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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Martha Perando v. Mettiki Coal Corporation
Pay discrimination found, other claims denied
Martha Perando alleged that Mettiki Coal Corporation discriminated against her after coal dust exposure caused industrial bronchitis. Judge Gary Melick found that her medically supported inability to keep working underground was a protected work refusal. He ruled that Mettiki unlawfully reduced her…
DOJ Immigration and Naturalization Service, Border Patrol, Laredo, Texas and AFGE National Border Patrol Council Local 2455
Laredo Border Patrol and AFGE (FLRA 6-CA-30309): Shift change complaint dismissed
The Border Patrol changed shift and rotation schedules at its Laredo station while a question about union representation was pending. AFGE alleged that the changes violated the duty to maintain conditions and that the agency refused to bargain over their effects. The Authority found the schedule…
Internal Revenue Service, Brooklyn District and National Treasury Employees Union, Chapter 53
IRS Brooklyn District and NTEU (FLRA 2-CA-50241): Negotiators needed authority to reach an agreement
The IRS Brooklyn District and NTEU negotiated over moving a group of employees from Mineola, New York. The district director later refused to sign what the union believed was a completed agreement. The Authority found that the agency's negotiators had said they lacked authority to bind it, so the…
AFSCME Local 2027 and ACTION
ACTION and AFSCME (FLRA O-NG-1243): Short details can normally rotate
AFSCME Local 2027 proposed normally rotating details lasting less than 31 days and documenting them in employees' personnel files. ACTION argued that rotation would interfere with management's rights to assign employees and work. The Authority accepted the union's explanation that management would…
AFGE Local 3320 and HUD Region VI, San Antonio Area Office
AFGE Local 3320 and HUD (FLRA 6-CO-40016): Earlier grievance bars unfair labor practice case
HUD sought to enforce an arbitration award that required AFGE Local 3320 to remove material from a union bulletin board and post a retraction. HUD first filed a grievance over the union's refusal to comply, then pursued an unfair labor practice charge over the same matter. The Authority held that…
U.S. Government Printing Office and Columbia Typographical Union No. 101
Government Printing Office and Columbia Typographical Union (FLRA 3-CA-30465): EEO settlement complaint dismissed
A Government Printing Office employee settled her discrimination complaint through the EEO process after she was not selected for a position. Her union alleged that the agency improperly bypassed it by dealing directly with her. The Authority found that she could choose her own representative in…
AFGE Local 2022 and U.S. Army, Fort Campbell
Fort Campbell and AFGE (FLRA 0-NG-1205): Gate signs fall outside bargaining duty
AFGE Local 2022 proposed putting union welcome signs near five entrance gates at Fort Campbell. The Army said the signs were unrelated to employees' working conditions. The Authority found no evidence that the signs would directly affect bargaining unit employees' work or facilitate communication…
AFGE Local 1509, Sioux Falls Veterans Hospital and Veterans Administration Hospital, Sioux Falls
Sioux Falls Veterans Hospital and AFGE (FLRA 0-AR-1052): Performance rating award set aside
A reviewing official lowered a hospital employee's annual performance rating from outstanding to highly satisfactory. An arbitrator ordered the outstanding rating restored, finding that the reviewing official lacked daily knowledge of the employee's work and had not communicated the change…
Empire Energy Corporation
Two citations settled and a third vacated
Empire Energy Corporation and the Secretary of Labor asked to settle three citations involving the Eagle No. 5 Mine. The Secretary reduced two proposed penalties because the operator's negligence was less than first believed. He also asked to vacate a third citation because the evidence was…
Alabama By-Products Corporation
Penalty case dismissed after MSHA vacated the citation
The Secretary sought a civil penalty against Alabama By-Products Corporation for an alleged violation of its roof control plan at the Mary Lee No. 1 Mine. Before the scheduled hearing, MSHA vacated the citation after concluding that the plan did not cover the situation in question. The Secretary…
Cerro Copper Products Company
Suppression orders vacated after court reversal
A Commission judge had invalidated two OSHA inspection warrants and suppressed the evidence gathered under them, causing most citation items to be vacated. The Seventh Circuit reversed those portions of the judge's orders and directed the Commission to approve the safety and health warrants. The…
Utah Power & Light, substituted for Emery Mining Corporation
Utah Power & Light Company (FMSHRC WEST 86-141-R): Cottonwood Mine order contest dismissed
Utah Power & Light, substituted for Emery Mining Corporation, contested MSHA Order No. 2835048 following an inspection of the Cottonwood Mine. The parties stipulated that the ruling in the related WEST 86-126-R case would control this contest. Judge John J. Morris dismissed the contest under that…
Utah Power & Light, substituted for Emery Mining Corporation
Utah Power & Light Company (FMSHRC WEST 86-140-R): Wilberg Mine order contest dismissed
