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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AFGE Local 1760 and Social Security Administration
SSA work-assignment limit rejected; training proposal accepted (FLRA O-NG-404)
AFGE Local 1760 proposed delaying assignments to certain Entrex operators until all operators had module assignments, and providing training for employees unable to perform more physically demanding work. The Authority found the first proposal nonnegotiable because it restricted work assignments…
AFGE Local 51 and U.S. Assay Office San Francisco
Assay Office snack-bar cooperation proposal accepted (FLRA O-NG-351)
AFGE Local 51 proposed a joint committee and cooperation over snack-bar prices and service at the San Francisco Assay Office. The Authority rejected the agency’s request to dismiss the appeal because the union corrected filing defects without prejudice to the agency. It held the disputed…
Southern Ohio Coal Company v. Secretary of Labor
Imminent-danger contest withdrawn
Southern Ohio Coal Company contested an MSHA imminent-danger order at its Meigs No. 2 Mine. After MSHA proposed changing the order into an ordinary citation, the company moved to withdraw its contest. Judge George A. Koutras found the proposed change reasonable but left the modification to MSHA. He…
VA Regional Office Portland and NFFE Local 1974
Portland VA bargaining unit excludes six positions (FLRA 9-CU-30, 9-CU-33)
The Portland VA office and NFFE Local 1974 filed competing unit-clarification petitions. The Authority excluded medical officers and vocational rehabilitation specialists as professionals, three loan-division chiefs as supervisors, and a personnel clerk as a confidential labor-relations employee…
Mare Island Naval Shipyard and Federal Employees Metal Trades Council
Mare Island temporary-duty shift complaint dismissed (FLRA 9-CA-563)
A union alleged that Mare Island Naval Shipyard changed shift hours during temporary-duty projects without bargaining. The judge found no unlawful change because such projects had long involved frequent schedule adjustments. The Authority adopted the judge’s dismissal, finding the changes…
AFGE Interdepartmental Local 3723 and Navy Fleet Combat Training Center
AFGE local grievance-scope refusal upheld as violation (FLRA 8-CO-4)
A Navy training center proposed limits to a negotiated grievance procedure, and AFGE Local 3723 refused to bargain over them. A judge found that refusal an unfair labor practice. The Authority adopted the judge’s ruling, holding that grievance-procedure scope was within the duty to bargain, and…
Customs Service Region IX and National Treasury Employees Union
Customs travel-expense complaints split by bargaining type (FLRA 5-CA-1033, 5-CA-1183); later vacated
NTEU challenged Customs’ refusal to reimburse union representatives for travel and per diem during local supplemental bargaining and impact bargaining. The Authority dismissed the supplemental-bargaining allegations because the statutory official-time provision did not cover negotiations on a local…
Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek and AFGE Local 1625
Little Creek status-change complaint dismissed (FLRA 3-CA-1449)
A naval base changed two recreation employees from regular part-time to intermittent status, reducing their hours and benefits. AFGE Local 1625 alleged the base had to bargain over the change’s effects. On a stipulated record, the Authority found the base had followed the same adverse-action…
Defense Dependents Schools and Overseas Education Association
Schools ordered to reimburse union negotiator travel (FLRA 3-CA-1205)
Defense Dependents Schools refused to reimburse travel and per diem for employees negotiating a new agreement on official time. The Authority rejected a timeliness objection and found that the statutory official-time provision required payment of properly documented expenses. It found an unfair…
AFGE Local 225 and Army Armament Research Command
AFGE local ordered to bargain over grievance scope (FLRA 2-CO-7)
An Army command proposed exclusions from a negotiated grievance procedure, but AFGE Local 225 refused to discuss any exclusions beyond those required by statute. The Authority held that grievance-procedure scope was a mandatory bargaining subject. It found that the union’s refusal violated its…
77th U.S. Army Command Fort Totten and AFGE Local 2739
Fort Totten ordered to bargain over workweek effects (FLRA 2-CA-498)
The 77th Army Command changed a maintenance unit’s workweek from Monday through Friday to Tuesday through Saturday. The Authority found that the command could make the scheduling decision but violated the statute by refusing to bargain over its impact and implementation. It ordered bargaining on…
Hanscom Air Force Base and NAGE Local R1-8
Hanscom bargaining unit clarified by duties (FLRA 1-CU-39)
Hanscom Air Force Base sought to exclude numerous positions from a NAGE bargaining unit. The Authority excluded ten incumbents who independently exercised supervisory authority and one computer equipment analyst who shaped agency policy. It kept the other disputed positions in the unit. This…
Vermont Air National Guard and Association of Civilian Technicians
Vermont Guard grievance-scope complaint dismissed (FLRA 1-CA-466)
