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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Moniteau County Commission
Reporting citation vacated and case dismissed
Moniteau County Commission was cited for failing to file a quarterly mine employment report for its maintenance shop. After a hearing, MSHA determined that the operation was a borrow pit outside Mine Act coverage in the circumstances presented. Judge Michael A. Lasher, Jr. granted MSHA's motion to…
Hern Iron Works, Inc.
150-day hearing delay reversed and case remanded
At the start of a scheduled hearing, Hern Iron Works obtained a 150-day postponement while related warrant litigation was pending in the Ninth Circuit. The Commission reversed because the motion was untimely, showed no exigent circumstances, and would indefinitely delay a case that the parties…
Whiting-Turner Contracting Company
Floor-edge citation affirmed as serious for $50
Whiting-Turner managed construction of two four-story hospital towers where floor perimeters were unguarded or protected only by sagging single-wire ropes. Its three onsite employees performed engineering inspections and regularly worked near those edges. The ALJ found a violation but classified it…
Seward Motor Freight, Inc.
Forklift-platform violation reduced from willful to serious
Seward repaired semi-trailers using a work platform welded to forklift forks. Employees commonly raised the platform themselves and climbed the forklift mast to reach it instead of having an operator remain at the controls. One employee fell about seven feet while climbing down and sustained…
Lowe Construction Company
Trench ladder citation vacated under specific egress standard
Lowe employees used a ladder to climb the vertical lower portion of a deep trench, then stepped off and walked up the sloped wall. OSHA cited the general construction ladder rule because the ladder ended 6 to 8 feet below ground level instead of extending three feet above the landing. The…
Cardinal Industries, Inc.
One modular-plant fall item affirmed for $450
Cardinal manufactured modular housing units on an indoor assembly line. After a fatal fall from a unit roof, OSHA cited fall hazards on the roofs, an adjacent felt-rack platform, and a scissors lift. The Sixth Circuit first held that the plant was governed by general industry rather than…
Matter of Grullon
Florida pretrial intervention did not create an immigration conviction
The Board reviewed a Dominican respondent's appeal from an order of deportation based on overstaying a visitor admission. The respondent had completed Florida's pretrial intervention program after a cocaine-possession charge, and the charges were dismissed without prejudice. The Board held that the…
Matter of Deris
Maryland first-offender treatment did not erase a drug conviction
The Board reviewed a Greek respondent's deportation case after he pleaded guilty to cocaine possession in Maryland and received first-offender treatment under state law. The Board held that Maryland's statute was broader than the federal first-offender provision because it applied to any drug…
Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company
Fall protection required during elevated apprentice training
Cleveland Electric trained apprentice mechanics to cross narrow substation bridges at heights of 25, 36, and 56 feet. The company removed guide ropes in stages and eventually required trainees to cross without fall protection so the exercise would simulate field conditions and build confidence. The…
Continental Electric Company
Hearing conservation citation reinstated with no penalty
Continental used a pneumatic air file that produced sound levels as high as 103 decibels. A full-shift dosimeter showed the operator's exposure slightly exceeded a 92-decibel eight-hour average, but the company had no hearing conservation program. The ALJ vacated the citation because the Secretary…
Robert B. Young v. Lehigh Portland Cement Company
Discrimination complaint dismissed after insubordination finding
Robert B. Young, a yard foreman at Lehigh Portland Cement Company's plant and quarry, was discharged after refusing instructions to issue a verbal warning to a brakeman involved in a locomotive collision and derailment. Young alleged that the discharge violated the Mine Act's protection against…
B and D Coal Company, Incorporated
Settlement approved with $4,000 penalty
B and D Coal Company, Incorporated, operator of No. 7 Mine, faced a proposed civil penalty of $8,000. The parties jointly moved to approve a settlement, and Judge Avram Weisberger found the settlement appropriate under the Mine Act's penalty criteria. The judge approved the settlement, reducing the…
Martin Marietta Aggregates
Gas-cylinder citations affirmed with $100 in penalties
Martin Marietta Aggregates operated the Belgrade and New Bern quarries in North Carolina. MSHA cited the company after oxygen and acetylene cylinders were found without valve covers, and the company argued that the cylinders were in use rather than stored. Judge James A. Broderick found that both…
