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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Matter of O-J-O-
Suspension of deportation granted after extreme-hardship finding
The Board sustained a Nicaraguan respondent’s appeal from the denial of suspension of deportation. The respondent had lived in the United States since age 13, was educated and fully assimilated here, operated a small trucking business, and faced difficult economic and political conditions if…
Matter of Jose CASTRO-Padron
Adjustment application jurisdiction denied
The Board denied a family’s motion to reopen exclusion proceedings so they could apply for adjustment of status based on an approved family-based immigrant visa petition. It held that adjustment applications in exclusion proceedings generally fall within the sole jurisdiction of the Immigration and…
Verda M. Williams v. Lovilia Coal Company and Bituminous Casualty Corporation
Williams v. Lovilia Coal (BRB 94-3703): Partnership and insurer must pay benefits
Billie Williams worked as a coal miner and was also a partner in Lovilia Coal Company. A judge awarded benefits to him and his widow but assigned payment to the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund, reasoning that Williams could not be his own employee and that the partnership and insurer were not…
National Federation of Federal Employees, Local 1214 and U.S. Department of the Army, U.S. Army Training Center and Fort Jackson
NFFE Local 1214 and Fort Jackson (FLRA 0-NG-2216): fair discipline provision approved
Fort Jackson disapproved a negotiated provision requiring discipline to be based on just cause and applied consistently and equitably. The Army argued that the provision would restrict management's right to discipline and force uniform penalties. The Authority read the provision as allowing…
U.S. Department of Defense, Army and Air Force Exchange Service and American Federation of Government Employees, Worldwide Consolidated Bargaining Unit
Army and Air Force Exchange Service and AFGE (FLRA 0-AR-2590): union official time award upheld
AFGE grieved how the Army and Air Force Exchange Service limited official time for union representatives. An arbitrator found that representatives could use desk telephones for representational work without the advance notice required when leaving their work areas, and directed written…
Matter of Fauziya KASINGA
Asylum granted based on threatened female genital mutilation
The Board sustained a Togolese applicant’s appeal from an Immigration Judge’s denial of asylum and ordered her admitted to the United States as an asylee. The Board found that female genital mutilation as practiced by the Tchamba-Kunsuntu Tribe constituted persecution and that young women of that…
U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Prisons, Federal Correctional Institution, Bastrop, Texas and American Federation of Government Employees, Local 3828
Bastrop federal prison and AFGE Local 3828 (FLRA DA-CA-20915): union excluded from grievance meeting
A Bastrop federal prison employee and AFGE Local 3828 were trying to resolve a dispute with his supervisor before filing a written grievance. A higher-level manager called the employee and supervisor to a meeting but gave the union no notice and refused the employee's requests for representation…
Alma Reigh v. Director, Office of Workers' Compensation Programs
Reigh v. Director, OWCP (BRB 92-1380): Survivor benefit denial reaffirmed
Alma Reigh claimed benefits as the adult daughter of a miner who had received black lung benefits. On reconsideration, the Board accepted the Labor Department's position that an eligible survivor may derive entitlement from a qualifying earlier Part B award. It nevertheless held that Reigh did not…
Northwest Erectors, Inc.
