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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American Bridge Company
Lead-exposure washing-facilities violation affirmed
American Bridge Company rehabilitated two Ohio bridges by cutting and burning steel coated with lead-based paint. OSHA monitoring found one employee's full-shift airborne lead exposure was about 3.8 times the applicable limit, and wipe samples found lead on his hand, shoe, hard hat, and lunch box…
International Association of Fire Fighters, Local F-89 and U.S. Department of the Army, Fort Sam Houston
Fire Fighters Local F-89 and Fort Sam Houston (FLRA 0-AR-2668): additional remedies not raised before arbitrator
An arbitrator overturned a Fort Sam Houston employee's suspension and ordered restoration of lost pay and benefits. Fire Fighters Local F-89 then sought compensatory damages and attorney fees in its exceptions to the award. The Authority declined to consider either remedy because the union had not…
Basin Resources, Inc.
Ventilation violation found significant and substantial
Basin Resources changed the ventilation system at its Golden Eagle Mine without advance approval from MSHA. The judge considered whether the resulting violation of the mine's approved ventilation plan was significant and substantial after the Commission remanded that issue. He found that the…
Brown Brothers Sand Company
One citation vacated and four affirmed
Brown Brothers operated a sand mine with conveyor belts, shaker screens, and electrical equipment. The judge vacated a guarding citation for a conveyor head pulley because the walkway was used exclusively for maintenance and the pulley was remote from ordinary work areas. The judge affirmed four…
Jeddo-Highland Coal Company
Compensation settlement approved
The United Mine Workers of America filed a compensation complaint concerning miners at Jeddo-Highland Coal Company's No. 7 Breaker. The company moved to approve a settlement agreeing to pay each named miner for the listed hours at the miner's regular rate of pay. The judge found the settlement…
R B Coal Company
Settlement approved and penalties reduced to $5,690
R B Coal Company faced civil penalty proceedings involving KENT 94-908 and KENT 94-942. The proposed penalties totaled $42,320. The parties reached a settlement that reduced the total to $5,690, vacated an imminent-danger order in another related docket, changed several section 104(d)(1) matters to…
Tanoma Mining Company
Ventilation order modified and $1,600 penalty affirmed
Tanoma Mining Company was cited after an inspector found insufficient air in the last open crosscut at the Tanoma Mine, where methane was also detected. The judge found that the condition violated the ventilation standard and was significant and substantial because continued inadequate ventilation…
Copper Range Company
Shift-compensation complaint dismissed
United Steelworkers Local 5024 sought shift compensation for miners at Copper Range Company's White Pine Mine after a mine fire and an MSHA section 103(k) control order. The miners had already been evacuated and sent home before the order was issued. Judge Roy J. Maurer held that the miners were…
Otis Elevator Company
Extension-cord GFCI violation affirmed
Otis Elevator Company was installing an elevator in a building addition and powered tools and a portable lamp through an extension cord connected to the original building's permanent wiring. The Commission held that the cord's receptacle outlet still required ground-fault protection under the…
Meshach Coal Company
Dust-sampling settlement approved at $500
Meshach Coal Company failed to take a valid dust sample during a sampling cycle. The parties proposed reducing the penalty from $2,000 to $500 because the operator was experiencing financial difficulties and the mine was closed. Judge Paul Merlin approved the settlement and ordered payment of $500…
Utility Systems, Inc.
Willful utility-location violation affirmed after gas explosion
Utility Systems excavated for water service lines on a New Jersey street after snow and earlier trenching had obscured gas-line markings. Its superintendent requested a new markout but began digging before the gas company responded, despite uncertainty about service to one house. The backhoe struck…
Pontiki Coal Corporation
Remaining dismissal issues rejected
Charles H. Dixon filed a discrimination complaint involving Pontiki Coal Corporation, and the Secretary later filed a complaint on his behalf. Pontiki argued that the Secretary's filing was untimely, that Dixon's certificate of representation was defective, and that an amended complaint did not…
S & H Mining Co.