Herbert M. King v. Shamrock Coal Company
Discrimination settlement approved
Herbert M. King brought a discrimination proceeding against Shamrock Coal Company involving No. 10 Mine. The parties jointly asked the judge to approve a settlement and dismiss the case. Judge William Fauver found the settlement consistent with the purposes of the Mine Act, approved it, and…
Shamrock Coal Company
Mine-plan violation affirmed with additional penalty claim dismissed
Shamrock Coal Company developed its Greenwood No. 12 Mine without approved plans after MSHA had advised the operator that separate plans were required for its physically separate mines. Judge William Fauver found the plan violation significant and substantial and caused by gross negligence, and…
Consolidation Coal Company
Retaliation and reporting policy violate the Mine Act
Consolidation Coal Company reprimanded and threatened miner William J. Keller after he engaged in activity protected by the Mine Act. Judge William Fauver found that the company violated 30 U.S.C. § 815(c)(1) and that its policy requiring employees to report alleged safety or health problems to…
Utah Power & Light Company
Transformer citation affirmed, unwarrantable-failure designation removed
Utah Power & Light Company operated the Cottonwood coal mine. MSHA cited the company after finding that a transformer was not ventilated directly into the return air course as required by 30 C.F.R. § 75.1105. Judge John J. Morris affirmed the citation and its significant-and-substantial…
Monterey Coal Company
Protected work refusal upheld, records correction ordered
Monterey Coal Company required miner Paula L. Price to wear integrated metatarsal boots even though the boots did not fit and caused foot problems. Judge Gary Melick found that Price's refusal to work in the ill-fitting boots was protected because she had a good-faith, reasonable belief that…
Dun-Par Engineered Form Company
Serious fall protection violation affirmed after court remand
Dun-Par was a concrete-form subcontractor whose employees worked at unguarded floor edges 38 to 46 feet above the ground. Guardrails and safety belts were infeasible for the work, but the Eighth Circuit required Dun-Par to prove that other protective measures were unavailable. On remand, the…
Sterling Energy, Inc.
Mine safety orders affirmed and two modified
Sterling Energy, Inc. operated the Sterling No. 5 Mine. MSHA cited roof control, preshift examination, conveyor guarding, ventilation, and airflow conditions, including an imminent-danger order and several unwarrantable-failure orders. Judge Roy J. Maurer affirmed the cited violations and orders…
Gilian Instrument Corporation
Settlement approved with a $350 penalty
Gilian Instrument agreed to settle after an earlier default order had affirmed the citations and assessed $700. The company agreed to guard the cited equipment appropriately or remove it from service. The Secretary reduced the proposed penalty from $700 to $350, and Gilian withdrew its notice of…
National Gallery of Art and American Federation of Government Employees, Local 1831
National Gallery of Art (FLRA 0-AR-1694): Arbitration exceptions arrived one day late
The National Gallery of Art filed exceptions to an arbitration award involving AFGE Local 1831. The arbitrator's award was dated January 12, 1989, and the Authority presumed service by mail that day. With the additional mailing time, the Gallery had until February 15 to file exceptions. Its hand…
Pomerleau Brothers, Inc.
Settlement approved for haulage and equipment violations
Pomerleau Brothers, Inc. operated Chelmsford Mill. The case involved three civil penalties, including violations concerning a truck's brakes and other equipment conditions. Judge Paul Merlin approved the parties' settlement recommendations for the original penalty amounts and found that a $500…
Coal Junction Coal Company
Penalty dismissal vacated and case remanded
The Chief Administrative Law Judge dismissed Coal Junction Coal Company's civil penalty contest after the Secretary reported that the proposed penalties had been paid. The company later filed an answer stating that it wanted to pursue the contest. The Commission treated that answer as a petition…
Super Block Coal Corporation
Fire extinguisher citation affirmed with $20 penalty
Super Block Coal Corporation operated the Hunley Creek mine. MSHA cited the operator because an Ingersoll-Rand T-4 highwall drill did not have a portable fire extinguisher. Judge George A. Koutras found the violation proven after the operator failed to appear or respond to the show cause order, and…
Amax Coal Company
Discrimination damages set at $1,000
Amax Coal Company had already lost a discrimination complaint brought by Donald F. Denu. The parties later agreed that the costs and damages totaled $1,000. Judge Gary Melick ordered Amax to pay Denu $1,000 within 30 days of the order.