The Vermont Air National Guard proposed excluding certain technician adverse actions from a negotiated grievance procedure. The technicians’ union sought full coverage, and the parties bargained in good faith to impasse. The Authority held that grievance-procedure scope was a mandatory subject and…
National Union of Compliance Officers and Labor-Management Services Administration
Labor Department supervisory promotion proposal rejected (FLRA O-NG-490)
The National Union of Compliance Officers proposed staffing procedures for short temporary promotions, including supervisory positions. The Authority held that the agency was not required to bargain over procedures for filling supervisory positions outside the bargaining unit. Because the agency…
AFGE Local 2736 and Wurtsmith Air Force Base
Wurtsmith local-agreement appeal dismissed for wrong forum (FLRA O-NG-471)
AFGE Local 2736 appealed a dispute with Wurtsmith Air Force Base concerning proposals covered by a local agreement. The Authority held that the disagreement turned on whether the union had waived bargaining and whether a contract reopener applied. Those questions belonged in unfair labor practice…
Firefighters Local F-37 and Naval Training Center Great Lakes
Great Lakes holiday leave proposal rejected (FLRA O-NG-460)
Firefighters Local F-37 proposed an extra paid day off for an essential employee required to work when the President declared a nonworkday. The Authority held that federal law specifically governed the compensation at issue, placing the matter outside negotiable conditions of employment. It…
National Treasury Employees Union and Internal Revenue Service
IRS commuting reimbursement proposal rejected (FLRA O-NG-459)
After the IRS planned to move a computer software section from Washington to Martinsburg, NTEU proposed reimbursing employees who kept commuting from their current homes. The Authority held that ordinary travel between home and the official duty station was a personal expense, not reimbursable…
AFGE Local 3004 and Otis Air Force Base
Otis training-before-appraisal proposal rejected (FLRA O-NG-427)
AFGE Local 3004 proposed that employees not be evaluated on added duties until the Air Force provided formal training and the employees completed it. The Authority held that this condition would constrain management’s decisions about training and what work to include in appraisals. It dismissed the…
AFGE Local 2192 and VA Regional Office St. Louis
St. Louis VA appraisal proposals receive split ruling (FLRA O-NG-420)
AFGE Local 2192 proposed several rules for performance appraisals and challenges. The Authority rejected limits on identifying critical job elements, bargaining over performance-standard content, and grievance review of those management choices. It ordered bargaining on a general objectivity…
AFGE Local 1822 and VA Medical Center Waco
Waco medication-reporting proposal rejected (FLRA O-NG-362)
AFGE Local 1822 proposed procedures for reporting medication incidents and errors at the Waco VA medical center. The Authority held that the proposal conflicted with duties already assigned to nursing coordinators or their designees, including classification and reporting of incidents. It dismissed…
Laborers Local 1276 and VA National Cemetery Office
Cemetery office provisions upheld as negotiable (FLRA O-NG-356)
Laborers Local 1276 appealed agency-head disapproval of two provisions in a local agreement with the VA National Cemetery Office. The Authority held that the provisions did not conflict with management’s rights to assign employees or work. It ordered the agency head to rescind the disapproval of…
Firefighters Local F-116 and Vandenberg Air Force Base
Vandenberg firefighter assignment proposals rejected (FLRA O-NG-342, O-NG-343)
Firefighters Local F-116 proposed shielding firefighters from duties outside fire protection, routing other work to different staff or contractors, and permitting rest during certain standbys. The Authority found the proposals inconsistent with management’s right to assign work and dismissed both…
National Treasury Employees Union and Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
PBGC pay-setting proposal rejected (FLRA O-NG-320)
NTEU proposed bargaining over pay for Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation employees. The Authority held that federal law fixed General Schedule pay rates and prescribed how they could change. It concluded that the proposal concerned a matter specifically provided for by law and dismissed the…
Service Employees International Union Local 556 and Hale Koa Hotel
Hale Koa reduction-area proposal rejected (FLRA O-NG-306)
After the Hale Koa Hotel moved to a separate Army office and bargaining unit, its union proposed a reduction-in-force competitive area that would also cover employees in another unit. The Authority held that the proposal could displace workers outside the union’s representation and therefore…
Secretary of Labor v. Sellersburg Stone Company
Typing error corrected in July decision
Judge William Fauver issued a correction to his July 26, 1982 decision in the Sellersburg Stone penalty cases. On page two, line four, he changed the word “drill” to “check.” This order makes only that typing correction and states no new ruling on a citation or penalty.
