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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Secretary of Labor (MSHA) v. Wolf Creek Collieries Company
Wolf Creek Collieries Company (FMSHRC PIKE 78-70-P): Withdrawal order reinstated, penalty sent back
A judge found that Wolf Creek had violated a mandatory safety standard and assessed a $300 penalty, but vacated the related withdrawal order. The Commission held that the validity of a withdrawal order could not be challenged in the 1969 Mine Act civil penalty proceeding when the operator had not…
Logan County Farm Enterprises, Inc.
Zero-penalty settlement remanded
OSHA issued Logan County Farm Enterprises citations alleging 12 serious and six nonserious violations, with $3,040 proposed for the serious items. The parties settled by reducing the penalty to zero, withdrawing the contest, requiring abatement, and allowing a reinspection. The judge treated the…
American Federation of Government Employees, Local 147 and Social Security Administration, Palm Springs Office
Palm Springs arbitration petition denied as late (FLRA 0-AR-14)
AFGE Local 147 petitioned the Authority to review an arbitration award involving the Social Security Administration's Palm Springs office. The award was dated January 30, 1979. The Authority said an exception was due March 1 under the statutory 30-day limit, but the union filed on March 6. Because…
Secretary of the Navy, Department of the Navy and American Federation of Government Employees
Navy contracting policy consultation order narrowed (FLRA 22-6787(CA))
The Navy changed its contracting out policy while AFGE held national consultation rights. The Assistant Secretary had found violations for failing to invite comment on the proposed policy and for failing to consult about its impact and implementation. The Council set aside the proposed-change…
P.A.F. Equipment Co., Inc.
A citation alleging a serious violation can be amended to allege a willful one after the notice of contest, because willfulness goes to the penalty and not to the cause of action
A compliance officer inspected P.A.F. Equipment's hand tool plant in Hiawatha, Kansas on July 18, 1975 and found thirteen mechanical power presses with no point of operation guarding: two presses in the vise grip area and eleven in the press room. The citation alleged a serious violation of the…
John R. Jurgensen Company
A direction for review is not self-sustaining, so when both sides ask the Commission not to decide, the judge's decision stands without Commission precedent
This is a short order declining to review a case the Commission had itself directed for review. It decides no merits question, and its interest is structural. What happened below. Administrative Law Judge Benjamin G. Usher, in a decision dated July 25, 1978, vacated a citation alleging that…
Matter of Warrach
Foreign ownership defeated residence-preservation request
The Regional Commissioner reviewed an application to preserve residence for naturalization from a lawful permanent resident employed by Mobay Chemical Corporation. Mobay was incorporated in New Jersey but was a wholly owned subsidiary of Bayer A.G., a German corporation. The Regional Commissioner…
American Federation of Government Employees, Local 2, decision of the Director of Labor-Management Standards Enforcement
AFGE Local 2 appeal dismissed for filing defects (FLRA 0-AS-5)
An appellant sought Authority review of a decision by the Director of the Office of Labor-Management Standards Enforcement involving AFGE Local 2. The Authority identified deficiencies under its filing and service rules and gave the appellant until February 26, 1979, to provide the missing material…
Defense Contract Audit Agency, Chicago Region and American Federation of Government Employees, Local 3529
Defense Contract Audit arbitration appeal dismissed (FLRA 0-AR-5)
The Defense Contract Audit Agency asked the Authority to review an arbitration award involving AFGE Local 3529. The Authority told the agency that its appeal appeared deficient under several filing and service rules. It gave the agency until February 28, 1979, to provide the missing material and…
Belger Cartage Service, Inc.