Utah Power & Light, substituted for Emery Mining Corporation, contested MSHA Order No. 2833456 following an inspection of the Wilberg Mine. The parties stipulated that the ruling in the related WEST 86-126-R case would control this contest. Judge John J. Morris dismissed the contest under that…
Utah Power & Light, substituted for Emery Mining Corporation
Utah Power & Light Company (FMSHRC WEST 86-131-R): Wilberg Mine order contest dismissed
Utah Power & Light, substituted for Emery Mining Corporation, contested MSHA Order No. 2833458 following an inspection of the Wilberg Mine. The parties stipulated that the ruling in the related WEST 86-126-R case would control this contest. Judge John J. Morris dismissed the contest under that…
Emery Mining Corporation
Inspector walkaround contest dismissed
Emery Mining Corporation contested a citation issued after it initially refused to let UMWA international representative Thomas Rabbitt accompany an MSHA inspector at the Deer Creek Mine. Emery also required Rabbitt to sign a release of liability before entering. Judge John J. Morris found that a…
Secretary of Labor v. Cotter Corporation
Working alone citation vacated
An MSHA inspector cited Cotter Corporation after finding a miner operating a jackleg drill alone at its Schwartzwalder uranium mine. An administrative law judge upheld the citation under a standard requiring contact with workers alone in hazardous areas. The Commission found insufficient evidence…
Quinland Coals, Inc.
Roof and preshift violations bring $1,300 penalty
Quinland Coals operated the Quinland No. 1 underground mine. An MSHA inspector found broken roof supports and damaged roof near a seal, and a preshift examiner had recorded the area as clear. Judge William Fauver found violations of the roof support standard and the preshift examination standard…
Tunnelton Mining Company
Contests dismissed after MSHA vacated nine citations
Tunnelton Mining Company contested nine MSHA citations concerning foam fire suppression devices at its Marion Mine. The citations alleged violations of 30 C.F.R. § 75.1101-5(a) at belt conveyor drives. The parties resolved the dispute when MSHA accepted Tunnelton's alternative means of compliance…
Greenwich Collieries, Division of Pennsylvania Mines Corporation
Greenwich Collieries (FMSHRC PENN 86-135-R and 20 related dockets): Twenty-one contest proceedings dismissed after orders modified
Greenwich Collieries contested 21 MSHA orders alleging failures to train newly employed experienced miners at its Greenwich No. 2 Mine. The company argued that the orders were not issued promptly or as the result of an inspection. Before a hearing, MSHA agreed to change every order into a citation…
Secretary of Labor on behalf of Charles Ball v. Arch of Kentucky, Inc.
Charles Ball v. Arch of Kentucky (FMSHRC KENT 86-93-D): Discrimination settlement approved
The Secretary brought a discrimination complaint on behalf of Charles Ball after Arch of Kentucky suspended him for three days without pay. Ball alleged that the suspension followed his safety complaints and refusal to work under hazardous conditions. The parties agreed that Arch would pay him…
Robert Aaron Greenberg, Esquire, and The Law Firm of Tomar, Parks, Seliger, Simonoff & Adourian
Disciplinary proceeding closed without findings
The Commission received an apology from attorney Robert Aaron Greenberg and his law firm concerning the circumstances that led to a disciplinary proceeding. They also assured the Commission that they would use their best efforts to follow Commission rules and orders in the future. Because the…
AFGE Council of Prison Locals, Local 1741 and Federal Correctional Institution Milan
FCI Milan and AFGE (FLRA 0-NG-1179): Late negotiability petition dismissed
The federal prison agency disapproved provisions of a local supplemental bargaining agreement and mailed notice to the union's regional vice president. The union filed a negotiability petition on September 19, 1985, after the August 27 service. The Authority found that the regional vice president…
NFFE Local 1450 and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
HUD and NFFE (FLRA 0-NG-1171): Restriction on hiring source not negotiable
A HUD bargaining provision would have required the agency, after a reduction in force notice, to fill certain vacancies only with affected employees who met minimum qualifications. HUD disapproved that part of the provision. The Authority held that the restriction would prevent HUD from choosing…
National Joint Council of Food Inspection Locals, AFGE and USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service
USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service and AFGE (FLRA 0-NG-1061): Union travel provisions negotiable
The Food Safety and Inspection Service disapproved six negotiated provisions that would pay travel and per diem expenses for employee union representatives. The Authority found that the provisions concerned conditions of employment and did not conflict with law or a governmentwide regulation. It…
Consolidation Coal Company
Three contests dismissed by agreement
Consolidation Coal Company contested three MSHA orders concerning its Blacksville No. 1 Mine. At a scheduled hearing, the parties reported an agreement that would resolve the cases without taking evidence. Consolidation said it would withdraw its contest of one order, which would remain as issued…