Metal decking citation vacated
Northwest Erectors installed metal roof decking at a construction site in Pennsylvania. The company settled a fall-protection citation under 29 C.F.R. § 1926.105(a) for a $1,500 penalty. The remaining citation alleged that employees walked on decking that was not secured against movement under 29…
American Federation of Government Employees, National Border Patrol Council and U.S. Department of Justice, Immigration and Naturalization Service
Border Patrol Council and INS (FLRA 0-NG-2181): one overseas travel provision negotiable
The Border Patrol Council appealed the INS's disapproval of seven provisions about overseas assignments and related travel expenses. The Authority dismissed the petition for the first six provisions because they conflicted with management assignment or selection rights, failed to qualify as…
De Atley Company, Incorporated
Default vacated and settlement approved
De Atley Company faced a civil penalty proceeding involving one violation at Plant No. 4. After the operator explained that a settlement had been reached before a default order was issued, Judge Paul Merlin vacated the February 7, 1996 default. He approved the parties’ settlement, reducing the…
Matter of Vicente CERVANTES-Torres
Brief departure did not break continuous presence
The Board reviewed a Mexican respondent’s appeal from an Immigration Judge’s decision finding him deportable and denying suspension of deportation. The respondent had left the United States for three days to visit his ill father and was then readmitted as a returning applicant for temporary…
Leo Journagan Construction Company, Inc. and James M. Ray
Lockout violation affirmed, hopper citation vacated
MSHA inspected Leo Journagan Construction’s portable crusher in Missouri after employees entered the crusher to clear jammed rocks while power remained available. Judge Arthur J. Amchan found that the operator violated the lockout standard, but the violation was not significant and substantial…
Consolidation Coal Company
Discovery motion granted in part
Consolidation Coal sought discovery in civil penalty proceedings arising from the Blacksville No. 1 Mine explosion and asked for documents from MSHA’s investigation and internal review. Judge Gary Melick rejected the Secretary’s position that some interview memoranda were protected work product…
Roger Christensen and Jesse Martinez, employed by Georgia-Pacific Corporation
Late penalty petitions accepted
The Secretary filed section 110(c) civil penalty petitions against Roger Christensen and Jesse Martinez, employees of Georgia-Pacific at Gypsum Quarry No. 6. The petitions were filed 10 and 16 days late after a partial government shutdown delayed the Solicitor’s office. Chief Administrative Law…
Hudson Wood Recycling, Inc.
Remand for employer-status jurisdiction inquiry
An administrative law judge dismissed Hudson Wood Recycling's notice of contest after the company failed to comply with prehearing requirements and did not answer a show-cause order. Hudson then asserted that it had never had employees, raising whether it was an employer covered by the Occupational…
Jim Walter Resources, Inc.
Discrimination finding affirmed and penalty reduced
Jim Walter Resources operated an underground coal mine where miner James Johnson refused to work in an area with missing roof bolts, removed cribs, a roof crack, and other conditions he believed were unsafe. The ALJ found that Johnson's refusal to install roof support was protected activity and…
City of Ames, Iowa
In re City of Ames, Iowa (EAB NPDES Appeal No. 94-6): compliance-schedule remand
The City of Ames appealed the denial of an evidentiary hearing concerning renewal of its NPDES permit for a wastewater treatment plant. It sought a delayed compliance schedule for ammonia nitrogen and carbonaceous biochemical oxygen demand limits, arguing that it could not meet the new limits…
United Mine Workers of America, Local 1058, District 31 v. Consolidation Coal Company
Compensation ordered under stipulated liability
United Mine Workers of America, Local 1058, sought compensation for miners at Consolidation Coal’s Humphrey No. 7 Mine under section 111 of the Mine Act. After the judge entered a liability decision on April 3, 1996, the parties stipulated to the compensation and interest due. Judge William Fauver…
Southern Minerals, Inc., True Energy Coal Sales, Inc., and Fire Creek, Inc.
Motions on penalty evidence and scheduling denied
Southern Minerals, True Energy Coal Sales, and Fire Creek faced contests involving 102 citations and orders and proposed penalties exceeding half a million dollars at the Fire Creek No. 1 Mine. Judge David F. Barbour denied a motion seeking to limit evidence about the Secretary's penalty criteria…
Energy West Mining Company
Penalty reduced after remand
Energy West Mining Company conceded a respirable-dust violation at its Cottonwood Mine after samples averaged 2.2 milligrams per cubic meter, above the 2.0 milligram limit in 30 C.F.R. § 70.100(a). The Commission had affirmed the failure-to-abate order but vacated the original $3,000 penalty…
Citadel Corporation
Excavation and training citations vacated
Citadel Corporation was the general contractor for construction of two apartment buildings on the Georgia Tech campus. OSHA alleged that Citadel failed to train employees about excavation hazards, lacked a competent person to inspect excavations, and willfully failed to protect employees from…
North Florida Shipyards, Inc.