Matter of Exilus
Asylum denial and translation challenge rejected
The Board reviewed an exclusion case involving a Haitian applicant who sought asylum and withholding of exclusion and deportation after conceding that she was excludable. The Board held that the applicant had not shown a well-founded fear of persecution based on her illegal departure from Haiti. It…
Secretary of Labor v. N.B.C. Energy, Inc.
Penalties of $2,245 assessed across three cases
N.B.C. Energy admitted 13 safety violations in three civil penalty cases at its No. 1 Mine, but argued that larger penalties would threaten its ability to stay in business. Judge Michael A. Lasher, Jr. found its financial evidence too incomplete and unreliable to support a substantial reduction on…
Secretary of Labor v. Emery Mining Corporation
Training citations vacated by judge, later reversed
Emery Mining gave miners eight hours of refresher training in each calendar year, but more than twelve months elapsed between some sessions. Judge Charles C. Moore, Jr. read 30 C.F.R. § 48.8(a) as requiring training during each calendar year, rather than within twelve months of the previous…
Consolidated Rail Corporation
Noise, eye protection, and respirator violations affirmed
A Conrail shop employee worked near a running locomotive at about twice the allowable noise exposure without hearing protection despite prior requests for it. The Commission held that EPA and Federal Railroad Administration noise rules did not preempt OSHA from requiring personal protective…
Consolidated Rail Corporation
Ungrounded-line general duty item and glove item affirmed, damaged ground-stick items vacated
OSHA inspected Conrail's Stamford, Connecticut facility in late 1977 after an employee complaint. Employees grounded 11,000 volt overhead wires using wooden ground sticks, also called shepherd sticks, without first testing whether the line was energized. The Secretary cited that practice under the…
Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corporation
PCB skin-exposure violation recharacterized as serious, $210 penalty left standing
At Kaiser's Ravenswood, West Virginia plant, capacitors filled with Aroclor 1016, a polychlorinated biphenyl mixture about 39.5 percent chlorine by weight, were stacked three levels high. When the steel casings ruptured the units had to be manhandled out, and the liquid spilled. On October 17, 1976…
Secretary of Labor on behalf of Danny H. Bryant v. Clinchfield Coal Company
Danny H. Bryant v. Clinchfield Coal Company (FMSHRC VA 80-162-D): Discrimination complaint over work refusal dismissed
The Secretary alleged that Clinchfield Coal suspended and discharged miner Danny Bryant because he refused an assignment to set jacks on a Wilcox miner and had earlier raised equipment safety concerns. Judge Joseph B. Kennedy found that neither episode established protected Mine Act activity under…
Dillingham Tug & Barge Corporation
Seaman fatality citation vacated under Coast Guard preemption
A Dillingham seaman died after falling from a mooring buoy and being crushed between the buoy and a tugboat on navigable waters. OSHA issued a general duty citation, but Dillingham argued that Coast Guard regulation displaced OSHA authority over seamen's working conditions. The Commission held that…
Consolidated Rail Corporation
Record-access citation vacated under then-controlling precedent
Conrail refused to give an OSHA compliance officer access to injury and illness records, relying on Commission precedent that treated railroad recordkeeping as exempt because of Federal Railroad Administration rules. The Commission had since overruled that precedent and held that railroad employers…
A. H. Smith Stone Company
Noise and brake violations sustained
MSHA cited A. H. Smith Stone Company for excessive noise at a shovel and inadequate brakes on a front end loader at its Brandywine operation. Judge Gary Melick found feasible noise controls were available and upheld the noise violation with a $300 penalty. He also upheld the brake citation with a…
Wade G. Teets v. Eastern Associated Coal Corporation
Discrimination complaint dismissed by default
Wade Teets filed a Mine Act discrimination complaint against Eastern Associated Coal Corporation. Judge Richard C. Steffey asked Teets to clarify whether he would obtain counsel and later issued a show-cause order when he received no reply. The judge also found that Teets had missed a scheduled…
IFPTE Local 1 and Norfolk Naval Shipyard
Norfolk shipyard petition dismissed for filing defects (FLRA O-NG-660)
IFPTE Local 1 filed a negotiability petition against Norfolk Naval Shipyard. The Authority identified a regulatory filing defect and gave the union time to correct it. The union made no submission by the deadline, so the Authority dismissed the petition without ruling on negotiability.
