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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Radio Officers Union and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Radio Officers Union and NOAA (FLRA 0-NG-1248): Negotiability appeal dismissed as late
The Radio Officers Union appealed NOAA's statement that a proposal was outside its duty to bargain. Under the rules then in force, the union had 15 days after service of that statement to file its petition at the Authority's national office. It mailed a petition to a regional office, but there was…
A.D. Bracken v. Alpine Construction Company
Complaint dismissed after conditional withdrawal
A.D. Bracken told the Commission he did not want to continue his discrimination case against Alpine Construction Company unless an impartial special investigator unfamiliar with the parties could be assigned. Chief Judge Paul Merlin explained that the Commission could not assign an investigator or…
Paschen/Morrison-Knudsen/Kenny, A Joint Venture
Tunneling citations left affirmed
A Commission judge affirmed four citation items from a tunneling operation and assessed a combined $3,300 penalty. Two items concerned testing for flammable gases and oxygen deficiency and were classified as serious rather than willful. The Secretary sought review only of that classification while…
National Weather Service and National Weather Service Employees Organization
National Weather Service and its employees' union (FLRA 7-CA-40783): Performance plans had to be supplied
The National Weather Service Employees Organization requested three instructors' performance appraisal plans for bargaining over a new rating system at the Kansas City training center. The Weather Service refused to provide them. The Authority agreed with the judge that the union's designated…
National Weather Service and National Weather Service Employees Organization
National Weather Service and its employees' union (FLRA 7-CA-40108): Evaluation form did not change working conditions
A supervisor at the National Weather Service Training Center began using a new sheet to record classroom evaluations of instructors. The administrative law judge found that the agency should have notified and bargained with the union before using it. The Authority disagreed: supervisors had long…
Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division and AFGE Local 2513
Labor Wage and Hour Division and AFGE Local 2513 (FLRA 2-CA-40354): Bargaining required for office transfers
The Department of Labor transferred employees from its Brooklyn Wage and Hour office to offices in the Bronx and Manhattan. AFGE sought bargaining over the procedures and effects of the moves. The agency argued that the union had waived that right by dropping a proposed contract term about transfer…
Tidewater Virginia Federal Employees Metal Trades Council and Navy Public Works Center Norfolk
Tidewater Virginia Metal Trades Council and Norfolk Navy Public Works Center (FLRA 0-NG-1176): Daylight saving time option bargainable
The union proposed that employees working when clocks advance for daylight saving time could use an hour of annual leave or work an additional hour to keep an eight-hour shift. The Navy argued that the choice would interfere with its rights to assign work and determine staffing. The Authority found…
United Power Trades Council and Army Corps of Engineers North Pacific Division
United Power Trades Council and Army Corps of Engineers (FLRA 0-AR-960): Night differential award set aside
The Army Corps of Engineers stopped paying a night shift differential to certain power plant employees after a new regional power rate schedule took effect. An arbitrator ruled that the agency's labor agreement required continued payment and awarded backpay. The Authority found that the 1982…
Air Force Flight Test Center Edwards and AFGE Local 3854
Edwards Air Force Base and AFGE Local 3854 (FLRA 0-AR-887): Limited union telephone access upheld
AFGE sought an Air Force AUTOVON telephone line in its office at Edwards Air Force Base. An interest arbitrator rejected the dedicated line but awarded limited access to the existing system so the local representative could discuss contract matters with the union president. The Air Force challenged…
FMC Corporation
Short-circuit setting violation upheld, cable-length allegation vacated
FMC Corporation contested two allegations in a citation concerning an electrically powered bore miner at its underground trona mine. Judge Michael A. Lasher, Jr. found that the machine's 700-foot trailing cable required a short-circuit protection setting near the starting-current value, while the…
Banner Coal Company, Inc.
High-voltage line clearance citation upheld
MSHA cited Banner Coal Company for operating a loader and coal trucks at a stockpile too close to energized high-voltage power lines. Judge Gary Melick found that the equipment could come within the required 10-foot clearance and that Banner had supplied no measurement contradicting the inspector's…
Don Keen and six other miners v. Garden Creek Pocahontas Company
Keen and other miners v. Garden Creek Pocahontas Company (FMSHRC VA 86-4-D): Dispatcher work-refusal claim dismissed
Seven miners alleged that Garden Creek Pocahontas Company laid them off after their union insisted on a full-time dispatcher to control underground rail traffic during a planned idle period. Judge Gary Melick found that the existing safeguard allowed another competent person to direct traffic and…
Hamilton Die Cast, Inc.