Aerial-lift citations vacated
Two North Florida Shipyards employees used an aerial lift to move steel plates onto a barge, overloaded the basket, and did not tie off. The lift tilted and then righted itself, throwing one employee from the basket; he died from his injuries later that day. OSHA issued five serious citation items…
American Federation of Government Employees, Local 1770 and U.S. Department of the Army, Headquarters, XVIII Airborne Corps and Fort Bragg, Fort Bragg, North Carolina
AFGE Local 1770 and Fort Bragg (FLRA 0-AR-2719): reduced suspension upheld
The Army suspended a Fort Bragg employee for 10 days after a workplace dispute with a noncommissioned officer. An arbitrator found discipline warranted for insubordination, a disturbance and an implicit threat, but reduced the suspension to five days because of mitigating circumstances. The union…
Matter of H-
Past clan persecution recognized and case remanded
The Board sustained a Somali applicant’s appeal in part after an Immigration Judge denied relief based on persecution connected to clan conflict. It held that the Marehan subclan is a particular social group and that harm inflicted during civil strife can constitute persecution even without a…
Borough of Ridgway, Pennsylvania
In re Borough of Ridgway, Pennsylvania (EAB CWA Appeal No. 95-2): Class I penalty complaint reinstated and remanded
EPA brought two Clean Water Act Class I penalty actions against the Borough of Ridgway for alleged violations of its NPDES permit. The first action sought a $24,800 penalty for violations during January through April 1994, and the second concerned later violations and would have increased the…
Wendy Smith v. Alter Barge Line, Incorporated
Smith v. Alter Barge Line (BRB 93-1449): death-benefits award affirmed for barge repair worker
Craig Smith worked chiefly as a welder at Alter Barge Line's barge repair facility and also worked on its tugboats. He fell from a tugboat and drowned, and his widow sought death benefits under the Longshore Act. The employer argued that his vessel work made him a crew member excluded from the Act…
Glenn Taylor and Lois Taylor v. Plant Shipyard Corporation
Taylor v. Plant Shipyard Corporation (BRB 89-1328A, 94-0363, 94-0363A): employer finding affirmed and death-benefits ruling remanded
Glenn Taylor was exposed to asbestos while working as a shipfitter at two shipyards, and his widow later claimed death benefits. The Board upheld the finding that Plant was the last responsible employer because the judge reasonably relied on Social Security earnings records over Taylor's uncertain…
Superior Electric Company
Repeated guardrail violation affirmed
Superior Electric employees used an unguarded catwalk about 10 feet above the floor while completing electrical work in a renovated warehouse. An employee fell while stepping from the catwalk onto a ladder and was injured. The Commission reversed the judge's ruling that Superior lacked knowledge…
American Federation of Government Employees, Local 1301 and U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons
AFGE Local 1301 and Bureau of Prisons (FLRA 0-NG-2260): faxed disapproval ruling stands
The Bureau of Prisons asked the Authority to reconsider an order involving a local supplemental agreement with AFGE Local 1301. The earlier order held that faxing the agency's disapproval to the union did not meet the Authority's service rule, so the agreement had taken effect and there was no…
General Chemical Corporation
Dismissal reopened and amended
General Chemical Corporation contested nine citations involving alleged inadequate stoppings and faced a separate civil-penalty proceeding for an alleged failure to report an accident. After the ALJ dismissed the proceedings, General Chemical asked the Commission to clarify whether Citation No…
General Chemical Corporation
Amended dismissal order
General Chemical Corporation asked the Commission to amend an earlier dismissal order, and the Secretary did not oppose the request. The Commission amended the December 12, 1995 dismissal order to clarify that Citation No. 4338810 was included in the dismissal. The order resolved the requested…
Contractors Sand & Gravel Supply, Incorporated
Settlement approved for $1,950
Contractors Sand & Gravel Supply faced consolidated civil-penalty proceedings involving alleged safety violations at its Scott River and Montague plants. After earlier default proceedings were reopened and remanded, the parties proposed a settlement covering the remaining citations. Judge August F…
Kiewit Atkinson Kenny
Mixed ruling on tunnel electrical hazards
Kiewit Atkinson Kenny was the general contractor for a tunnel construction project on Deer Island in Massachusetts. The judge held that Kiewit could be responsible for hazards created by its electrical subcontractor because Kiewit supervised the worksite and could obtain abatement. She affirmed…
Lehigh Portland Cement Company
Settlement approved for $3,500
Lehigh Portland Cement Company received two citations after two miners became ill near a kiln area where oil torches were being used and sulfur dioxide and oxygen readings were taken. One citation alleged inadequate surveys for dust, gas, mist, and fumes, and the other alleged that emergency…