D. P. Frost Construction Co.
Proposed settlements partly approved
MSHA and D. P. Frost Construction Co. proposed settlements for citations at the Carter and Yelverton pits. Judge James A. Broderick rejected the entire proposal in CENT 86-64-M because the motion did not support the requested penalty reductions for a sagging walkway, missing safety belt, and pulley…
Homestake Mining Company
Settlement approved at $8,290
Homestake Mining Company and MSHA settled four citations at its gold mine for $8,290, down from an initial assessment of $11,040. One citation concerned a worker who died after a fall; the judge noted that a safety belt had been supplied but was not used, although the foreman knew this. Another…
Rushton Mining Company
Mantrip brake citation vacated
Rushton Mining Company challenged an MSHA citation concerning a two-car mantrip used to carry miners on a slope. The brakecar had an automatic braking system, while the coupled mancar had no independent brakes. MSHA argued that the mancar could become detached and therefore lacked the safety…
Secretary of Labor on behalf of Hogan and Ventura v. Emerald Mines Corporation
Safety based work refusals protected
Two Emerald Mines employees, Michael Hogan and Robert Ventura, refused to ride an elevator after repeated malfunctions and reports of a sudden stop and drop. Emerald suspended each miner for five days, and the miners alleged discrimination under the Mine Act. The Commission held that the miners…
Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation
Preshift examination required in belt entries where miners work
After a federal court remand, the Commission revisited whether Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation had to examine areas along coal-carrying belt conveyors before a shift. Miners were assigned work in those areas, but the operator had not examined them before the miners entered. The Commission held…
Heaton Erecting, Inc.
Mobile-scaffold guardrail issue remanded
OSHA alleged that Heaton Erecting violated the mobile-scaffold guardrail standard because an unguarded scaffold was more than 40 feet above the ground. The judge vacated the item because the scaffold platform was only 50 to 70 inches above its base and relied on a Commission interpretation that was…
AFGE Local 495 and Linda S. Moore
AFGE Local 495 and Moore (FLRA 8-CO-20006-2): Union awarded attorney fees
AFGE Local 495 sought attorney fees after successfully defending an unfair labor practice complaint alleging discrimination based on a member's marital status. The Authority examined whether the General Counsel's position had a reasonable factual basis and whether special circumstances would make a…
Carswell Air Force Base and AFGE Local 1364
Carswell Air Force Base and AFGE (FLRA 6-CU-60001): Employee lacked standing to seek unit review
An employee sought review of a Regional Director's decision on a petition to clarify a bargaining unit at Carswell Air Force Base. The Authority found that only a party could request that review. The employee had not filed the unit petition, been named in it, or been allowed to intervene. It…
NIOSH Cincinnati Operations and AFGE Local 3840
NIOSH Cincinnati and AFGE (FLRA 5-CA-50016): Questioning union representative violated employee rights
A NIOSH employee acting as a union representative submitted a court affidavit concerning alleged discrimination. Management questioned her about employees named in it and proposed discipline when she did not identify them. The Authority found that the questioning and threatened discipline would…
NTEU and HHS Region X, Seattle
HHS Region X and NTEU (FLRA 0-NG-1275): Withdrawn objection ends negotiability appeal
NTEU appealed after HHS Region X asserted that a proposal before the Federal Service Impasses Panel was outside the duty to bargain. HHS later withdrew its allegation of nonnegotiability. The Authority found that no negotiability issue remained to decide and dismissed the union's petition.