Duplicate face-protection citation vacated
An earlier Hamilton case included a face-protection citation that a judge affirmed while another item from the same decision was directed for Commission review. Before that review ended, OSHA cited Hamilton again for the same face-protection condition. The Commission held that directing any part of…
Hamilton Die Cast, Inc.
Eye-protection item remanded after court ruling
A Commission judge had affirmed a serious citation against Hamilton Die Cast under the eye and face protection standard. The Sixth Circuit vacated that finding and returned the case to the Commission. Following the court's direction, the Commission remanded the citation item to the judge for…
Bunge Corporation
Grain-dust citations vacated
OSHA cited three Bunge grain-handling facilities under the mineral-dust provisions of 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1000. The Commission held that Table Z-3 applies only to mineral dusts and did not cover organic soybean or grain dust under its inert-or-nuisance-dust listing. It also rejected the alternative…
Health Care Financing Administration Region IV and NTEU
Sanitized evaluations ordered disclosed
NTEU requested sanitized performance evaluations for bargaining unit employees in Health Care Financing Administration Region IV. It wanted to determine whether the agency had violated the collective bargaining agreement and whether to file a grievance. The agency refused to provide the…
National Treasury Employees Union and Department of Health and Human Services
NTEU and Health and Human Services (FLRA 0-NG-1020): Reduction in force credit proposal barred by government rules
NTEU proposed additional service credit for employees with outstanding or excellent performance ratings during a reduction in force at the Department of Health and Human Services. The agency argued that its own regulation barred the proposal. The Authority found that the agency had not shown a…
General Services Administration Region 8 and AFGE Council 236
GSA Region 8 and AFGE Council 236 (FLRA 0-AR-927): Negotiated union travel reimbursement upheld
An AFGE representative sought travel and per diem expenses for labor relations work performed on official time. An arbitrator found that GSA Region 8 had agreed to pay such expenses in proper cases and ordered reimbursement of reasonable and necessary costs after the required claim information was…
Bureau of Reclamation Upper Colorado Region and IBEW Local 2159
Bureau of Reclamation and IBEW Local 2159 (FLRA 0-AR-1055): Negotiator travel award limited by travel rules
IBEW Local 2159 sought travel and per diem reimbursement for union negotiators under its agreement with the Bureau of Reclamation. An arbitrator found the agreement enforceable and ordered the agency to make the employees whole. The agency argued that a Supreme Court decision and travel…
Veterans Administration San Juan Medical and Regional Office Center and AFGE Local 2408
Veterans Administration San Juan and AFGE Local 2408 (FLRA 0-AR-1044): Directed selection struck from promotion award
An employee at the Veterans Administration's San Juan center grieved repeated nonselection for claims examiner positions. An arbitrator found that the agency used discriminatory, nonmerit selection criteria and ordered her immediate selection for a GS-11 position if one was open, or priority…
AFGE Local 3258 and Department of Housing and Urban Development
AFGE Local 3258 and HUD (FLRA 0-AR-1026): Career ladder remedy revised to preserve work assignments
A HUD support specialist claimed that lower-graded duties kept him from showing he could perform at the GS-11 level of his career ladder. An arbitrator found that the agency had reduced his opportunity and ordered it to restore his former mix of duties or provide an equivalent opportunity. The…
Naval Air Rework Facility Norfolk and Machinists Local Lodge 39
Norfolk Naval Air Rework Facility and Machinists Local 39 (FLRA 0-AR-1006): Overtime backpay award set aside
The union grieved that a temporary foreman performed machinist work during overtime instead of three other employees. An arbitrator found a contract violation and divided 106 hours of retroactive overtime pay among the employees. The Authority held that the Back Pay Act required a finding that the…
Otis Elevator Company
Elevator-repair citation settled for $375
MSHA cited Otis Elevator Company because a repairman who had not taken the required West Virginia examination performed electrical work on a mine elevator. A miner was injured while trying to board the elevator, but the government said it could not establish that the cited qualification violation…
Consolidation Coal Company
Ventilation citation upheld without unwarrantable failure
Consolidation Coal stipulated that airflow at a working face fell below the 6,000 cubic feet per minute required by its ventilation plan. MSHA alleged that the violation also resulted from an unwarrantable failure to comply. Judge John J. Morris credited testimony that a trailing cable had suddenly…