P. Gioioso & Sons, Inc.
Trench safety violations affirmed
P. Gioioso & Sons was installing water lines in Winthrop, Massachusetts, when OSHA inspectors saw a foreman and another employee inside an unprotected trench. A suspended pipe passed over the employees, and their access ladder extended only 12 inches above street level. The judge affirmed serious…
American Federation of Government Employees, Local 1897 and U.S. Department of the Air Force, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida
AFGE Local 1897 and Eglin Air Force Base (FLRA 0-AR-2808): on-call time remains unpaid
AFGE Local 1897 sought standby pay for ten Eglin Air Force Base employees who carried beepers and could be called to work while off duty. An arbitrator denied the grievance because the employees were not confined to a duty post, substantially limited in their activities or required to remain ready…
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Medical Center, Martinsburg, West Virginia and National Association of Government Employees, Local R4-78
Martinsburg VA Medical Center and NAGE (FLRA 0-AR-2657): appraisal award sent back for clarification
A Martinsburg VA Medical Center employee grieved a performance appraisal that rated him fully successful. An arbitrator ordered an exceptional rating on one job element and a higher overall rating after finding that his supervisor had improperly considered a resolved complaint and was annoyed by…
Lion Mining Company
Roof control findings vacated and remanded
Lion Mining Company was cited for failing to install roadway posts before a continuous miner cut into a coal pillar. The judge found a roof-control-plan violation but rejected the significant-and-substantial and unwarrantable-failure designations. The Commission held that the judge had given too…
Louis Sinisgalli, d/b/a Metro Wrecking of Rochester, Inc., et al.
Willful cave-in violation affirmed
Workers were sent to remove pumps from a deep, water-filled excavation at a trailer park owned through one of Louis Sinisgalli's corporations. After the workers reported crumbling walls and unsafe conditions, Sinisgalli directed them to return and complete the work before he would pay them. A…
Jim Walter Resources
Coal-dust and belt-condition violations affirmed, settlements approved
MSHA alleged that Jim Walter Resources allowed extensive coal dust to accumulate along the East B belt and in a starter box, and operated an improperly aligned belt with missing or damaged rollers and belt stands. The judge found both litigated violations, under 30 C.F.R. §§ 75.400 and 75.1725(a)…
Peabody Coal Company
Ventilation-plan provision affirmed as suitable for deep-cut mining
Peabody Coal Company challenged a citation alleging that its Martwick Mine operated without an approved ventilation plan. The dispute concerned a deep-cut provision requiring additional line-curtain placement and airflow during roof bolting. The Commission held that the Secretary proved the prior…
Reading Anthracite Company
Discrimination case settlement approved
This remand order addressed damages for William Kaczmarczyk's discrimination case against Reading Anthracite Company. The parties stipulated that $4,225.92 represented lost overtime and additional workers' compensation payments, with $1,630 attributed to lost overtime and $2,595.92 to workers'…
Lorrain B. Hamilton v. Ingalls Shipbuilding, Incorporated
Hamilton v. Ingalls Shipbuilding (BRB 93-1100): reconsideration request held timely
The judge dismissed Everette Hamilton's Longshore Act claim after a third-party settlement and rejected the Labor Department Director's request to reconsider the dismissal as late. The Director had asked the judge to account for a widow's claim in the same matter. The Board held that the ten-day…
Aggregate Products, Inc.
Screening plant under MSHA jurisdiction
MSHA cited Aggregate Products, Inc. at a screening plant that processed crushed sand and gravel for the company's asphalt operation. The judge found that the screening plant was part of the milling process because it sized material for use in asphalt, so MSHA had jurisdiction even though the…
The Timken Company
Confined-space training violation affirmed but cut from willful to serious, penalty reduced to $3,000
The Timken Company makes tapered roller bearings and employs about 1,000 workers at its Canton, Ohio bearing plant. After an OSHA inspection, Timken was cited for confined-space violations in a heat-treat department where two vertical pit furnace areas were designated permit-required confined…
Karl & Associates
Demolition-debris violations affirmed serious after asbestos worker's fall through a collapsed grate, $1,250
Karl & Associates is an industrial environmental services firm in the Delaware Valley. In September 1995 it was removing asbestos from a building at the former Publicker distillery in Philadelphia ahead of demolition. A grate on the sixth floor collapsed, and an employee, Norman Williams, fell two…
MRC Technologies, Inc.
