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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Mecco, Inc.
Mine inspection entry dispute settled for $200
MSHA cited Mecco after an inspector was allegedly denied entry to its pit and mill and proposed a $1,000 penalty. The company described uncertainty over whether MSHA or OSHA had authority at the site and whether MSHA needed a warrant. In a separate court case, Mecco agreed to allow inspections of…
Matter of McMillan
Marriage before age eighteen established stepchild status
The Board reviewed a United States citizen's petitions for immediate-relative status for her twin stepsons, who were born in England and lived with their paternal grandmother in Grenada. The Acting District Director denied the petitions because the petitioner had not shown a close family…
Texas Lime Company, Division of Rangaire Corporation
Texas Lime Company (FMSHRC CENT 79-392-M): Head pulley guarding citation upheld
MSHA cited Texas Lime after a worker was fatally injured at an unguarded conveyor head pulley at its Plant No. 2. Judge Jon D. Boltz found that the pulley was accessible from a work platform and that its metal cover was absent when the accident occurred. The evidence did not establish whether the…
Callanan Industries, Inc.
Noise citation vacated, three other citations upheld
MSHA cited Callanan Industries at its South Bethlehem Quarry and Mill for excessive drill noise, a faulty truck backup alarm, greasing a moving conveyor pulley without an extended fitting, and ungrounded electrical equipment. Judge Gary Melick vacated the noise citation because MSHA had not proved…
Erie Blacktop, Inc.
Nine mine safety citations upheld and three vacated
MSHA sought penalties for 12 citations against Erie Blacktop at its quarry and mill. Judge George A. Koutras upheld nine citations covering mine office notices, unsafe access, missing handrails, and an unguarded crusher flywheel. He vacated three citations because MSHA had not proved that a loader…
Matter of Tessel, Inc.
Common ownership and management supported an affiliated-company visa petition
The Acting Associate Commissioner of Examinations reviewed a visa petition for a beneficiary who would work as a vice-president and export director for a United States company. The company sought Schedule A, Group IV labor certification based on the beneficiary's prior managerial work for a South…
Matter of Mowrer
Existing stepparent relationships supported visa petitions
The Board reviewed a United States citizen's petitions for immediate-relative status for two Philippine citizen stepchildren. The District Director revoked the previously approved petitions because the petitioner had been separated from the children's mother since 1974 and the children lived abroad…
United States Steel Corporation
Mine withdrawal order vacated
United States Steel challenged a withdrawal order issued under the 1969 Coal Act. After an earlier remand, the judge upheld the order because the operator had not proved that the mine received a complete inspection between two enforcement orders. The Commission held that the mine safety agency bore…
Oliver M. Elam, Jr., Company, Inc.
Oliver M. Elam, Jr., Company (FMSHRC 79-447-P and eight related dockets): Coal dock citations vacated
MSHA brought 16 citations or orders against Oliver M. Elam, Jr., Company at its Ohio River dock. The dock stored, crushed, and loaded coal for brokers, but the company was paid to load barges and did not prepare coal for sale or a particular use. Judge Michael A. Lasher, Jr., held that these…
United States Steel Corporation
Electrical danger withdrawal order upheld
United States Steel contested an imminent danger withdrawal order at its Gary District Mine No. 2. The inspector found holes through a shuttle car trailing cable and concluded that workers had used the cable to supply power to other equipment. Chief Judge James A. Broderick found that the holes…
Cyprus Industrial Minerals Corporation
Exploration drift covered by Mine Act
Cyprus Industrial Minerals challenged an imminent danger withdrawal order issued after a contractor's worker was fatally injured while preparing a portal and drift at its Bosal claim. The company argued that the work was exploratory and therefore outside Mine Act coverage. The Commission held that…
Barnes & Tucker Company
Accident reporting citations vacated
MSHA cited Barnes & Tucker after a fire in the elevator hoist building at its Lancashire mine. The citations alleged that the company failed to report an accident promptly and altered the accident site before the investigation ended. Judge Charles C. Moore, Jr., found that MSHA had not proved the…
Sharp Mountain Coal Company; D and R Coal Company, a Partnership and Bobby Donofrio
Sharp Mountain Coal Company (FMSHRC PENN 80-218-R): Withdrawal order reduced to blasting citation
MSHA issued an imminent danger withdrawal order after finding nonpermissible fuses and blasting caps at Sharp Mountain's underground coal mine. Judge James A. Laurenson found that the operator's use of the materials violated the blasting regulation, but MSHA had not proved an imminent danger. The…
Belton Sand & Gravel Company, Inc.