NTEU Chapter 52 and IRS Austin District
Austin IRS supply-room access proposal rejected (FLRA O-NG-489)
NTEU Chapter 52 proposed allowing employees to enter a locked IRS supply room when designated contact staff were unavailable or in unusual circumstances. The Authority held that this exception would undermine the agency’s security practice of restricting access to keyholders. It dismissed the…
NASA Headquarters Professional Association and NASA Headquarters
NASA classification appeal dismissed for wrong forum (FLRA O-NG-393)
A NASA union appealed a dispute over a proposed classification-survey procedure after negotiations stalled. The Authority found the agency’s central claim was that it had already fulfilled its bargaining duty, a factual dispute about bargaining conduct. It dismissed the negotiability petition so…
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, AFL-CIO, Local 121 and U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.
Printing Office union reconsideration motion denied (FLRA O-NG-365)
The Authority had found a union proposal about employee training and preserving bargaining unit work outside the Government Printing Office's duty to bargain. The union sought reconsideration, saying its original filing had not fully explained the training and job protection issues. The Authority…
AFGE Food Inspection Locals and Agriculture Department
Food-inspection overtime proposals receive split ruling (FLRA O-NG-236)
AFGE food-inspection locals proposed rules for overtime assignments and inspector conduct. The Authority rejected a sentence barring supervisors from processing assignments except in limited cases because it restricted management’s work assignments. It held the rest of the overtime proposal and a…
Veterans Administration Hospital and American Federation of Government Employees, Lodge 2201
Veterans Administration promotion award remains in place (FLRA O-AR-45)
An arbitrator found that a Veterans Administration hospital violated its merit promotion plan and ordered a worker promoted retroactively with backpay. The Authority had rejected the agency's exceptions to that award. The agency then sought reconsideration, arguing that the Back Pay Act required…
Office of Personnel Management and AFGE Local 32
OPM probationer award reduced to GS-5 relief (FLRA O-AR-232)
An arbitrator found an OPM probationer’s termination unjustified and ordered reinstatement with backpay and a later GS-7 promotion. The Authority rejected the agency’s challenges to arbitrability and the arbitrator’s factual findings. It modified the award because the record did not establish that…
IRS Austin District and NTEU Chapter 52
IRS reassignment and retirement award upheld (FLRA O-AR-213)
An IRS auditor elected early retirement after an El Paso-to-Houston reassignment that an arbitrator found was discipline in disguise. The arbitrator awarded lost pay and a recalculated annuity. The Authority held that the contract barred reassignment in lieu of discipline and that the agency had…
Power Plant Division, Brown & Root, Inc.
Fatal duct fall citation affirmed
A Brown & Root welder fell 43 feet to his death from an elevated surface inside a large air duct while inspecting a defective weld. The surface had been used for assembly work and remained available for inspection and cleanup, but its open side had only a low single wire rope rather than a standard…
Sellersburg Stone Company
Blasting and accident reporting penalties assessed
At Sellersburg Stone's limestone quarry, a driller was seriously injured when a boulder containing an unexploded charge detonated as he drilled it. Judge William Fauver found that the company failed to turn blasted boulders over to check for unexploded charges. He also found that it altered the…
Secretary of Labor (MSHA) v. Co-op Mining Company
Weekly examination violation upheld; three penalties assessed
MSHA sought penalties in three cases against Co-op Mining Company, which operated a coal mine. Judge Gary Melick found that Co-op had failed to conduct and record required weekly examinations of mine aircourses under 30 C.F.R. § 75.305. He gave little weight to a supervisor's account that the…
William A. Haro v. Magma Copper Company
Retaliation complaint over safety slips dismissed
William Haro alleged that Magma Copper suspended him for five days and later reprimanded him because he had made safety complaints. Judge Jon D. Boltz recognized Haro's request for an MSHA inspection of an overhead crane as protected activity, but found no evidence that it motivated either…
Secretary of Labor (MSHA) on behalf of George Roy Logan v. Bright Coal Company
Secretary of Labor on behalf of George Roy Logan v. Bright Coal Company (FMSHRC KENT 81-162-D): Discrimination complaint dismissed, then remanded
George Roy Logan alleged that Bright Coal Company fired him after he refused to work alone under unsafe mine roof. Bright Coal said it fired him for misconduct and poor work. Judge Charles C. Moore, Jr. found the competing accounts of the discharge conversation equally credible on their own. After…
NAGE Local R14-87 and National Guard Bureau
National Guard negotiability appeal dismissed as late (FLRA O-NG-636)
NAGE Local R14-87 sent an initial negotiability petition to the National Guard Bureau but did not file it with the Authority. Its later Authority filing missed the deadline after the agency’s allegation. The Authority dismissed the petition as untimely without reaching the proposal.