Settlement approved with $1,000 penalty
S & H Mining Co. employee Gary Byrge faced a civil penalty proceeding under the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act. The Secretary proposed a $1,000 penalty, and Byrge agreed to pay it in full under a settlement. Judge Gary Melick found the settlement acceptable under the statutory criteria and…
In re Antonio ESPOSITO, Respondent
In re Antonio ESPOSITO (BIA ID 3243): firearms deportability barred section 212(c) relief
Antonio Esposito had convictions for marijuana possession, cocaine possession with intent to distribute, and possession of a sawed-off shotgun, with the execution of each sentence suspended. The Board held that the full sentences were actually imposed for purposes of the immigration law, but that…
Pueblo Depot Activity and National Association of Government Employees, Local R14-5
Pueblo Depot and NAGE Local R14-5 (FLRA DE-CA-20287): retroactive bargaining addresses lost overtime
Pueblo Depot formed a special team to clear a property disposal backlog without giving NAGE Local R14-5 a chance to bargain over the change's impact and implementation. Team members received substantial overtime, while other employees lost opportunities to earn it. The Authority adopted the judge's…
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Social Security Administration and American Federation of Government Employees, General Committee
SSA and AFGE General Committee (FLRA WA-CA-20937): make-whole relief remanded after performance standard violation
SSA implemented revised employee performance standards while the union's request for help with negotiations was pending before the Federal Service Impasses Panel. An administrative law judge found a labor law violation but declined to restore the prior standards and did not decide whether affected…
Pauline Perry (Widow of Jerome Perry) v. Bath Iron Works Corporation
Perry v. Bath Iron Works (BRB 92-1670): death claim fund relief and settlement offsets reconsidered
Pauline Perry received Longshore death benefits after her husband, a Bath Iron Works employee with asbestos related disease, died of lung cancer. The judge extended earlier Special Fund relief from the disability claim to the death claim and ordered the Fund to repay the carrier from proceeds of a…
Defense Logistics Agency, Defense Distribution Region East and American Federation of Government Employees, Local 2004
Defense Distribution Region East and AFGE Local 2004 (FLRA BP-CA-20681): backpay settlement enforced
The Defense Logistics Agency agreed with AFGE Local 2004 to pay employees for periods when they performed higher-grade duties, then refused to carry out the grievance settlement. An administrative law judge found that repudiating the agreement violated federal labor law, and the Authority adopted…
Valdak Corp.
Willful machine-guarding penalty increased
Valdak Corporation used an industrial centrifuge extractor to dry towels at its North Dakota car wash. A 15-year-old employee suffered a severed arm, which was later reattached, after reaching into the extractor while its internal drum was spinning. The Commission held that Valdak willfully…
American Federation of Government Employees, Local 1931 and Naval Weapons Station, Concord
AFGE Local 1931 and Naval Weapons Station Concord (FLRA 0-AR-2656): former employee's grievance not arbitrable
After transferring to another federal agency, a former Naval Weapons Station employee applied for a vacancy at the station but was told the search was limited to current employees. AFGE Local 1931 grieved the refusal to consider him. The arbitrator held that the negotiated grievance procedure…
Condero Mining Company
Temporary reinstatement approved and proceeding dismissed
The Secretary of Labor filed an application for temporary reinstatement on behalf of Keith D. James after Cordero Mining Company terminated his employment. The parties agreed to a voluntary economic temporary reinstatement while a related discrimination case proceeded. Judge August F. Cetti…
Buck Creek Coal, Inc.
Interlocutory review granted
Buck Creek Coal Inc. sought interlocutory review of an ALJ order continuing a stay over hundreds of consolidated citations and orders. The Commission concluded that the stay order involved a controlling question of law and that immediate review could materially advance the proceeding. It granted…
Buck Creek Coal, Inc.
Interlocutory review denied
Buck Creek Coal Inc. asked the Commission to review an ALJ's order staying about 80 civil proceedings while a related criminal investigation continued. The Commission denied interlocutory review because it had already established the governing stay factors in an earlier Buck Creek decision and the…
Buck Creek Coal, Inc.