Haul truck brake violations upheld
MSHA cited Belton Sand & Gravel after an inspector found that the brakes on two haul units at its Mound Plant did not stop the vehicles at low speed. Judge Forrest E. Stewart found that the operator knew the brakes needed repair but continued to use both units. He held that the inadequate brakes…
Price Construction, Inc.
Eye protection citation upheld
MSHA cited Price Construction after an employee broke a boulder with a sledgehammer at its O'Daniel Pit without wearing eye protection. Judge Forrest E. Stewart found that flying rock chips posed a risk of serious eye injury and that the company had not effectively enforced its safety requirement…
Windsor Power House Coal Company
Ventilation plan penalty assessed
MSHA sought a penalty after Windsor Power House Coal failed to maintain the air volume and velocity required by its ventilation plan at Beech Bottom Mine. A prior final contest decision had upheld the citation. Judge Forrest E. Stewart held that Windsor could not relitigate that violation in the…
C.F. & I. Steel Corporation
Methane withdrawal order and citation vacated
MSHA issued an imminent danger withdrawal order after finding elevated methane along a conveyor belt line at C.F. & I. Steel's Allen Mine. Judge Jon D. Boltz found that the operator had already removed production miners, shut off power, and was working to improve ventilation when the order issued…
Mathies Coal Company
Withdrawal order for nearby battery charger upheld
Mathies Coal contested a withdrawal order issued after an inspector found a nonpermissible battery charger 95 feet from active pillar workings. Judge Forrest E. Stewart held that the electrical equipment standard applied even though the charger was unplugged and its cable could not reach the load…
Quarto Mining Company
Dust control plan citation vacated
MSHA sought a penalty against Quarto Mining for an alleged violation of a dust control plan provision at its Powhatan No. 4 Mine. Assistant Chief Judge Paul Merlin found that an earlier decision had held the same plan provision invalid. He treated that ruling as controlling, vacated the citation…
Quarto Mining Company
Two dust control plan citations vacated
MSHA sought a penalty against Quarto Mining for two alleged violations of a dust control plan provision at its Powhatan No. 4 Mine. Assistant Chief Judge Paul Merlin found that an earlier decision had held the same plan provision invalid. He treated that ruling as controlling, vacated both…
Quarto Mining Company
Dust control plan citation vacated
MSHA sought a penalty against Quarto Mining for an alleged violation of a dust control plan provision at its Powhatan No. 7 Mine. Assistant Chief Judge Paul Merlin found that an earlier decision had held the same plan provision invalid. He treated that ruling as controlling, vacated the citation…
Harman Mining Corporation
Three enforcement actions upheld, one citation vacated
MSHA issued a control order and three citations following a railcar accident at Harman Mining's coal preparation plant in which a railroad worker died. Judge George A. Koutras upheld the control order used to preserve the accident scene and the citations for failing to control loaded railcars and…
National Treasury Employees Union and National Treasury Employees Union, Chapter 71 (Union) and Internal Revenue Service, Philadelphia Service Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Agency)
IRS local performance bargaining appeal dismissed (FLRA O-NG-113)
A union asked to bargain locally over performance expectations at the IRS Philadelphia Service Center while national agreement talks addressed related matters. The parties disagreed over what the agency had changed and whether the local bargaining request was required. The Authority held that those…
F. Benson & Company, Inc.
Erroneous settlement order vacated
The parties reported that their earlier stipulation and joint motion mistakenly included citation items already deleted by OSHA and therefore overstated the remaining penalty as $864 instead of $576. Because the record did not contain a corrected stipulation showing the parties' intent and the…
Henry C. Beck Company, Inc.