AFGE Local 1923 and HHS Office of the General Counsel, Baltimore
HHS Office of General Counsel and AFGE (FLRA 0-NG-1216): Contracting review provision negotiable
AFGE Local 1923 negotiated a provision requiring HHS to follow OMB Circular A-76 when deciding whether to contract out work performed by employees. HHS disapproved it, arguing that bargaining and possible arbitration would interfere with management's right to contract out. The Authority found that…
National Treasury Employees Union and Treasury Financial Management Service
Treasury Financial Management Service and NTEU (FLRA 0-NG-1083): Negotiator travel expenses bargainable
NTEU proposed that Treasury reimburse travel and per diem for employee negotiators. Treasury argued that the proposal fell outside conditions of employment and conflicted with law or regulations. The Authority read the proposal as covering employee negotiators on official time and found that…
Columbia Power Trades Council and Department of Energy, Bonneville Power Administration
Bonneville Power Administration and Columbia Power Trades Council (FLRA 0-NG-1031): Twenty-one provisions held negotiable
The Bonneville Power Administration disapproved 21 provisions of a local agreement, arguing that the federal labor statute restricted bargaining on work rules and other matters outside pay. The Authority held that section 704 of the Civil Service Reform Act preserved bargaining on terms and…
Naval Air Station Whiting Field and AFGE Local 1954
Whiting Field and AFGE (FLRA 0-AR-562): Contracting out award set aside
Whiting Field removed firefighting work from a contracting package after Congress barred contracting out that function. An arbitrator held that the base needed a new cost comparison for the remaining maintenance work and ordered it to end the procurement and reinstate employees with backpay. The…
Veterans Administration Hospital, Bath, New York and AFGE Local 491
Bath VA Hospital and AFGE (FLRA 0-AR-1065): Minimum appraisal rating removed from award
A VA hospital conceded that it had improperly evaluated an employee's performance. The arbitrator ordered a new evaluation but also required a rating of at least fully satisfactory. The Authority allowed the reevaluation remedy and found that the required minimum rating improperly substituted the…
Secretary of Labor on behalf of Sterling Schultz v. Cleveland Cliffs Iron Co.
Discrimination complaint dismissed by agreement
The Secretary brought a complaint for Sterling Schultz alleging that Cleveland Cliffs Iron Co. intimidated him for helping MSHA inspectors at the Tilden Mine. The company denied the allegation, and the case did not seek back pay or damages. The parties later agreed that Cleveland Cliffs would not…
Dun-Par Engineered Form Company
Unguarded-floor citation affirmed
A Dun-Par employee died after falling 131 feet from an unguarded eleventh-floor perimeter while banding stacks of lumber. The Commission held that the employee was exposed to a fall hazard while working 2 to 3.5 feet from the edge and that the foreman knew or should have known the assigned work…
Air Force, 63rd Civil Engineers Squadron, Norton Air Force Base and AFGE Local 3854
Norton Air Force Base and AFGE (FLRA 8-CA-40473): Union excluded from formal discussion
Air Force managers met with a union officer to discuss his own grievance without giving the union a separate opportunity to be represented. The Authority found that the meeting was a formal discussion and that the employee could not serve as the union's representative for his own grievance in these…
Inland Steel Company
Railcar safety citation vacated
An Inland Steel switchman died while attempting to couple two groups of railcars at the company's large internal railroad operation. OSHA alleged a willful general-duty violation because Inland's cars lacked handbrakes and because its program for defective railcars and coupling work was inadequate…
Dun-Par Engineered Form Company
Fall-protection citation vacated as infeasible
Dun-Par employees performed concrete formwork on unguarded upper floors of an eleven-story construction project. The Commission replaced its strict impossibility defense with an infeasibility defense that considers the practical realities of the workplace. It held that Dun-Par proved perimeter…
Defense Logistics Agency, Department of the Army, Cameron Station and AFGE Local 2449
Cameron Station paid parking (FLRA 3-CA-664): Bargaining and reserved-space violations found
Several agencies introduced parking fees at Cameron Station, where AFGE Local 2449 represented Defense Logistics Agency employees and had an agreement for two free reserved spaces. The Authority found that DLA failed to bargain over the impact and implementation of the parking program, and that the…
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and AFGE National Council of EEOC Locals No. 216
EEOC and AFGE Council 216 (FLRA 3-CA-40202): Travel payment refusal violated agreements
EEOC stopped paying union negotiators' travel and per diem even though its bargaining and ground rules agreements provided for those payments. The Authority found that the Supreme Court had rejected a statutory entitlement to payment, but the agreements still bound the agency because their payment…
DOJ Bureau of Prisons, FCI Ray Brook and AFGE Local 3882
FCI Ray Brook and AFGE (FLRA 1-CA-40368): Failure to comply with arbitration award violated statute