Blanket stay vacated
Buck Creek Coal Inc. challenged an ALJ's order that continued a blanket stay covering more than 300 contest and civil-penalty proceedings while the Secretary considered related criminal investigations. The Commission held that the record did not show enough overlap between the civil and criminal…
Willie L. Branch v. Ceres Corporation
Branch v. Ceres Corporation (BRB 91-0445): union fund payments do not reduce disability benefits
Willie Branch received Longshore temporary total disability compensation after a back injury at Ceres Corporation. While he could not work, he also received vacation, holiday, and container royalty payments under a union contract. The judge treated those payments as wages that reduced the…
Marshall Durbin
Hearing-protection violations affirmed, one reduced to nonserious
Marshall Durbin operated a chicken-processing plant in Jasper, Alabama. The judge found that two employees exposed above the permissible noise limit were not required to wear hearing protection, affirming that item as serious. A second item was affirmed but reduced to other-than-serious because…
American Federation of Government Employees, Local 2924 and Davis-Monthan Air Force Base
AFGE Local 2924 and Davis-Monthan Air Force Base (FLRA 0-AR-2606): hazardous-duty pay termination upheld
Davis-Monthan Air Force Base stopped environmental differential pay for bargaining unit employees who worked with explosives after its pay committee reviewed the work. An arbitrator denied AFGE Local 2924's grievance, finding that safety measures had practically eliminated the injury risk. The…
Eva Jourdan v. Equitable Equipment Company
Jourdan v. Equitable Equipment (BRB 94-3985): carrier appeal dismissed as premature
Aetna appealed a judge's order assigning it liability for benefits in Eva Jourdan's Longshore claim. The Labor Department's Director had also filed a timely motion for reconsideration with the judge. The Board held that its procedural rule required dismissal of Aetna's appeal as premature, even…
BSC Construction, Inc.
Default order vacated and remanded
BSC Construction, Inc. failed to answer a proposed civil penalty assessment and an ALJ's order to show cause. The ALJ entered default and assessed the Secretary's proposed $800 in civil penalties. BSC later sent letters that the Commission treated as a timely petition for discretionary review. The…
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Phoenix District and American Federation of Government Employees, Local 3230
EEOC Phoenix District and AFGE Local 3230 (FLRA SA-CA-20538): intake make-up rule was not discriminatory
EEOC investigators in Phoenix rotated through intake interviews with the public. An investigator who missed an assignment was ordinarily put on a priority list to make it up. AFGE Local 3230 argued that applying this practice to a union steward when she was doing protected union work unlawfully…
Power Operating Company
Mine safety violations split, penalties partly affirmed
Power Operating Company faced seven citations or orders arising from MSHA inspections at its Frenchtown surface coal mine and Leslie Tipple preparation plant in Pennsylvania. The judge affirmed violations involving an unsafe dump-truck tire, muddy haulage roads and impounded water, and combustible…
JEN, Inc.
Default order requiring payment of civil penalties
JEN, Inc. failed to answer the Secretary of Labor's civil penalty petitions in nine consolidated proceedings. The judge and the Commission gave the operator repeated opportunities to respond to orders to show cause, including after the Commission reopened and remanded the proceedings in the…
Tanoma Mining Company
Discrimination complaint settled for $500
Tanoma Mining Company was accused of discriminating against James P. Lamont after he reported four accidents during the previous year and received a disciplinary letter under the company's new accident reduction program. The Secretary's complaint sought remedies for Lamont and a civil penalty…
B & S Trucking Company
Raised truck bed violation affirmed with reduced penalty
B & S Trucking Company was cited after a driver walked beneath the unsupported raised bed of a coal truck while fueling it at the Manalapan No. 1 Mine. The judge found that the conduct violated the requirement to block raised machinery before work is performed underneath it and was significant and…
Sextet Mining Corporation
Cable and dust violations affirmed, one order modified
Sextet Mining Corporation faced four violations at the West Hopkins No. 11 Mine involving damaged trailing cables, combustible coal dust and loose coal, and inadequate rock dusting. The judge found the violations significant and substantial, and found aggravated negligence for the most seriously…
Pontiki Coal Corporation
Secretary of Labor v. Pontiki Coal Corporation (FMSHRC KENT 94-1274-D): Review petition dismissed as premature
The Secretary of Labor petitioned for discretionary Commission review of an ALJ order that partially dismissed a discrimination complaint involving Charles H. Dixon and 17 other individuals. The Commission held that the ALJ order was not final because it did not expressly direct entry of final…
Ebenezer Coal Company, Inc.