Late complaint accepted and citation restored
The judge denied the Secretary's motion to file a late complaint and vacated the citation, criticizing a regional practice of not filing complaints in routine cases. The Commission held that late filing did not justify vacatur without contumacious conduct or prejudice, found neither on the existing…
Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, Flight Standards National Field Office (Activity) and National Association of Flight Standards Employees, Ind. (Labor Organization/Petitioner)
FAA inspection pilots included in bargaining unit (FLRA 6-CU-15)
A union sought to add FAA airspace system inspection pilots, called aircraft commanders, to an existing bargaining unit. The FAA said they were statutory supervisors because they led flight crews. The Authority directly decided the unit clarification petition, without a Regional Director decision…
Turner Company
Noise-control feasibility issue remanded for evidence
Turner Company was cited for excessive noise from three machines in the Waterbury room of its Sycamore, Illinois, plant. An earlier Commission decision treated the company as having conceded that engineering controls were economically feasible, but the Seventh Circuit set that decision aside. The…
Immigration and Naturalization Service, Washington, DC (Respondent) and American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO (Charging Party)
INS labor complaint dismissed as outside filing limit (FLRA 3-CA-366)
An unfair labor practice complaint against the Immigration and Naturalization Service concerned alleged conduct more than six months before the charge was filed. The administrative law judge dismissed it under the statutory time limit. The General Counsel and union excepted, but the Authority…
Consumer Product Safety Commission (Respondent) and American Federation of Government Employees, Local 3705, AFL-CIO (Charging Party)
CPSC retaliation findings upheld and other claims dismissed (FLRA 3-CA-12)
Several complaints alleged that the Consumer Product Safety Commission retaliated against union officials and committed other labor violations. The administrative law judge found some violations under the earlier executive order but rejected the remaining allegations. The Authority adopted that…
Mathies Coal Company
Roof control order vacated
MSHA alleged that a continuous miner operator at Mathies Coal's mine had worked under unsupported roof while cutting a track area. Judge Charles C. Moore, Jr., found that the inspector's measurement overlooked the position of the miner's controls. A scale drawing, model, and the operator's…
Clinchfield Coal Company
Work deck brake violation found
MSHA sought penalties over two conditions on a suspended work deck used while a contractor sank a shaft at Clinchfield Coal's McClure mine. Judge William Fauver found that a slipping winch brake made the deck unsafe while workers were on it and assessed a $100 penalty. He found that MSHA had not…
Royal Darby Coal Company, Inc.
$500 roof control penalty assessed by default
MSHA sought a $500 penalty for an alleged roof control violation at Royal Darby's No. 1 Mine. The company did not attend the scheduled hearing. Its owner later explained that his father had died the previous evening and asked for another hearing. Judge Richard C. Steffey found that the company had…
FWA Drilling Company, Inc.
Late complaint accepted
The judge denied the Secretary's motion to file a late complaint and vacated the citation as part of a consolidated ruling involving five employers. The Commission held that the Secretary's explanation precluded a finding of contumacious conduct and that FWA Drilling had not established prejudice…
Millcon Corporation
A late complaint does not warrant vacating a citation absent contumacious conduct by the Secretary or prejudice to the employer
This is a short procedural order. No one reached the safety merits. The Secretary did not file a complaint within the 20 days Commission Rule 33(a)(1) allows. Judge Quentin P. McColgin denied the Secretary's motion to file out of time and vacated the citation. The Commission reversed and sent the…
Clement Food Company
A late complaint does not justify vacating a citation unless the Secretary was contumacious or the employer was prejudiced
The Secretary of Labor did not file a complaint within the twenty days Commission Rule 33(a)(1) allows. Judge Quentin P. McColgin denied the Secretary's motion to file out of time and vacated the citations. The Commission reversed and sent the case back. The rule the Commission applied comes from…
Allied Plant Maintenance Company of Oklahoma, Inc.