B & M Trucking
Dismissal vacated and discrimination case remanded
An FMSHRC Administrative Law Judge dismissed Kenneth Howard's discrimination complaint after finding that he had not responded to an order to show cause. The Commission treated Howard's attorney's motion to reinstate as a timely petition for discretionary review, granted review, and vacated the…
Eastern Associated Coal Corporation
Longwall miners awarded compensation, other claims denied
Local Union 1570 sought compensation for miners who were idled for 3.5 shifts after MSHA issued two Section 104(d)(2) orders at Eastern Associated Coal Corporation's Federal No. 2 Mine. Judge George A. Koutras found a sufficient connection between one order and the idling of miners assigned to the…
Rushton Mining Company
Noise citation based on MSHA survey affirmed
Rushton Mining Company contested a citation issued after an MSHA noise survey found that a roof bolter operator was exposed to noise above the limit in 30 C.F.R. § 70.501. Judge James A. Broderick held that the Secretary could issue the citation based on an MSHA-conducted noise survey, even though…
Quarto Mining Company
Walkaround representative pay violation found
Quarto Mining Company refused to pay Roger L. Stillion his regular wage for time spent accompanying a federal mine inspector as a miners' walkaround representative on October 6, 7, and 8, 1987. Judge William Fauver found that the company violated 30 U.S.C. § 813(f). The parties were directed to try…
Rodney Chaney v. Johnny Tackett
Discrimination complaint dismissed for failure to prosecute
Rodney Chaney's discrimination complaint was dismissed after he repeatedly failed to attend noticed depositions, produce requested documents, comply with prehearing orders, and respond to an order to show cause. Judge Roy J. Maurer granted Johnny Tackett's motion to dismiss for failure to prosecute…
Matter of Pazandeh
Five-year residence made prior-marriage fraud proof unnecessary for the petition
The Board reviewed a lawful permanent resident's spousal visa petition for her Iranian husband. The Service had required clear and convincing evidence that her earlier marriage was not entered into to evade immigration laws. The Board held that, because five years had elapsed since she became a…
Bob & Tom Coal, Inc.
Discrimination complaint dismissed after settlement
George H. Adkins and Bob & Tom Coal, Inc. jointly asked to dismiss the discrimination case after reaching a mutually agreeable settlement. Judge Roy J. Maurer allowed the complaint to be withdrawn and dismissed the case with prejudice. The scheduled hearing was cancelled.
International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, Local No. 12 and U.S. Department of the Navy, Puget Sound Naval Shipyard
Puget Sound Naval Shipyard (FLRA 0-NG-1665): Negotiability petition filed after deadline
IFPTE Local 12 sought review of a nonnegotiability allegation from the Navy's Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. The allegation was dated February 2, 1989. Depending on how it was delivered, the filing deadline was February 21 or February 22. The union first mailed its petition to the Authority's San…
Consolidation Coal Company
Discrimination finding reversed and penalty vacated
Consolidation Coal Company denied miner Roger Lee Wayne, Sr. the opportunity to participate in a ventilation plan review meeting without losing pay. An Administrative Law Judge found discrimination, ordered reimbursement for lost pay, and assessed a $300 civil penalty. The Commission reversed that…
Urralburu Mining Company
Two reporting citations affirmed with $40 penalty
Urralburu Mining Company began operating the Breezy Mine without first notifying MSHA of the planned start of operations and had not filed a legal identity report. Judge Michael A. Lasher found violations of 30 C.F.R. §§ 57.1000 and 41.20. Both violations were found non-serious, and the operator…
Frito-Lay, Inc.