Smoking-material citation modified and $250 penalty assessed
During an MSHA smoking sweep, an inspector found an unopened pack of cigarettes in a miner's lunch bag underground at Ebenezer Coal's No. 1 Mine. The company conceded a significant and substantial violation, but disputed the findings of high negligence, highly likely injury, and the proposed $2,500…
John Cullen Rock Crushing and Gravel
27 citations resolved with $912 in penalties
John Cullen Rock Crushing and Gravel operated the small Grant Pit sand and gravel operation in Colorado, along with an integrated silica plant. Judge Richard W. Manning found that MSHA had jurisdiction over the mine, the silica plant, and the shared equipment and workers. The decision addressed 27…
Marine Shale Processors, Inc.
In re Marine Shale Processors, Inc. (EAB RCRA Appeal No. 94-12): permit denial affirmed and remanded for final denial
Marine Shale Processors sought a RCRA permit to operate its Louisiana facility as an industrial furnace under the Boilers and Industrial Furnace rule. EPA Region VI denied the application after finding that the facility did not function as an aggregate kiln and that its output was not…
Costain Coal, Inc.
Settlements approved and coal-spillage citation vacated
Costain Coal operated the Wheatcroft Mine in western Kentucky. The parties settled the outstanding penalties in KENT 94-1001 and KENT 94-1056, including a modification that reduced one proposed penalty from $235 to $50. In KENT 94-1002, Judge Arthur J. Amchan found that the Secretary did not prove…
American Federation of Government Employees, Local 2199 and Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Salt Lake City
AFGE Local 2199 and VA Salt Lake City Medical Center (FLRA 0-AR-2640): performance review met regulation
A VA Medical Center employee received a fully successful appraisal after higher ratings in previous years. AFGE Local 2199 grieved the appraisal and argued that the employee's midyear review should have identified his rating on each performance element. An arbitrator denied the grievance, finding…
Jericol Mining Incorporated
Fifteen settlements approved and one denied
Jericol Mining and the Secretary proposed settlements for 16 violations, reducing the total proposed penalties from $7,723 to $5,994. Judge Paul Merlin approved settlements for 15 citations at their originally assessed penalties. He denied the proposed reduction for Citation No. 4470153, which…
Jericol Mining Incorporated
Five settlements approved and two denied
Jericol Mining and the Secretary proposed settlements for seven violations, reducing the total penalties from $3,411 to $2,830. Judge Paul Merlin approved settlements for five citations at their originally assessed penalties. He denied the proposed reductions for a citation involving coal brows…
Green Coal Company
Two citations settled for $175
Green Coal Company faced two civil penalty proceedings involving an open door on an electrical circuit breaker box and ineffective dust controls on a highwall drill. The parties agreed to reduce the proposed penalties from $431 to $125 for the electrical citation and from $128 to $50 for the…
Defense Commissary Agency, Fort Drum Store and National Association of Government Employees and American Federation of Government Employees, Local 400
Fort Drum Commissary, NAGE, and AFGE Local 400 (FLRA BN-RO-40015): union receives chance to intervene
NAGE petitioned for an election covering employees at the Fort Drum commissary after the Defense Commissary Agency took control of the store. AFGE Local 400, which had represented some of those employees, sought to intervene, but the regional director denied its request as late. The Authority held…
Joseph Bueme
Late notice of contest dismissed
OSHA cited Joseph Bueme for failing to maintain a written hazard communication program and failing to provide employees with required chemical-hazard information and training. Bueme received the citation on February 11, 1994, but filed the notice of contest after the 15-working-day deadline. He…
Buck Creek Coal Inc.
Interlocutory petition held in abeyance
Buck Creek Coal asked the Commission to review an ALJ order continuing a stay in proceedings involving hundreds of citations and orders while a criminal prosecution was pending. The Secretary argued that interlocutory review was unavailable because the judge had not certified the ruling and had not…
Buck Creek Coal Company, Incorporated
Remand penalty reassessed at $5,500
The Commission reversed Judge T. Todd Hodgdon's earlier conclusion that Buck Creek's violation of the preshift examination standard was not significant and substantial. On remand, the judge treated the violation as significant and substantial, found that it involved a high degree of gravity, and…
Daniel O'Connell's Sons, Inc.