Late complaint accepted
The judge denied the Secretary's motion to file a late complaint and vacated the citation. The Commission found no contumacious conduct or established prejudice to the employer, reversed the vacatur, accepted the complaint, gave the employer 15 days to answer, severed this docket from four…
General Motors Corporation, GM Assembly Division
Late complaint accepted
The judge denied the Secretary's motion to file a late complaint and vacated the citation. Applying its rule that late filing does not justify vacatur without contumacious conduct or prejudice, the Commission found the Secretary's explanation sufficient and no employer prejudice established. It…
Noranda Aluminum, Inc.
Discovery dismissal vacated
The judge vacated a willful general-duty-clause citation carrying a proposed $6,000 penalty after the Secretary failed to timely answer interrogatories. The Commission held that dismissal was too harsh because the judge had not found contumacious conduct and the employer's claimed prejudice was…
A. Schonbek & Co., Inc.
Unguarded press violation held willful
A pneumatic press amputated portions of an employee's fingers, yet more than a month later the company continued using another die on the press without point-of-operation guarding. The Commission found that the company knew all five dies presented an amputation hazard and that its limited response…
General Electric Company
Advisory respirator-review provision unenforceable
OSHA alleged that General Electric failed to periodically review the medical status of an employee who used a respirator in abrasive blasting. The cited sentence said medical status “should” be reviewed and was adopted verbatim from an ANSI source that treated “should” provisions as advisory. The…
CCI, Inc.
Serious trenching violation affirmed
CCI employees worked in a 13- to 15-foot-deep trench with vertical, unsupported walls made of layered soil. The Commission held that a trench containing a significant amount of hard or compact soil must comply with the shoring or sloping requirements even if some layers may be cemented material. It…
Arizona Crushing Company
Four conveyor guarding citations upheld
MSHA cited Arizona Crushing for exposed pinch points on conveyor rollers, drives, and a tail pulley at its portable crusher. Judge John J. Morris rejected the company's argument that the Mine Act did not cover sand and gravel operations. He also found that employees were exposed while the equipment…
Matter of Parodi
One court's deportation recommendation did not cover a separate conviction
The Board reviewed an Ecuadorian lawful permanent resident's deportation appeal after he was convicted in one federal court of passing counterfeit Federal Reserve notes and in another federal court of conspiring to commit offenses against the United States based on the same misconduct. The second…
S. M. Lorusso & Sons, Inc.
Eight citation settlements approved
MSHA and S. M. Lorusso & Sons proposed reduced penalties for eight citations at the Wrentham Quarry and Mill. The cited conditions involved missing protective footwear and headwear, machinery guards and a railing, ungrounded electrical cords, and unposted haul road speed rules. Assistant Chief…
National Federation of Federal Employees, Local 238 (Union) and Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Western Nevada Indian Agency, Stewart Indian School, Stewart, Nevada (Activity)
Stewart school union training leave proposal held negotiable (FLRA 0-NG-141)
A union at the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Stewart Indian School proposed up to 48 hours of administrative leave in a year for union officials to attend relevant union-sponsored training. The agency said Comptroller General standards barred the proposal. The Authority held that the proposal violated…
Matter of Farjam
Iranian national allowed to reopen proceedings to seek asylum
The Board reviewed an Iranian national's appeal from an immigration judge's denial of his motion to reopen deportation proceedings so he could apply for political asylum. The Immigration and Naturalization Service had adopted a policy of not opposing reopening requests by Iranian nationals for that…
Allied Chemical Corporation
Commission remands locomotive brake case
MSHA cited Allied Chemical after a haulage locomotive lost power and could not stop; a brakeman died and the motorman was injured. The judge had dismissed the civil penalty petition after finding no violation of the braking standard. On review, the Commission held that a dual braking system must be…
Consolidated Aluminum Corporation
Slitter nip-point violations affirmed as nonserious
Employees working around three slitters and a cold mill could contact moving aluminum stock and be pulled into unguarded nip points. The Commission held that an unsigned oral settlement was not enforceable, an earlier settlement did not excuse the later guarding violations, and the employer failed…