One tripping-hazard item remains after citation withdrawal
OSHA cited Frito-Lay over flexible electrical cords used with portable conveyors. The Secretary withdrew Citation 1, which had alleged a willful electrical violation, and the Commission set aside the judge's rulings on that citation. The judge's disposition of Citation 2 became the final order. One…
Consolidation Coal Company
Miners' representative access violation found with $200 penalty
Consolidation Coal Company restricted David P. Clarke, a miners' representative at the Ireland Mine, from accompanying MSHA inspectors at the River Portal because the company preferred a representative already working there. Judge Avram Weisberger found violations of the Mine Act's walkaround and…
Union Oil Company of California
Vanadium exposure violation affirmed without S&S finding
Union Oil Company of California operated the Parachute Creek underground oil shale mine. MSHA found that a welder's vanadium fume exposure exceeded the applicable limit during welding. The Commission agreed that the operator violated 30 C.F.R. §§ 57.5001 and 57.5005, but upheld the judge's decision…
Mettiki Coal Corporation
Citation vacated because no examination was performed
MSHA alleged that Mettiki Coal failed to record the result of a required daily hoisting-equipment inspection at the Mettiki Mine. Judge Gary Melick held that the cited recordkeeping standard requires a record only after an examination has been performed. Because no examination occurred on April 15…
Arno Sand Company
Defective-brake citations affirmed with $60 penalty
Arno Sand Company operated the Highsmith Pit. MSHA cited the company after finding that a Clark 75 front-end loader was being used without adequate brakes and that the brake defect had not been recorded. Judge Gary Melick affirmed both violations, finding the brake violation significant and…
Tuscola Stone Company
Brake citations partly modified with $400 penalty
Tuscola Stone Company operated a limestone open-pit mine. MSHA cited two Euc haul-truck brake conditions, including service brakes that could not stop or hold the truck on steep haul roads and a hand brake that failed to stop the truck. Judge Gary Melick found the service-brake and hand-brake…
Big Elk Creek Coal Company, Inc.
Discrimination case dismissed after withdrawal
Arnold Sharp asked to withdraw his discrimination complaint against Big Elk Creek Coal Company. Judge George A. Koutras granted the request and dismissed the case. The order contains no ruling on the underlying discrimination allegations.
Defense Industrial Plant Equipment Center, Memphis, Tennessee and American Federation of Government Employees and National Federation of Federal Employees, Local 259
Defense Industrial Plant Equipment Center (FLRA 4-DA-70002): Dues allotment unit case remanded
AFGE sought certification for dues allotment in a nationwide unit at the Defense Industrial Plant Equipment Center. A regional director dismissed the petition because it included headquarters employees in a smaller unit for which NFFE Local 259 already held dues allotment certification. The…
Allendale Gravel Company
Settlement approved with a $30 penalty
MSHA alleged that Allendale Gravel Company did not maintain records showing that a competent person examined work areas each day. The parties agreed to settle the alleged violation, and the Secretary proposed reducing the penalty from $42 to $30. Judge George A. Koutras approved the settlement…
Consolidation Coal Company
Two orders modified and one affirmed
The Secretary alleged three significant and substantial violations at Consolidation Coal Company's Osage No. 3 Mine, including two allegations of unwarrantable failure. Judge James A. Broderick modified the belt-guard and continuous-miner orders by removing the significant-and-substantial and…
Peabody Coal Company
Discrimination complaint dismissed after withdrawal
Terry G. Miller asked to withdraw his discrimination complaint against Peabody Coal Company so the matter could be settled. Judge Avram Weisberger granted the request and dismissed the complaint. The order contains no ruling on the underlying discrimination allegations.
Seven Day Concrete, Inc.