National Treasury Employees Union and U.S. Customs Service
Customs travel proposal accepted; action-stay proposal rejected (FLRA O-NG-293)
NTEU proposed travel reimbursement for employees on agreed official time and a stay of discipline or adverse action while appeals were pending. The Authority held the reimbursement proposal negotiable because authorized official time carried travel benefits. It rejected the stay proposal because an…
Norfolk Naval Shipyard and Tidewater Metal Trades Council
Shipyard suspension award returned for clarification (FLRA O-AR-295)
A Norfolk Naval Shipyard arbitrator upheld a one-day suspension for reading a newspaper at work after treating a prior oral warning as an earlier offense. The union challenged that premise. The Authority found the award unclear on whether the suspension had just cause if this was the employee’s…
HHS Region X Seattle and NTEU Chapter 215
HHS Seattle bargaining unit clarified (FLRA 9-CU-19)
HHS sought to exclude several Seattle regional positions from an NTEU bargaining unit. The Authority retained training, program, advisory, clerical, and staff positions whose work did not create the claimed statutory exclusions. It excluded management analysts engaged in substantive personnel work…
State of Nevada National Guard and National Association of Government Employees, Locals R12-130 and R12-145
Nevada National Guard reconsideration and stay denied (FLRA 9-CA-49)
The Authority had found that the Nevada National Guard violated federal labor law by refusing to comply with a Federal Service Impasses Panel order. The Guard asked the Authority to reconsider that decision and stay its effect, arguing that National Guard technicians differed from other federal…
Customs Service Region VIII and NTEU
Customs ordered to bargain over new shift details (FLRA 9-CA-224, 9-CA-230)
Customs established new shifts in its San Francisco region and declined to bargain over starting and quitting times and lunch periods. A judge found an unfair labor practice, and the Authority adopted that result. It ordered bargaining on request and a notice, but found no workable old shift…
Castle Air Force Base and NAGE Local R12-91
Castle Air Force Base official-time complaint dismissed (FLRA 9-CA-1072)
NAGE Local R12-91 designated three employees from one bargaining unit to negotiate for a separate unit at Castle Air Force Base. The Air Force denied them official time. The Authority held that the statutory entitlement applied only to designated negotiators who were members of the unit being…
Army and Air Force Exchange Service Fort Carson and AFGE Local 1345
Fort Carson exchange complaint dismissed (FLRA 7-CA-918)
AFGE Local 1345 alleged an unfair labor practice by the Army and Air Force Exchange Service at Fort Carson. The judge found the alleged violation had not been established and recommended dismissal. The Authority adopted the judge’s findings and dismissed the complaint.
IRS Southwest Region and NTEU Chapter 91
IRS negotiator travel violation upheld (FLRA 6-CA-857)
The IRS Southwest Region denied union representative Willard Nichols official time for travel and travel expenses connected with contract negotiations. A judge found an unfair labor practice. The Authority adopted the judge’s findings and ordered the IRS to provide the official time, reimburse…
U.S. Geological Survey Gulf of Mexico Region and AFGE Local 3457
USGS offshore overtime change required impact bargaining (FLRA 6-CA-209)
The Geological Survey ended a past practice of paying overtime to employees stranded offshore overnight. The judge held that the agency could stop unlawful overtime and dismissed the complaint. The Authority agreed that the decision itself did not require bargaining, but found a violation because…
IRS Chicago and NTEU Chapter 95
Chicago IRS office-layout dismissal reversed (FLRA 5-CA-78)
IRS Chicago changed its appeals-office layout after a reorganization and refused to bargain over private offices and ventilation. A judge dismissed the complaint. The Authority reversed, finding that the IRS had not shown an open-space design was a protected work technology and still had to bargain…
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.