address or telephone…
Energy Trucking, Inc.
Training and parking violations affirmed
Energy Trucking hauled uranium ore to the White Mesa Mill with about 15 drivers at the time of the cited conduct. The Judge found that the company had not provided the required training for newly employed experienced miners and that an unattended dumper tractor was left on a grade without its…
Wesley A. Wiggins, Sr. v. Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company
Wiggins v. Newport News Shipbuilding (BRB 97-0255): Special Fund filing deadline sent back for review
Wesley Wiggins injured his back while working as a rigger for Newport News Shipbuilding. The employer sought to shift part of its compensation liability to the Longshore Act's Special Fund, but its application arrived after the district director's deadline. The Board held that the district director…
Clifford Cotton v. Stoney Ridge Coal Company
Cotton v. Stoney Ridge Coal (BRB 97-0248): Later black lung claim denial affirmed
Clifford Cotton filed another black lung claim after an earlier denial. A judge found that new x-rays and medical opinions did not establish pneumoconiosis or total respiratory disability, so Cotton had not shown a material change in conditions. On appeal, the Board held that the judge could give…
National Treasury Employees Union, Chapter 266 and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Atlanta, Georgia
NTEU Chapter 266 and FDIC Atlanta (FLRA 0-AR-2933): union arbitration exceptions denied
NTEU Chapter 266 challenged an arbitration award involving the FDIC in Atlanta. The FDIC opposed the union's exceptions. The Authority reviewed the record under the statutory grounds for setting aside an arbitration award and found that the union had established none of them. It denied the…
Palmer Wastewater Treatment Plant
In re Palmer Wastewater Treatment Plant (EAB NPDES Appeal No. 97-5): permit modification review declined
The Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority asked the EAB to review EPA Region II's denial of a request to modify the NPDES permit for the Palmer Wastewater Treatment Plant. After considering the appeal and the Region's response, the Board declined review. The Board explained that the appeal would…
In re Varig Brazilian Airlines “Flight No. 830”
Carrier's fine remitted under reasonable diligence standard
The Board reviewed a $3,000 administrative fine imposed on Varig Brazilian Airlines after a passenger arrived in the United States from Brazil using a counterfeit Dutch passport and no visa. The Board held that the reasonable diligence standard applies both to determining whether a passenger is an…
American Federation of Government Employees, Local 987 and U.S. Department of the Air Force, Warner Robins Air Logistics Center
AFGE Local 987 and Warner Robins Air Logistics Center (FLRA 0-AR-2979): union exceptions denied
AFGE Local 987 challenged an arbitration award involving the Air Force's Warner Robins Air Logistics Center. The Air Force opposed the union's exceptions. The Authority reviewed the record under the statutory grounds for setting aside an arbitration award and concluded that the award was not…
Windsor Coal Company
Coal-dust citation affirmed with $4,000 penalty
Windsor Coal operated the Windsor Mine, where MSHA found extensive accumulations of loose coal and coal dust along the No. 9 conveyor belt. Judge William Fauver found a violation of 30 C.F.R. § 75.400 and concluded that the condition was significant and substantial and caused by unwarrantable…
Tireman's Tire Shop, Inc.
Unguarded repair pit and open breaker panels affirmed as serious
Tireman's Tire Shop, Inc. ran an auto tire and repair shop in New York. After an employee complaint, OSHA inspected in December 1996 and, while finding none of the complained-of conditions, cited two hazards in plain view. The first was a 40-foot-long, 5.5-foot-deep repair pit that was unguarded…
Williams & Sons Erectors, LLC
Fall protection and training violations affirmed
Williams & Sons Erectors performed steel erection at a three-story construction site in New York. OSHA observed one ironworker welding on a second-level beam and another sitting on a roof-level column without fall protection. The judge credited the compliance officer's testimony that the employees…
Calvin E. Cline, Sr. v. Westmoreland Coal Company
Cline v. Westmoreland Coal (BRB 96-0603): Later black lung claim returned for new findings
Calvin Cline filed a new black lung claim after his first claim was denied. An administrative law judge denied the new claim because he found no material change in conditions, and he refused to compel the coal company to produce certain expert medical opinions. The Board held that the judge needed…
A.D. Willis Company, Inc.