Settlement approved for $2,680
MSHA alleged 16 violations of mandatory safety standards at Seven Day Concrete's Ellinger Plant and proposed total penalties of $2,680. The company agreed to pay the full proposed amount and withdraw its contest. Judge George A. Koutras approved the settlement and allowed payment of $670…
Emery Mining Corporation
Commission proceedings stayed
The Secretary and Utah Power and Light jointly asked the Commission to stay briefing and further proceedings while related proceedings involving Emery Mining were pending before an ALJ. They said the related proceedings might resolve the need for Commission review in the present matter. The…
Three Star Drilling & Production Corporation
Oil-recovery project held subject to Mine Act jurisdiction
Three Star Drilling was developing an underground shaft and oil collector rooms as part of an oil-recovery project at DAD Well No. 1 in Illinois. The company argued that the project was not a Mine Act mine because oil would not be pumped while workers were underground, and that its operations did…
Amax Potash Corporation
Ground-control order affirmed with a $700 penalty
MSHA cited Amax Potash after inspectors found loose and unsupported roof in several areas of the company's underground potash mine. Judge Michael A. Lasher, Jr. found that the conditions created a hazard, were significant and substantial, and constituted an imminent danger because miners could be…
General Dynamics Land Systems Division, Inc.
Freon confined-space case remanded for fact-finding
General Dynamics employees entered confined spaces where trichlorotrifluoroethane, known as freon, could cause poisoning or asphyxiation. An earlier decision vacated the general duty clause citation because an exposure-limit standard addressed the chemical. The D.C. Circuit held that the standard…
Matter of Duran
Subpoena request failed without specific proof and diligent effort
The Board reviewed a Mexican respondent's appeal after an Immigration Judge denied relief from deportation and voluntary departure. The respondent sought a subpoena for records from an earlier exclusion hearing, but he did not show what the records would prove or make a diligent effort to obtain…
Sanger Rock & Sand
Seven mine-safety violations affirmed
Sanger Rock & Sand operated a sand and gravel mine in California. Judge August F. Cetti rejected the operator's argument that the mine was outside federal jurisdiction and found that the Mine Act applied because the operation affected interstate commerce. He affirmed seven citations involving…
Western Fuels-Utah, Inc.
): State-certified mine foreman exempt from Part 48 task training
Western Fuels-Utah operated the Deserado underground coal mine in Colorado. MSHA alleged that the company violated the Mine Act and 30 C.F.R. § 48.7 by allowing section foreman Carson Julius to operate a roof-bolting machine without task training. During the investigation, MSHA also identified a…
Old Ben Coal Company
Citation and withdrawal order vacated
The Secretary of Labor sought a civil penalty against Old Ben Coal Company and the operator separately challenged the underlying citation and withdrawal order. The cases involved Mine No. 25 and were consolidated for hearing. After testimony and documentary evidence, the parties proposed a…
Lee Roy Westbrook Construction Company, Inc.
Shaft-opening citation affirmed with a $50 penalty
Westbrook employees pulled lumber through openings in an elevator shaft while exposed to a 13-foot fall onto a debris-covered concrete floor. The general contractor was contractually responsible for safety facilities, but Westbrook's employees had the carpentry skills and materials needed to cover…
Lee Roy Westbrook Construction Company
Floor-opening citation affirmed with a reduced penalty
Westbrook was a concrete-framing subcontractor whose employees used a ladder beside an uncovered elevator shaft opening. A fall through the opening would have been about 40 feet. Westbrook argued that the general contractor was contractually responsible for covering the opening, but the Commission…
Wilmot Mining Company
Remand penalty reduced to $200
The Sixth Circuit reversed an earlier $2,000 penalty against Wilmot Mining Company for a rollover protective structure (ROPS) violation under 30 C.F.R. § 77.403a(a) and sent the penalty issue back for reconsideration. The Commission then remanded the matter to Judge William Fauver. Because the…
U.S. Department of the Army, Aberdeen Proving Ground and International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, Local Lodge No. 2424
Aberdeen Proving Ground (FLRA 0-AR-1677): Exceptions postmarked one day late
Aberdeen Proving Ground filed exceptions to an arbitration award involving Machinists Local Lodge 2424. A postmarked envelope showed that the arbitrator mailed the award on December 6, 1988, two days after the date printed on it. The Authority used the mailing date to start the 30-day filing…
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.