An arbitrator ordered FCI Ray Brook to reinstate an employee to his former job after reducing his removal to a suspension. The Bureau of Prisons assigned him to another prison instead, despite a clarification of the award. The Authority found that the clarified award became final and binding and…
AFGE Local 3231 and Social Security Administration
SSA office merger and AFGE (FLRA 0-NG-1023): Two proposals bargainable
AFGE Local 3231 proposed terms for an office merger between Bridgeport, Ohio, and Wheeling, West Virginia. The Authority dismissed the petition as to Proposal 1, which addressed office hours, but found Proposals 2 and 3 within the duty to bargain. Proposal 3 gave employees a chance for adequate…
U.S. Department of Education and AFGE Council 252, Local 3893
Education Department and AFGE (FLRA 0-AR-1091): Rating award clarified to require reevaluation
A union president grieved an unsatisfactory performance rating, alleging that management had not allowed for time spent on representational duties. An arbitrator voided the rating, and the Department of Education challenged the award. The Authority denied the agency's exceptions but found the…
Naval Undersea Warfare Engineering Station, Keyport and IAM Local 282
Keyport Naval Station and IAM (FLRA 0-AR-1014): Reassignment remedy struck
A naval station transferred a union steward without the consultation required by its agreement, then returned him to his original building. An arbitrator also ordered the station to place him in his original position or an equivalent position there. The Authority found that this additional remedy…
Department of Energy, Western Area Power Administration and IBEW Locals 640, 1245, 1759, 1959 and 2159
Western Area Power Administration and IBEW (FLRA 7-CA-1229): Supervisory craftsmen remained in unit
Western Area Power Administration excluded Supervisory Craftsman positions from an IBEW bargaining unit and refused to negotiate their pay. The Authority found that these prevailing rate positions remained covered by the unit despite a change in title and duties. It held that the exclusion and…
National Guard Bureau and National Association of Government Employees
National Guard Bureau and NAGE (FLRA 3-CA-50534): National consultation required before policy expansion
The National Guard Bureau expanded a policy allowing active military personnel to fill technician positions formerly held only by civilian technicians. NAGE held national consultation rights but received no advance opportunity to present views and recommendations. The Authority found that the…
Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service and NTEU
Treasury, IRS and NTEU (FLRA 3-CA-2228): Treasury disapproval of impasse terms unlawful
An impasses panel directed IRS and NTEU to include official time, travel, and per diem terms in their agreement. Treasury, acting as agency head, refused to approve the terms. The Authority found the terms lawful and held that Treasury's refusal to honor the panel decision was an unfair labor…
Fort Knox Teachers Association and Fort Knox Dependent Schools
Fort Knox teachers and schools (FLRA 0-NG-978): Four-proposal appeal dismissed
The Fort Knox Teachers Association sought review of four proposals about teacher duties, planning time, committee composition, and pay credit. The Authority found that the first two interfered with management's right to assign work and that the committee proposal concerned management's decision…
Carlson Mining Company
Bulldozer warning-device citation affirmed
MSHA cited Carlson Mining Company after an inspector found a bulldozer with an inoperative startup warning device at its strip mine. Carlson agreed the device did not work but argued that the bulldozer had not been operating that day. Judge Roy J. Maurer credited the inspector's account that he saw…
AFSCME Local 2477 and Tyrone M. Bryant
AFSCME Local 2477 and Bryant (FLRA 3-CO-40033): Union representation could not depend on rival support
AFSCME Local 2477 refused to provide legal representation to a bargaining unit employee in an adverse action proceeding because he had supported a rival union. The Authority adopted the judge's finding that this discrimination was an unfair labor practice. It ordered the union to provide…
General Services Administration and AFGE Council 236
GSA and AFGE (FLRA 0-AR-905): Contracting grievance was arbitrable
AFGE challenged a GSA custodial contracting action as inconsistent with OMB Circular A-76. The arbitrator found the grievance arbitrable but denied it on the merits. GSA appealed only the arbitrability ruling, arguing that arbitration conflicted with management's contracting out right. The…
Volcanite Limited
Pit berm and bank settlement approved for $865
MSHA cited Volcanite Limited for low berms and an excessively high pit bank at its Puuwaawaa Pit and Mill. A dozer operator had died after driving over the pit edge, but the settlement materials indicated that he had suffered a stroke while driving and that the bank height did not cause the…
Coors Energy Company
Withdrawal order vacated, citations modified
Coors Energy Company challenged an imminent danger withdrawal order and two related citations at its Keenesburg Mine. The parties agreed that the withdrawal order was unwarranted and should be withdrawn. Coors withdrew its contests of the citations on the condition that MSHA change their…
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.