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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Frank Irey, Jr., Inc.
Training order modified and $700 in penalties assessed
Frank Irey, Jr., Inc. faced two citations at the Loveridge Preparation Plant concerning miner training and welding near float coal dust. The parties settled one citation for its proposed $500 penalty, while the judge found that employees doing extended maintenance work were miners covered by the…
Green River Coal Company
Remand decision reaffirmed the contested citation findings
Green River Coal Company faced a civil penalty proceeding concerning a section 104(a) significant-and-substantial citation for an alleged violation of the safeguard provisions in 30 C.F.R. § 75.1403(5)(g). The Commission had vacated the ALJ's earlier decision because it was issued before the…
Secretary of Labor on behalf of Robert Vaughn v. Sumco, Inc. and R.E. Summers
Discriminatory discharge found and relief ordered
Robert Vaughn worked for Sumco, Inc. and R.E. Summers at a coal reclamation operation. Judge James A. Broderick found that Summers discharged Vaughn in part because the operator was concerned that Vaughn lacked required safety training and that MSHA might issue another citation or closure order…
Beth Energy Mines, Inc.
District-wide safeguard citation vacated
Beth Energy operated Mine 108, where MSHA issued a citation based on a safeguard that had been applied across the district and later modified. The Secretary alleged that the resulting condition was a significant-and-substantial violation of 30 C.F.R. § 75.1403. Judge Gary Melick concluded that the…
Williams Mechanical and Welding, Inc.
Lifeline violation affirmed with $900 penalty
Williams Mechanical and Welding was performing maintenance and repair work inside a gypsum storage bin at Giant Cement's quarry and cement plant. Tyrone Gardner entered the bin without fastening his safety belt to a lifeline and was later pinned by gypsum and killed. Judge James A. Broderick found…
Florida Mining & Materials
Seven reporting violations affirmed with $350 penalty
Florida Mining & Materials operated the Brooksville Rock Plant. The company admitted seven violations of 30 C.F.R. § 50.20 for failing to submit required MSHA accident reports. Judge Gary Melick found that the reporting failures were serious because accurate Part 50 reporting supports MSHA's safety…
Tennessee Chemical, Inc.
Ground-support violation affirmed after fatal rock fall
Tennessee Chemical operated the Cherokee underground copper mine in Tennessee. A rock fall in an unbolted area killed development driller Steve Dillard and permanently injured Joshua Waters, and MSHA cited the operator for failing to provide ground support required by its operating experience. The…
L & L Gravel
Amended default order directs payment of $74
L & L Gravel was involved in a civil penalty proceeding concerning Portable Dredge No. 1. The Chief Administrative Law Judge explained that the earlier default order had treated three citations as still pending even though one had been vacated. He entered default on the remaining two citations and…
Matter of Del Risco
Cocaine facilitation supported deportability
The Board considered separate appeals involving a Colombian nonimmigrant who overstayed and violated his status and the Service's challenge to an Immigration Judge's earlier termination of proceedings. The Board held that an Arizona conviction for facilitating the unlawful sale of cocaine was a…
Matter of Gordon
Later crimes required new deportation proceedings
The Board reviewed the reopening of a deportation case involving a lawful permanent resident who had received a waiver of inadmissibility under section 212(c) and later committed additional crimes. It held that the waiver restored the respondent to the lawful permanent resident status previously…
Nevada Mineral Processing
Seven violations affirmed with $253 penalty
Nevada Mineral Processing operated a custom mill that was still under construction, with an assay area already processing mineral samples. Judge Michael A. Lasher, Jr. held that the facility was a mine covered by the Mine Act and that the operator was not entitled to a compliance-assistance visit…
Joliet Sand and Gravel Company
Fatal-accident settlement approved for $2,900
Joliet Sand and Gravel operated the Rockdale Quarry. The Secretary alleged that the quarry lacked safe access to the controls of a rock breaker and lacked a start-and-stop electrical control on the boom after a fatal accident involving the machine. Judge Roy J. Maurer approved the parties'…
Matter of E-M-
Temporary resident status established by the evidence
The Commissioner-designated Legalization Appeals Unit considered an appeal from the denial of a Jamaican applicant's request for temporary resident status under section 245A of the Immigration and Nationality Act. The applicant submitted his Form I-94 and passport to show entry before 1982, along…
Mettiki Coal Corporation
Airflow order reduced to non-S&S, non-unwarrantable citation
Mettiki Coal operated the Mettiki Mine. MSHA found that a damaged check curtain allowed air from a belt entry to ventilate an active working section, contrary to 30 C.F.R. § 75.326. Judge Avram Weisberger found that the violation occurred, but the evidence did not establish a reasonable likelihood…
Consolidation Coal Company
Late accident report settlement approved at $75
Consolidation Coal operated the Blacksville No. 1 Mine. The operator submitted an accident report one day late, violating 30 C.F.R. § 50.20(a). Judge Paul Merlin found that the holiday weekend greatly mitigated negligence, approved the parties' settlement, and assessed a $75 penalty instead of the…
Mid-Continent Resources, Inc.