Lifesaving-skiff citation settled for $5,000
Daniel O'Connell's Sons, Inc. performed bridge work over the Connecticut River and was cited for failing to make a lifesaving skiff immediately available. The administrative law judge had affirmed the item as willful with a $35,000 penalty. While the case was under Commission review, the parties…
Central Operating Co.-Philip Sporn
First-aid crew bloodborne-pathogen items affirmed as nonserious
Central Operating Company designated 82 employees at its Philip Sporn plant as members of a first-aid crew. The company argued that rendering aid was voluntary, so the crew members were good samaritans rather than employees with occupational exposure to bloodborne pathogens. The judge rejected that…
Kunz Construction Co., Inc.
Four serious excavation-safety violations affirmed
Kunz Construction Co., Inc. was inspected while working near the Alamo Dome in San Antonio, Texas. OSHA found a foreman without a hard hat, an access ladder that did not extend three feet above the excavation, an unguarded plank used as a crossing, and employees in an excavation that was neither…
American Federation of Government Employees, Local 916 and Defense Distribution Depot, Oklahoma City
AFGE Local 916 and Defense Distribution Depot Oklahoma City (FLRA 0-AR-2605): Memphis supplement does not bind parties
The Defense Distribution Depot applied a supplemental agreement negotiated at its Memphis counterpart to deny two Oklahoma City employees administrative leave. It later granted the leave, but an arbitrator still decided whether the Memphis supplement bound the local parties and found that it did…
Triplett Brothers Excavating
$22,000 relief approved in a discrimination case
Richard E. Gawthrop brought a discrimination complaint against Triplett Brothers Excavating after his January 11, 1994 discharge. An earlier decision found that the discharge was discriminatorily motivated in violation of section 105(c) of the Mine Act. The parties then stipulated to $9,086 in back…
Pittsburg & Midway Coal Mining Company
Two citations affirmed as modified and one vacated
Pittsburg & Midway Coal Mining Company operated the Kemmerer Mine and faced three safety citations. Judge August F. Cetti found combustible material and hydraulic oil accumulated on a car-pusher hydraulic unit, and found that a haul-road caution sign was required, but deleted the…
Fielding Hydroseeding
Settlement reduced penalties to $5,000
Fielding Hydroseeding faced a civil penalty proceeding involving the Murphy No. 1 Prep Plant. The Secretary of Labor and the company proposed a settlement that reduced the total penalties from $6,000 to $5,000, payable under an installment plan. Judge Arthur J. Amchan found the settlement…
Tri-City Electrical Contractors, Inc.
Compressed-gas and extension-cord violations affirmed
Tri-City Electrical Contractors, Inc. was completing electrical work at a Builder's Square store in Fort Myers, Florida. OSHA found an unsecured and uncapped carbon-dioxide cylinder connected to an air gun, and an energized extension cord that was repeatedly run over by material-handling equipment…
Franklin E. Skepton
Twelve construction-safety violations affirmed
Franklin E. Skepton was the general contractor for a high-school addition in Pennsylvania. OSHA cited conditions including unguarded floor and wall openings, missing hard hats, unsafe compressed-gas handling, unprotected electrical equipment, unstable and unguarded scaffolds, improper gasoline…
National Association of Government Employees, Local R3-32 and 913th Airlift Wing, Willow Grove
NAGE Local R3-32 and 913th Airlift Wing (FLRA 0-AR-2693): suspension grievance dismissed as late
The 913th Airlift Wing notified an employee on January 12 that she would be suspended for five days beginning January 24. NAGE Local R3-32 filed a grievance on February 3. The arbitrator found it late under the agreement's rule requiring a grievance within 14 days of the act or the employee's…
Mechanicsville Concrete Inc.
Jurisdiction issue barred by collateral estoppel
The Secretary of Labor asked the judge to prevent Mechanicsville Concrete from relitigating whether its Pit No. 1 mine was subject to Mine Act jurisdiction. An earlier decision had held that the company and its mines were subject to MSHA jurisdiction, and the Commission had denied review of that…
Pontiki Coal Corporation
Partial dismissal issue deferred
Pontiki Coal Corporation moved to dismiss a discrimination complaint brought on behalf of Charles H. Dixon. At hearings, an affidavit indicated that Dixon may have been a representative of miners before April 15, 1994. Judge Gary Melick amended an earlier interlocutory order by deleting the finding…
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.