Roofing fall-protection citation vacated for failure of proof
A.D. Willis Company, Inc. was doing roofing work on an HEB store in Midland, Texas. An OSHA compliance officer arriving around 9:15 a.m. saw and videotaped two Willis employees working at the edge of the roughly 30-foot-high roof with no visible fall protection. He did not go onto the roof until…
Phelps Dodge Morenci, Inc.
Discrimination complaint dismissed after remand
Clyde W. Perry worked as a truck driver at Phelps Dodge Morenci's copper mine. He alleged that the company discharged him because he complained that truck driving caused foot pain and created a safety risk. Judge Jacqueline R. Bulluck found that Perry engaged in protected activity but did not prove…
Costain Coal Incorporated
Respiratory-dust penalties and settlements resolved
Costain Coal operated the Baker Mine and Smith Underground No. 1. The proceedings involved excessive respirable-dust samples from mechanized mining units and a designated area, along with citations resolved through settlements. Judge Jerold Feldman found the dust violations significant and…
Esther Jones v. Aluminum Company of America
Jones v. Aluminum Company of America (BRB 97-0287): conveyor maintenance qualifies as maritime work
Charlie Jones maintained equipment at an aluminum plant, including conveyors carrying bauxite from ships to storage. After he died from lung cancer, his widow and children sought Longshore Act death benefits, alleging workplace asbestos exposure contributed to his death. The judge denied the claim…
Union Tank Car Company
Commission rejects unexplained PPE payment interpretation
Union Tank Car Company required employees at its railcar repair facility to buy their own safety shoes and welding gloves while subsidizing metatarsal guards. OSHA cited the company on the theory that the word “provide” in the general PPE standard required employers to pay for the equipment. The…
Jim Walter Resources, Inc.
Withdrawal order modified after remand
Jim Walter Resources was cited after MSHA found combustible trash accumulations in active and inactive areas of its No. 7 Mine. On remand from the D.C. Circuit and the Commission, Judge Gary Melick considered whether non-violative accumulations in the inactive area could support an…
Prospect Waterproofing Company
Roof-edge citation vacated for employee misconduct
OSHA cited Prospect Waterproofing Company after employees were observed near the edge of a multi-story roof without the required warning system. The judge found that the Secretary established an initial case but that the employer proved unpreventable employee misconduct. Prospect had an established…
Triton Coal Company
Tire citation vacated
Triton Coal operated the Buckskin surface coal mine. MSHA cited the company after finding a damaged rear tire on a 190-ton haulage truck and alleged that the condition violated 30 C.F.R. § 77.1606(c). Judge David F. Barbour found that the tire's skiving, tread separation, exposed belts, and other…
Newmont Gold Company
Guarding citations vacated
Newmont Gold contested five citations and five related withdrawal orders at its Genesis Mine. The citations alleged that moving engine parts on five haul trucks lacked required guards, while the withdrawal orders were later vacated by the Secretary. Judge August F. Cetti dismissed the five order…
Rock of Ages Corporation
Late oral-argument participation denied
Rock of Ages asked the Commission to let David Gomo participate in oral argument and to accept his late request to participate. The Commission denied the motions because the participating commissioners split evenly, and the relief required a majority vote. Two commissioners concluded that Gomo was…
Jerry Bennett Masonry Contractor, Inc.
Scaffold and chemical-safety violations affirmed
Three Jerry Bennett Masonry employees fell 30 to 35 feet when the outriggers supporting a suspended scaffold slipped from beneath their counterweights. The judge found that the person assigned to erect the scaffold lacked the training and knowledge required of a competent person. Required tiebacks…
Yukon No. 1 Mining Claim
18 citations affirmed with an $872 penalty
Yukon No. 1 Mining Claim, a small mine with four people involved in the business, withdrew its contest to 18 citations, leaving the penalties as the only issue. The parties stipulated that the violations involved moderate negligence, no prior inspection or violation history, and a range of low…
Peabody Coal Company
Late penalty contest reopened
Peabody Coal timely contested the underlying violation but did not separately contest the proposed penalty within the required 30-day period. The company explained that poor coordination between counsel and mine personnel caused the six-day late filing. The Commission found that Peabody intended to…
Ohio Cellular Products Corp.
Machine-guarding citation affirmed after fatal rotating-arm accident
Ohio Cellular Products Corp. molds polyethylene foam sports and automotive padding at a plant in Wauseon, Ohio, using large rotating "Rotocast" ovens. In October 1996 a relief operator was fatally injured when her clothing caught on an oven's rotating mold arm while she unloaded foam. OSHA cited…
Design Decorators, Inc.