Settlement approved and discrimination claims dismissed
Manuel L. Gomez brought a temporary-reinstatement request and a discrimination complaint against Mid-Continent Resources involving the Dutch Creek Mine. Before the merits hearing concluded, the parties reached a settlement. Gomez agreed to withdraw the temporary-reinstatement request, waive…
Edward Kraemer & Sons, Incorporated
Unguarded flywheel violation modified to non-S&S with $20 penalty
Edward Kraemer & Sons operated White Rock Quarry in Ohio. MSHA cited the company after finding that an exposed, rapidly rotating crusher flywheel near the operator's ladder was not guarded. Judge Avram Weisberger found that a worker could contact the flywheel and be injured, but that a significant…
Ideal Basic Industry/Cement Company
Settlement reached and discrimination proceeding dismissed
James H. Colquitt brought a discrimination proceeding against Ideal Basic Industry/Cement Company involving the Ada Quarry. The parties' lawyers executed a stipulation of voluntary dismissal and confirmed that they had reached a settlement. Judge Michael A. Lasher, Jr. dismissed the proceeding with…
C. W. Mining Company
Partial settlement approved, remaining violation decided by default
C. W. Mining Company operated the Bear Canyon No. 1 Mine. The Secretary proposed settlements for two violations, involving a belt control switch and compliance with the roof control plan, reducing the penalties from $192 to $134 and from $294 to $206. Judge Paul Merlin approved those settlements…
Liggett Industries, Inc.
Discrimination complaint sustained after constructive discharge
Stenson Begay worked as a certified welder for Liggett Industries at the McKinley Mine. He complained that smoke and welding fumes inside a dragline base were not adequately ventilated and left after management said it would not buy more blowers. Judge Roy J. Maurer found that Begay reasonably and…
Paroki Enterprises, Inc.
Settled discrimination case dismissed with prejudice
Blaine K. Deel brought a discrimination proceeding against Paroki Enterprises involving the No. 1 Truck Mine. The parties jointly asked to dismiss the case after reaching a mutually agreeable settlement. Judge Roy J. Maurer allowed Deel to withdraw the complaint, dismissed the case with prejudice…
Amber Coal Company, Inc.
Settlement approved with $6,000 penalty
Amber Coal Company operated the Amber No. 7 Mine. MSHA proposed an $8,500 civil penalty for an alleged violation of the roof-control standard at 30 C.F.R. § 75.200. The parties submitted a settlement under which Amber agreed to pay $6,000. Judge George A. Koutras found the settlement reasonable and…
Camp Fork Fuel Company
Penalties paid after remand and case dismissed
Camp Fork Fuel Company had five uncontested violations in a civil penalty proceeding. After the Commission vacated an earlier dismissal and remanded the case because the assessed penalty had not been paid, MSHA reported that the company had paid $441 toward this assessment and later sent another…
Matter of Chang
Population-control policy alone did not establish asylum eligibility
The Board reviewed a Chinese respondent's applications for asylum, withholding of deportation, and voluntary departure based on opposition to China's one-couple, one-child policy and fear of sterilization. It held that the policy, including the possibility of involuntary sterilization, did not by…
Kyanite Mining Corporation
$5,000 settlement approved for training violations
Kyanite Mining Corporation faced 24 training-related civil penalty violations at its East Ridge Plant. MSHA proposed a total penalty of $7,200 for failing to provide new-miner safety training. Before testimony began, the parties proposed a settlement reducing the penalty to $5,000, and Judge Roy J…
Simpson v. Kenta Energy, Inc.