Immigration and Naturalization Service and AFGE Local 1917
Equipment practice restored pending bargaining
The Immigration and Naturalization Service stopped issuing blackjacks to detention officers at its Brooklyn facility without giving AFGE Local 1917 notice or a chance to bargain over the change. The administrative law judge found an unfair labor practice but declined to restore the prior practice…
AFGE and Department of Housing and Urban Development
AFGE and HUD (FLRA 0-NG-930, 0-NG-931): Cost study before workforce reduction bargainable
AFGE proposed that HUD study the costs of furloughs and retraining before carrying out a reduction in force, using a suggested furlough schedule in the calculation. A second proposal described how wage grade and printing employees would be included in that cost study. The Authority rejected HUD's…
NAGE Local R14-87 and Kansas Army National Guard
Return after involuntary transfer bargainable
NAGE proposed that Kansas Army National Guard employees moved to another duty station in a reduction in force receive a noncompetitive return to their former position when it became vacant and the agency chose to fill it. The agency said employees reassigned at the same grade suffered no adverse…
Social Security Administration and AFGE
Negotiator travel award limited by travel rules
The Social Security Administration stopped paying travel and per diem expenses for employees serving as union negotiators. An arbitrator found that its agreement with AFGE required payment and ordered retroactive reimbursement. The Authority rejected the agency's challenges to the arbitrator's…
Veterans Administration Medical Center Brockton and NAGE Local R1-25
Brockton VA Medical Center and NAGE Local R1-25 (FLRA 0-AR-990): Reasonable union official time award upheld
The Brockton VA Medical Center cut its local union president's official time from full time to 15 percent because of workload demands. An arbitrator revoked the fixed limit and directed supervisors to allow reasonable time for appropriate union duties, while accounting for assigned work and…
NTEU Chapter 224 and Social Security Administration Office of Hearings and Appeals
NTEU Chapter 224 and Social Security Hearings Office (FLRA 0-AR-875): Negotiation travel claims subject to federal rules
Two NTEU representatives sought travel and per diem expenses for a one-day negotiation session requested by the Social Security Administration's Office of Hearings and Appeals. An arbitrator found that the parties' agreement required payment and that the Travel Expense Act did not require a…
Social Security Administration and AFGE Local 1760
Twelve-month performance appraisal remedy upheld
A Social Security Administration employee grieved a performance rating based on a ten-month period after new standards took effect. An arbitrator found that the labor agreement entitled her to an appraisal covering twelve months and that the agency had not provided required progress discussions. He…
Patent and Trademark Office and Patent Office Professional Association
Patent and Trademark Office and POPA (FLRA 0-AR-1019): Promotion and backpay remedies struck
A patent examiner grieved his supervisor's refusal to recommend a career ladder promotion from GS-12 to GS-13. An arbitrator found the refusal arbitrary and ordered retroactive promotion with backpay. The Authority held that the arbitrator had not found the examiner definitely would have been…
Harry L. Wadding v. Tunnelton Mining Company
Request to set aside dismissal denied
Harry Wadding asked the Commission to set aside an ALJ decision dismissing his discrimination complaint against Tunnelton Mining Company. He alleged fraud and misleading testimony, but the Commission found that his motion largely revisited evidence available at the original hearing. The Commission…
Westmoreland Coal Company
Roof-control penalty reduced to $5,000
Westmoreland Coal Company was assessed a civil penalty for violating the mandatory roof-control standard at 30 C.F.R. § 75.202. The ALJ initially assessed $8,000 after finding unwarrantable failure and gross negligence, but the Commission reversed those findings and remanded for reconsideration of…
Matter of Torres
Advance-parole applicants remained in exclusion proceedings
Two applicants seeking adjustment of status were paroled into the United States under advance parole and then placed in exclusion proceedings. They argued that they should instead be in deportation proceedings and be eligible for suspension because of the Silva v. Bell injunction. The Board held…
Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Group, Division of United Technologies Corporation
Three open-tank items vacated and goggles item affirmed without precedential value
Pratt & Whitney used open tanks containing hydrochloric acid, nitric acid, cleaner, and water to pickle aircraft parts at its Middletown facility. The Commission vacated an employee-instruction item because orientation, on-the-job training, tank warning signs, employee experience, and the obvious…
AFGE Local 2782 and Bureau of the Census