Department of Defense, Department of the Navy, Naval Ordnance Station, Louisville, Kentucky (Respondent) and International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, Local Lodge 830, AFL-CIO (Charging Party)
Naval Ordnance Station bargaining violations upheld (FLRA 4-CA-28(2))
The Naval Ordnance Station in Louisville changed a safety committee’s union membership and established promotion practices after a labor contract expired. The administrative law judge found the station had not met its bargaining obligations before making those changes. The Authority adopted the…
Climax Molybdenum Company
Two powerline citations upheld, telephone-line citation vacated
Climax Molybdenum contested citations concerning electrical cables at its underground mine in Colorado. Judge John F. Cook held that power cables touching water and air lines needed insulation in addition to the cables' original coverings, and upheld two citations under 30 C.F.R. § 57.12-82. He…
Little Egypt Coal Company
Coal accumulation and roof-control violations upheld
Little Egypt Coal Company contested penalties arising from a coal stockpile and two roof-control conditions at its Virginia mine. Judge Gary Melick found a large combustible coal accumulation in an active working area, where the company had deliberately stored coal pending shipment. He also found…
Penn Allegh Coal Company, Inc. v. Secretary of Labor
Penn Allegh Coal Company (FMSHRC PENN 80-271-R and PENN 80-275): dust citations vacated for sampling in different working places
Penn Allegh Coal Company contested two citations alleging violations of a reduced respirable dust limit. The samples establishing quartz concentrations above five percent came from working places in one section of the mine, while the alleged violations came from working places in another section at…
Maudlin Construction Company
Noise citations vacated, other penalties assessed
MSHA pursued citations against Maudlin Construction at several Iowa pits for noise exposure, equipment guarding, access, a faulty backup alarm, unbushed wiring, and oxygen cylinder storage. Judge Virgil E. Vail vacated six noise citations because MSHA had not proved its dosimeters were accurately…
The Bronze Craft Corporation
Molten-metal PPE item vacated
The issue on review was whether employees working with molten metal required personal protective equipment above the waist under the general PPE standard. After reviewing the record and the parties' arguments, the Commission adopted the judge's reasoning and affirmed the conclusion that the…
Eastover Mining Company
Pump-control violation upheld with reduced penalty
An inspector found a pump control box with nonpermissible power connection points in a return airway at Eastover Mining Company's Virginia No. 1 Mine. Eastover argued that the box was disconnected and had never been energized at that location. Judge James A. Laurenson held that the box's lack of…
Matter of Ballester-Garcia
Serious nonpolitical crime barred asylum relief
The Board reviewed an exclusion case involving a Cuban national who admitted participating in the planned nighttime theft of 12,230 pesos and had served eight years of a 15-year sentence. It affirmed the immigration judge's finding that he was excludable and was ineligible for asylum because there…
Cargill, Inc.
Settlement and withdrawal approved
The Commission approved the parties' November 25, 1980 stipulation of settlement and notice of withdrawal. The short official order does not identify the citation, cited standards, settlement terms, penalties, or underlying workplace facts.
Chapman Construction Co., Inc.
Repeated grounding and serious fall violations affirmed
A portable circular saw previously cited for lack of grounding again failed a continuity test, and employees used stairways and landings with missing or inadequate rails. The Commission held that inexpensive continuity testing would have revealed the saw's latent grounding defect through reasonable…
Jaquays Mining Corporation
Explosives-storage citation upheld with reduced penalty
MSHA cited Jaquays Mining Corporation after an inspector found thirty boxes of detonator cord stacked beside a walkway at its mine instead of in a magazine. Jaquays argued that another company owned the explosives and that a different federal agency had jurisdiction over them. Judge John J. Morris…
Jaquays Mining Corporation
Compressor-hose citation upheld with reduced penalty
MSHA cited Jaquays Mining Corporation after finding that a pressurized air-compressor hose connection lacked a safety chain or another locking device. Judge John J. Morris found that the hose could disconnect and whip toward miners near the compressor, violating 30 C.F.R. § 57.13-21. He rejected…
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.