Commission affirms discrimination findings on remand
Robert Simpson left his scoop-operator job at Kenta Energy's No. 1 Mine after safety concerns about mine examinations and mining toward abandoned workings. The Commission, acting after a federal appeals court remand, held that Simpson's work refusal was protected because communication with…
Matter of Fede
Immigration proceedings did not support an EAJA fee claim
The Board reviewed an appeal from the denial of an attorney-fee application under the Equal Access to Justice Act in exclusion proceedings. It held that the Attorney General's regulation excluding immigration proceedings from the EAJA's scope controlled the Board and Immigration Judges, so neither…
Matter of Anselmo
Ninth Circuit precedent required EAJA fee procedures in deportation cases
The Board considered a request for attorney fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act in deportation proceedings arising within the Ninth Circuit. Although the Board disagreed with the Ninth Circuit's conclusion that the EAJA applied to deportation proceedings, it held that it had to follow that…
Eastern Associated Coal Corporation
Supplemental compensation amounts ordered
Local Union 1570 sought compensation for idled miners at Eastern Associated Coal Corporation's Federal No. 2 Mine. Judge George A. Koutras had already issued a partial decision on the compensation claims and asked the parties to stipulate to the amounts of wages and interest due. After receiving…
Rushton Mining Company
Rule 11 fees unavailable in Commission proceedings
Rushton Mining sought attorney's fees and litigation expenses from the Secretary of Labor as a sanction under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11 after the Secretary withdrew a contested withdrawal order and related penalty petition. The Commission held that Rule 11 monetary sanctions do not apply…
Secretary of Labor v. Green River Coal Company
Commission remands decision issued before briefs
The Secretary of Labor asked the Commission to review an administrative law judge's decision in Green River Coal Company's KENT 88-152 case. The judge had issued the decision before the date set for post-hearing briefs and before receiving those briefs. The Commission granted review, vacated the…
U.S. Department of Labor, Region VI, Dallas, Texas and National Council of Field Labor Locals, American Federation of Government Employees
Labor Department Dallas region (FLRA 0-AR-1702): Union's exception dismissed after no response
The National Council of Field Labor Locals filed an exception in a case involving the Department of Labor's Dallas region. The Authority ordered the union to explain why its exception should not be dismissed as late and set an April 10, 1989, response deadline. It warned that failure to respond…
Florence Mining Company
Escape-facility violation affirmed, aggravated findings reversed
Florence Mining removed an approved emergency escape hoist from service for about five and a half hours while miners were underground. The Commission affirmed that this violated 30 C.F.R. § 75.1704 because the approved plan required the hoist to remain available while miners were underground. It…
Ozark-Mahoning Company
Lockout citation affirmed with reduced penalty
MSHA cited Ozark-Mahoning after an employee performed mechanical work inside a mine hoist skip while the hoist remained energized and the power switches were not locked out. Judge George A. Koutras found a violation of 30 C.F.R. § 57.12016 and denied the company's contest. He rejected the…
Colorado Silica Sand, Inc.