Commission lets stand an ALJ penalty cut for a financially strapped employer
MRC Technologies repaired stone-crushing equipment tied to road construction in the Niagara Falls, New York area. After a 1993 inspection, OSHA cited the company across two dockets for numerous serious and nonserious violations plus one willful crane-safety violation, and proposed $35,250 in…
Sanders Lead Company
Commission approves a partial settlement of lead-standard citations
Sanders Lead Company is an employer subject to OSHA's lead standard, 29 C.F.R. 1910.1025. OSHA issued citations in February 1987 covering employee notification of corrective action, training, and respirator-choice requirements under that standard. The case had a long history: the Commission issued…
Newmont Gold Company
Discrimination penalty settlement approved
The judge had previously found that Newmont Gold Company's discharge of Lance A. Paul violated the Mine Act's discrimination provision. The Secretary proposed a $9,000 civil penalty, and Newmont did not contest it. The judge approved the settlement, conditioned dismissal on timely payment of the…
Peabody Coal Company
Respiratory-dust penalties reduced on remand
The Commission remanded three respirable-dust violations for penalty reassessment after rejecting unwarrantable-failure and high-negligence findings. On remand, the judge found ordinary negligence, affirmed the violations as section 104(a) violations, and reduced the penalty to $1,500 for each…
Beck Materials Company
Conveyor violations affirmed, guarding negligence modified
MSHA cited Beck Materials Company after plant foreman Doug Laird was seriously injured while adjusting a moving conveyor belt. The judge found violations for failing to deenergize and lock out the conveyor and for failing to provide a safe means of access, and found both violations significant and…
L. C. Branham v. BethEnergy Mines, Incorporated
Branham v. BethEnergy Mines (BRB 94-0149): Employer may seek to reopen benefit award
L. C. Branham had been awarded black lung benefits. BethEnergy Mines asked to modify the award, claiming that the finding of total disability was factually mistaken and offering medical reports, including recantations by two physicians. An administrative law judge refused to consider the request…
FMC Wyoming Corporation
Permissibility citation modified and order vacated
FMC Wyoming operated the underground FMC Trona Mine, where MSHA cited nonpermissible proximity switches at the top of a hoist shaft under 30 C.F.R. § 57.22305. The judge found that the switches were not maintained in permissible condition. The inspector measured less than one percent methane in…
AMAX Coal Company
Amended decision issued
This amended release corrected a page in an earlier decision involving AMAX Coal Company's LAKE 96-17 proceeding. The release reconfirmed an approved settlement reducing one order's penalty from $2,500 to $2,000 and reproduced the decision's discussion of a citation alleging wet and muddy…
AMAX Coal Company
Wet haulageway violation affirmed
MSHA cited AMAX Coal Company after inspectors found standing water and mud in a mine haulageway, with water up to 24 inches deep and a tractor stuck in the mud. The judge found that the roadway conditions affected equipment control and that the violation was significant and substantial because…
Joseph A. Crapanzano v. Rice Mohawk, U.S. Construction Company, Limited
Crapanzano v. Rice Mohawk (BRB 93-1737): bridge construction injury outside Longshore Act coverage
Joseph Crapanzano was an ironworker building a bridge across Grassy Bay and sometimes unloaded bridge materials from a barge. He tripped on the bridge structure and was injured after falling to the ground; he received New York workers' compensation benefits and also sought Longshore Act benefits…
Consolidated Concepts, Inc., Camden Development, Inc., Noconi Construction Corporation
Most citations vacated, one pump-jack scaffold item affirmed serious, $1,500
OSHA inspected a three-story apartment complex under construction in Corpus Christi, Texas, and issued serious citations to three companies at the site: Consolidated Concepts (CCI), Camden Development (the general contractor), and Noconi Construction. All three contested, the cases were…
Linde Enterprises, Inc.
Trenching cave-in items affirmed serious, seat-belt item vacated, $1,800
Linde Enterprises is a Pennsylvania excavating contractor that was installing utility lines in Dunmore, Pennsylvania. Acting on an anonymous complaint, an OSHA compliance officer inspected the trench worksite and issued one serious citation with four items. Linde first argued the inspection was…
A.M. Welles, Inc.
Guarding citations and abatement orders affirmed
A.M. Welles operated the Red Pioneer Portable Crusher, where MSHA cited inadequate guards on a conveyor tail pulley and a generator's alternator and V-belt drive. The judge found that both conditions had not been timely abated and affirmed the citations and section 104(b) withdrawal orders. One…
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.