Aerial-lift violations affirmed as willful, penalties reduced
Design Decorators, Inc. is a small, highly seasonal Pennsylvania company that installs and maintains public Christmas decorations using a truck-mounted aerial lift. In November 1995 a 22-year-old employee riding in the raised bucket was fatally injured when the truck drove under an underpass with…
Matter of Carlos CAZARES-Alvarez
Aggravated-felony bar ended section 212(c) appeal
Mr. Cazares-Alvarez, a Mexican national and lawful permanent resident, was ordered deported after an aggravated-felony drug conviction. In 1996, the Board initially held that his temporary-resident time could count toward the seven-year domicile requirement for former section 212(c) relief and…
Matter of Hector PONCE DE LEON-Ruiz
Aggravated-felony bar ended section 212(c) appeal
Mr. Ponce de Leon-Ruiz, a Mexican national and lawful permanent resident, was ordered deported after convictions for selling marijuana and an aggravated felony. The Board initially held that his conviction was an aggravated felony and that the governing regulation barred section 212(c) relief…
In re Po Shing Yeung
Aggravated-felony bar applied to section 212(h) waiver
The Board considered a lawful permanent resident's request for a section 212(h) waiver after he was convicted of attempted manslaughter and sentenced to five years in prison. The Board's majority held that the 1996 statutory amendments applied because the respondent's case was pending on remand…
Riccon Construction Corp.
Late notice of contest dismissed, citation stands
Riccon Construction Corp., a New York construction company, was cited by OSHA in a February 1996 citation that its president's 16-year-old daughter received and signed for. An employer has 15 working days to file a notice of contest, but Riccon never filed one with the Secretary and instead sent a…
Lazarus, Inc.
In re Lazarus, Inc. (EAB TSCA Appeal No. 95-2): PCB penalty affirmed after PRA and limitations rulings
EPA Region V charged Lazarus, Inc. after a 1992 inspection of two PCB transformers at the company's department store annex in Columbus, Ohio. The alleged violations concerned transformer registration, warning labels, inspection records, PCB annual documents, and spill cleanup. The Environmental…
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and American Federation of Government Employees, Local 3637
EEOC arbitration-award compliance (FLRA DA-CA-50198): unfair labor practice complaint time barred
AFGE Local 3637 alleged that the EEOC refused to comply with an arbitration award reinstating an employee with backpay. An administrative law judge found an unfair labor practice, but the Authority held that the union's charge was filed after the six-month deadline. The union had first sought…
Shirley Mays and Betty Jean Mays v. Piney Mountain Coal Company, Incorporated
Mays v. Piney Mountain Coal (BRB 94-0170): Survivor benefits upheld, fee award returned
Shirley Mays, the miner's widow, and Betty Jean Mays, his surviving divorced spouse, each sought black lung survivor benefits. The employer argued that coal workers' pneumoconiosis had not hastened the miner's death and that the two claimants could not each receive a full benefit. The Board upheld…
National Engineering and Contracting Company
Boom-truck violation restored to willful
National Engineering and Contracting Company was building a highway sound wall and used a boom truck to place concrete traffic barriers. The truck tipped while a barrier was being moved without its front outriggers and rear stabilizers fully extended, killing one employee and seriously injuring…
American Federation of Government Employees, Local 1815 and U.S. Department of the Army, U.S. Army Aviation Center and Fort Rucker
Fort Rucker labor agreement (FLRA 0-NG-2304): two disapproved provisions restored
The Army disapproved provisions of its agreement with AFGE Local 1815 at Fort Rucker. The Authority found Provisions 1 through 11 contrary to law, covering matters such as holiday assignments, annual leave, hiring restrictions, discipline, and overtime meal breaks. It found that Provisions 12 and…
National Association of Government Employees, Local R1-109 and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Medical Center, Newington, Connecticut
VA Newington reorganization (FLRA 0-NG-2264 and 0-NG-2265): one meeting proposal negotiable
NAGE Local R1-109 proposed five rules after the VA reorganized work between its Newington and West Haven facilities. The Authority found that a rule requiring Newington employees' personnel folders to stay at Newington affected management's right to organize its operations. It also found that a…
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.