Guard citation affirmed with $40 penalty
MSHA cited Colorado Silica Sand after finding that a guard was missing from the head pulley of a conveyor at the company's Wolf Pit No. 1 and Plant. Judge John J. Morris credited the inspector's testimony that the plant was operating and found that the guard requirement applied even though the…
A. H. Smith Stone Company
Backup alarm violation affirmed with $395 penalty
A. H. Smith Stone Company operated a Terex front-end loader at its Louisa Plant without an operable backup alarm. The judge found that the condition had continued for about two weeks, exposed people on foot in the loading area to a high risk of serious injury, and supported high negligence and a…
A. H. Smith Stone Company
Default order vacated and case remanded
A. H. Smith Stone Company failed to answer MSHA's civil penalty complaint and two orders to show cause, leading the ALJ to enter a default order and assess $362 for four alleged violations. A related company later asked to reopen the case, explaining that the filings had been sent to former…
Falkirk Mining Company
Injury-reporting citation affirmed with $20 penalty
Falkirk Mining Company was cited for failing to report an employee's job-related back injury to MSHA on Form 7000-1. The employee strained his back while installing an overhead crane, saw a chiropractor, and then received medication and muscle relaxants from a medical doctor. Judge August F. Cetti…
Warren E. Manter Company, Inc.
Three citations affirmed with reduced penalties
Warren E. Manter Company was cited for four conditions at its Richardson Pit Mine, including a discharged fire extinguisher, an oily generator-trailer walkway, an exposed electrical junction box, and missing conveyor guards. The judge vacated the fire-extinguisher citation because the evidence did…
East Penn Manufacturing Company
Overtime rule changed, but citation vacated for fair notice
East Penn voluntarily removed a pregnant employee from lead exposure and initially continued both her base wages and expected overtime. After the Commission ruled in an earlier case that lead medical-removal benefits did not include overtime, East Penn stopped the overtime payments. The Commission…
ASARCO, Inc.
Lead medical-removal benefits include lost overtime
ASARCO transferred employees from lead-exposed jobs after blood tests showed excessive lead levels. The company maintained regular pay but did not pay overtime the employees would have earned in their normal positions. An ALJ vacated OSHA's citation under then-existing Commission precedent. The…
Pace Construction Corporation
Hoist door item reclassified, runway item affirmed for $100
Pace was the general contractor for an 18-story building and extended a personnel hoist to the roof so workers could carry tools and materials safely. At the roof landing, the company used a single 2-by-4 gate about 3.5 feet high instead of the required 6.5-foot hoistway door, and the short runway…
Zunker Contractors, Inc.
Commission impasse leaves $1,000 trench ruling in place
Zunker was installing sewer pipe in an approximately 11-foot-deep trench when a side collapsed, burying and seriously injuring an employee. The ALJ credited rescue personnel, city employees, and the Secretary's soil expert, finding that the trench was nearly vertical, dug in unstable soil, and…
St. Joe Resources Company
Lead benefits violation affirmed, Commission divided on back pay
St. Joe transferred a zinc-smelter employee with an elevated blood lead level to a lower-exposure job. The company maintained his base hourly rate but did not pay scheduled overtime, shift differentials, or voluntary overtime he would have had an opportunity to work as a weighman. Following a Fifth…
Schuylkill Metals Corporation
Voluntary lead removals required full earnings
Schuylkill operated a secondary lead smelter and transferred employees with rising blood lead levels from production work to lower-exposure janitorial duties. The company maintained their regular hourly rates but did not pay the overtime and production bonuses they would have earned in production…
Collier-Keyworth Company
Noise appeal settled with one item affirmed and no penalty
Collier-Keyworth manufactured office-chair mechanisms using power presses and lathes at a Massachusetts plant. OSHA cited the company under the occupational noise standard for employee protection, engineering or administrative controls, and a hearing conservation program. The litigation produced…
Amax Lead Company of Missouri
Lead removal violation reclassified as serious for $60
Amax transferred six employees away from high lead exposure and continued their regular hourly rates for 40-hour weeks. The employees lost opportunities for overtime and no longer had paid lunch periods, although their total daily paid hours remained unchanged. Following a Fifth Circuit ruling, the…
Associated Electric Cooperative, Incorporated
Unsafe access and clutter citations affirmed
Associated Electric Cooperative operated a surface coal mine connected to the Thomas Hill Energy Center. The judge found that employees had no safe means of access from an embankment to a dredge, where they had to travel down a steep, slick, and sometimes snow-covered slope, and that the mine's…
Connecticut Light & Power Company
Electrical hazard citation vacated after unforeseeable crew error
A Connecticut Light & Power crew was replacing substation equipment when a lead electrician contacted a 23,000-volt lightning arrestor and was fatally injured. OSHA alleged that the utility's training and supervision were inadequate under the general duty clause. The Commission found that the…
Union Oil Company of California
Refinery explosion penalties reduced to $10,000 after appeal
A pressure vessel failed at Union Oil's Chicago refinery, causing an explosion and fire that killed 17 employees and caused lost-worktime injuries to 14 others. OSHA cited pressure-vessel inspection and repair practices, protective equipment for employees performing firefighting duties, fire…
Capform, Inc.