AFGE Local 2782 and Census Bureau (FLRA 3-CO-50002): Union ordered to arbitrate agency grievances
The Census Bureau invoked arbitration over three grievances, but AFGE Local 2782 declined to participate. The union argued that a disputed 1983 labor agreement was not in effect and that the grievances were not arbitrable. The administrative law judge found that a prior agreement's arbitration…
The Youghiogheny and Ohio Coal Company
Two withdrawal orders affirmed
The Youghiogheny and Ohio Coal Company contested two withdrawal orders issued under the Mine Act's repeated-unwarrantable-failure provision. Judge Gary Melick had previously found the violations and unwarrantable failure underlying those orders, but deferred a final ruling while other judges…
U.S. Soldiers' and Airmen's Home and AFGE Local 3090
Soldiers' and Airmen's Home and AFGE Local 3090 (FLRA 3-CA-20561): Arbitration award compliance ordered after court ruling
The Soldiers' and Airmen's Home refused to implement an arbitrator's award while exceptions to the award were pending. The Authority had earlier dismissed the union's unfair labor practice complaint, but a federal appeals court set that decision aside. The court held that the agency had to comply…
AFGE Council 220 and Social Security Administration Region III
AFGE Council 220 and Social Security Region III (FLRA 2-CO-50010): Union ordered to sign negotiated memorandum
AFGE Council 220 and the Social Security Administration's Region III reached terms on overtime distribution and compensatory leave. The union's negotiator then refused to sign the written memorandum after receiving an instruction not to do so. The Authority agreed with the judge that the negotiator…
NAGE Local R14-87 and Adjutant General of Kansas
NAGE Local R14-87 and Kansas Adjutant General (FLRA 0-NG-910): Return rights after RIF bargainable
NAGE proposed return or repromotion rights for Kansas National Guard employees removed or demoted in a reduction in force when their former positions became vacant and the agency chose to fill them. A second proposal made those rights take priority within the agreement. The Authority held that the…
AFGE Local 1857 and Sacramento Air Logistics Center
Removal award outside Authority review
An arbitrator upheld an employee's reprimand and removal from the Sacramento Air Logistics Center. AFGE Local 1857 filed exceptions with the Authority. The Authority held that it could not review an arbitration award relating to a removal covered by 5 U.S.C. § 7512. It dismissed the exceptions for…
Social Security Administration and AFGE Local 2006
Removal award outside Authority review
An arbitrator found just cause for a Social Security Administration employee's removal and denied the grievance. AFGE Local 2006 filed exceptions with the Authority. The Authority held that it lacked jurisdiction because the award concerned a removal covered by 5 U.S.C. § 7512 and § 7121(f). It…
Panama Canal Commission and Maritime Metal Trades Council
Late reconsideration request denied
The Maritime Metal Trades Council asked the Authority to reconsider an order dismissing its arbitration exceptions as late. It said mail service between Panama and the United States and its past practice of sending filings to a regional office justified waiving deadlines. The Authority acknowledged…
Norfolk Naval Shipyard and Tidewater Virginia Federal Employees Metal Trades Council
Norfolk Naval Shipyard and Tidewater Metal Trades Council (FLRA 0-AR-1056): Overtime backpay award set aside
A Norfolk Naval Shipyard employee grieved the loss of overtime on an asbestos removal project after she was on sick leave when assignments were made. An arbitrator found a contract violation and awarded pay for twelve overtime hours. The Authority held that the Back Pay Act required a finding that…
Florida Crushed Stone Company
Five quarry citations settled for $3,257
Florida Crushed Stone Company and MSHA settled five safety citations at the Brooksville Gay Quarry. One citation followed a pit-wall collapse that killed a power-shovel operator; the parties reported that the wall had been inspected repeatedly and that no visible warning of the defect had been…
Triple B Corporation
Truck safety citations upheld with $250 penalty
MSHA cited Triple B Corporation for five violations involving two trucks at its surface coal mine. The defects included missing or ineffective parking brakes, weak service brakes, faulty steering, an inoperative reverse alarm, and cracked rear-view mirrors. Judge Gary Melick found the…
Social Security Administration, New York Region and AFGE
Information request complaints dismissed
AFGE requested unsanitized attendance, performance, and related records from four Social Security Administration offices in the New York region. The agency refused several requests, and the union alleged unfair labor practices. The Authority found that the union had not explained why it needed the…
NFFE Local 29 and U.S. Army Engineer District Kansas City
NFFE Local 29 and Kansas City Army Engineer District (FLRA 0-NG-547): Prior performance rating proposal bargainable