Excavation inspection and crane-load items affirmed for $800
Capform performed concrete formwork in a 25- to 30-foot-deep excavation at a Dallas construction site. After repeated rain, an unshored excavation wall collapsed while a 100-ton crane was operating above it, killing one Capform employee and injuring another. The ALJ vacated the citation under the…
Matter of Chen
Past persecution supported a discretionary asylum grant
The Board reconsidered a Chinese respondent's deportation appeal after an Immigration Judge denied asylum and withholding of deportation. The Board held that proof of past persecution can establish asylum eligibility even when changed conditions mean the applicant no longer has a well-founded fear…
Utah Power & Light Company
Coal-cuttings order upheld
Utah Power & Light Company contested a section 104(d)(1) order alleging that coal cuttings had accumulated behind a line curtain in an active underground mine section. The judge found that roughly 500 to 800 pounds of loose coal had accumulated over more than 100 feet and that the operator's…
Mid-Continent Resources, Inc.
Withdrawal order invalid because abatement failure was not proved
Mid-Continent Resources was cited after water, mud, and heaved floor material obstructed an underground coal mine escapeway. A later inspector issued a section 104(b) withdrawal order, but the Commission found that the Secretary did not prove that the specific conditions described in the original…
IMC Fertilizer, Inc.
Loader brake citations affirmed without S&S findings
IMC Fertilizer operated a phosphate mine where an inspector found inadequate brakes on a Caterpillar 980 loader and a Clark 275 loader. After hydraulic fluid was added to the Caterpillar and the Clark's brakes were adjusted, both machines stopped in two or three feet instead of seven or eight feet…
Green River Coal Company
Roof and coal dust citations affirmed, travelway citation vacated
Green River Coal Company faced four citations at its Green River Coal No. 9 Mine after a roof fall affected a belt conveyor area. Two roof-support citations were settled and affirmed, and a coal-dust accumulation citation was affirmed with its $1,000 proposed penalty reduced to $800. The judge…
Matter of Safetran
Combined H-1 and L-1 stay limits applied
The Commissioner reviewed a petition seeking to extend the stay of a beneficiary who had spent about five years in the United States, first as an L-1 and later as an H-1 nonimmigrant. It held that the regulatory five- or six-year limit is cumulative and includes time spent in both classifications…
LeBlanc's Concrete & Mortar Sand Company
Ten citations split, with $225 in penalties
LeBlanc's Concrete & Mortar Sand Company operated Dudley's Pit, a Texas dredging and sand operation. MSHA cited ten conditions involving machine guarding, life-jacket use, flammable-liquid cleanup, fire extinguishers, and open-flame work. Judge George A. Koutras affirmed six citations, vacated…
Consolidation Coal Company
Compensation complaint dismissed on withdrawal
Local Union 9909, District 31, United Mine Workers of America, filed a compensation proceeding against Consolidation Coal Company concerning the Loveridge No. 22 Mine. The union requested permission to withdraw its complaint. Judge William Fauver granted the request and dismissed the case. The…
Van Buren-Madawaska Corporation
Logging employer status remanded for factfinding
OSHA issued 21 citations involving twelve northern Maine logging worksites, including woods operations, labor camps, and a maintenance garage. Van Buren-Madawaska accepted that the cited conditions would violate the Act if it was the workers' employer, but argued that contracted logging operators…
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.