NFFE Local 29 proposed that employees changing jobs retain a recent high performance rating as their entrance rating rather than automatically receive a "Fully Successful" rating. The Kansas City Army Engineer District said the proposal conflicted with its regulation and could disrupt uniform…
NTEU Chapter 207 and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
NTEU Chapter 207 and FDIC (FLRA 0-NG-446): Separate union pay formula remains outside bargaining duty
NTEU Chapter 207 proposed a salary adjustment formula for employees at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation's Washington headquarters. The Authority had found the proposal outside the duty to bargain because it conflicted with the FDIC's uniform pay system, but reconsidered that finding after…
Secretary of Labor on behalf of John G. Kline v. Consolidation Coal Company
Kline v. Consolidation Coal Company (FMSHRC WEVA 85-226-D): Discrimination case settled with $200 penalty
The Secretary moved to settle a Mine Act discrimination case brought on behalf of John G. Kline against Consolidation Coal Company. The motion said Kline had received or would receive all the relief he sought, but the order does not specify that relief. The parties proposed a $200 civil penalty for…
Emery Mining Corporation
Citation contest withdrawn
Emery Mining Corporation contested an MSHA citation issued at its Cottonwood Mine. At the hearing, Emery renewed a motion to withdraw its contest, and no one objected. Judge John J. Morris granted the motion under the Commission's withdrawal rule and dismissed the case. The order does not describe…
Secretary of Labor on behalf of Larry Collins v. Raven Red Ash Coal Corporation
Collins v. Raven Red Ash Coal Corporation (FMSHRC VA 85-5-D): Temporary reinstatement case dismissed as moot
The Secretary had sought temporary reinstatement for miner Larry Collins in a discrimination case against Raven Red Ash Coal Corporation. A prior judge ordered his temporary reinstatement, but the order was not enforced and the Secretary later filed a discrimination complaint involving Collins and…
Ann Riley Owens v. Monterey Coal Company
Owens v. Monterey Coal Company (FMSHRC LAKE 86-33-D): Summary decision denied in discrimination case
Ann Riley Owens brought a discrimination complaint against Monterey Coal Company after a dispute concerning foot injuries, mine safety, and alleged retaliation. Monterey sought dismissal or summary decision, arguing that her injuries were self-inflicted and that her complaint did not state a…
Matter of Velasquez
Attorney's deportability concession bound the respondent
The respondent was in deportation proceedings after the Service charged him with entering the United States without inspection. His first attorney conceded deportability in a motion to change venue, but new counsel argued that the concession was unauthorized and should not be admitted. The Board…
Jim Walter Resources, Inc. v. Secretary of Labor
Jim Walter Resources (FMSHRC SE 85-62): Four ventilation orders vacated, equipment citation affirmed
Jim Walter Resources contested four orders alleging that line curtains at its mines were too far from idle faces under its approved ventilation plan. It also contested the proposed penalty for a citation concerning an opening in a continuous miner's control box. Judge George A. Koutras found that…
Matter of American Paralegal Academy, Inc.
Fee schedule was not nominal
American Paralegal Academy sought recognition to represent people before the Board and the Immigration and Naturalization Service. It proposed charging up to $350 for services while calling those amounts donations and said it would provide free services when funding allowed. The Board held that the…
Granite City Terminals Corporation
Clam shell bucket access citation vacated
Granite City used a crane-mounted clam shell bucket to move employees between its Mississippi River dock and barges when low water made the access methods specifically listed in the standard unreasonable. The Commission held that the Secretary bore the burden of proving that this alternative was…
AFGE Council 214 and Air Force Logistics Command
Property liability standard rejected, grievance stay bargainable
AFGE Council 214 proposed two rules for Air Force employees accused of losing or damaging government property. The first would limit employee payment to cases of gross negligence or deliberate misconduct; the Authority found that it interfered with the agency's internal security plan and dismissed…
Secretary of Labor on behalf of Earl Kennedy and Larry Collins v. Raven Red Ash Coal Corporation
Kennedy and Collins v. Raven Red Ash Coal (FMSHRC VA 85-32-D): Miners awarded back pay for safety refusal
The Secretary alleged that Raven Red Ash Coal Corporation discharged miners Earl Kennedy and Larry Collins after they refused to work under unsupported roof. The company said they quit voluntarily. Judge George A. Koutras found that the miners had refused unsafe work and were discharged for that…
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.