Gas-cylinder violation classified as repeated
Belger Cartage stored oxygen, acetylene, and propane cylinders together beside a tool shed without the required separation or fire-resistant barrier. Employees regularly entered the shed, smoking occurred nearby, and combustible paper waste was present. The Commission reversed the judge's de…
Adrian Construction Company
An employer that abated a trench citation with a trench box and then parked the box 100 feet away cannot claim a good faith belief that it complied, so the violation is willful
Adrian was cited twice under the same excavation standard at the same job. What it did between the two citations is what made the second one willful. The first citation. Adrian was installing a sewer line and two prefabricated manholes at a water pollution plant construction site in Newport News…
Warner Robins Air Logistics Center and American Federation of Government Employees, Local 987
Warner Robins grievant could not appeal arbitration award (FLRA 0-AR-9)
A grievant sought review of an arbitration award involving Warner Robins Air Logistics Center and AFGE Local 987. The Authority found that the union and the agency had participated as parties in the arbitration, while the grievant had participated only as a witness and had not been named a party…
Secretary of Labor on behalf of John Koerner v. Arch Mineral Coal Company
Koerner v. Arch Mineral Coal (FMSHRC DENV 78-564): Reinstatement order sent back for settlement record
A judge had temporarily reinstated John Koerner while his discrimination complaint against Arch Mineral Coal was pending. After the parties reported a settlement, the judge vacated that reinstatement order without putting the settlement terms in the record or showing whether Koerner agreed to the…
Matter of Sena
Visa petition remanded to examine Portuguese divorce
A naturalized U.S. citizen from Portugal petitioned for immediate relative status for his wife. The district director denied the petition, reasoning that the petitioner's earlier Portuguese divorce was invalid because Catholic divorce had been barred there and neither spouse attended the divorce…
Matter of Revelo
Spousal visa petition denied for unproven divorces
A lawful permanent resident from Ecuador petitioned for a spousal visa after marrying a Colombian citizen in Connecticut. Both had obtained divorces in the Dominican Republic from prior spouses. The district director denied the petition because the divorces were not shown to be valid under…
Matter of Umale
Resident status could not be challenged in spouse petition
A lawful permanent resident from the Philippines petitioned for a preference visa for her spouse. Two marriage certificates gave different wedding dates, one in 1975 and one on March 15, 1977; the record placed her admission sometime between July 1976 and March 1977. The officer in charge denied…
Alexander Brothers, Inc. v. Secretary of Labor (MSHA)
Alexander Brothers, Inc. (FMSHRC HOPE 78-161 through 78-167): Late withdrawal-order contests dismissed
Alexander Brothers sought review of withdrawal orders issued under the 1969 Coal Mine Health and Safety Act. A judge dismissed its applications because they missed the Act's thirty-day contest deadline and he lacked authority to extend it. The Commission agreed with the judge's reasoning and…
Auto Bolt & Nut Co.
Noise-abatement extension conditioned on employee notice
Auto Bolt requested six additional months to complete and evaluate abatement of an occupational-noise violation. The Secretary withdrew his objection, and the judge extended the deadline to February 8, 1979. The record did not show that affected employees had received the required posted notice of…
U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration and American Federation of Government Employees, Local 2513
OSHA Buffalo office grievance threats not proven (FLRA CSC Docket No. 83)
AFGE Local 2513 alleged that an OSHA Buffalo area director threatened two clerical employees to discourage grievances over possible position upgrades. The judge found the alleged threats unproven. He concluded that the director had explained the upgrade process and the limited value of filing a…
General Motors Corporation, Delco Remy Division
Modified settlement approved
General Motors asked the Commission to adopt an Administrative Law Judge's proposed order approving a modified settlement agreement. The Commission granted the request. The short official release does not identify the cited standards, settlement terms, citation disposition, or penalty.
Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Social Security Administration, Northeastern Program Service Center and American Federation of Government Employees, Local 1760
Social Security five employee detail bargaining finding stands (FLRA FLRC No. 78A-136)
A Social Security program service center planned to detail five employees to another office component for several months. AFGE Local 1760 sought to bargain over selection procedures and effects on the employees, including changed hours and possible overtime. The judge found the detail had a…
Interpace Corporation
Incorrect settlement order vacated
OSHA cited Interpace under two scaffold provisions, and the company contested only item 1A. At the hearing, the Secretary stated that the agreement was a withdrawal of item 1A and its proposed penalty. The judge's written order instead said that Interpace had withdrawn its contest. After the judge…
Matter of Kaneda
First offender dismissal ended marijuana deportation case
A Japanese student was charged with deportability after pleading guilty to marijuana possession in Virginia. The trial judge later rescinded the sentence and dismissed the charge under Virginia's first offender law. An immigration judge still found the student deportable. The Board held that the…
Ralston Purina Company
Federal-only noise inspection limit vacated
OSHA alleged excessive noise in Ralston Purina's extruding room and sought a plant inspection by an outside acoustical engineering expert. The judge found that the plant contained trade secrets and limited discovery to federal experts. Applying Owens-Illinois, the Commission vacated that…
American Can Company
Trade-secret discovery protections remanded
The Secretary sought entry into an American Can plant for discovery, and the company argued that only federal employees should be allowed because an outside expert could learn trade secrets or proprietary information. The judge allowed nonfederal personnel to enter under a protective order…
Metal Container Corporation
Federal-only discovery limit vacated
OSHA alleged excessive noise in four areas of Metal Container's plant and sought a discovery inspection to evaluate engineering controls. The company asserted that innovative machines and processes were trade secrets, and the judge limited the inspection team to federal employees. Applying…
M. J. Lee Construction Company
Impossibility and greater hazard both fail at the same element, because an employer that cannot comply still owes whatever partial protection was available to it
Lee was building a bridge abutment for the Oklahoma State Highway Department and dug a very large excavation for it: 120 feet long, 37 feet deep on the north side, 30 on the south, 28 feet wide at the bottom and 50 at the top. Employees worked at the bottom preparing to pour the footing. The walls…
Browar Wood Products Co., Inc.
Dismissed penalty contest reinstated
Browar Wood Products contested only the $480 in proposed penalties from two OSHA citations, but the judge dismissed its contest because the company did not file proof that it had posted the contest notice for employees. Browar said it had posted the notice and that the missing proof resulted from…
Matter of Lucero
Clarify Dominican divorce before ruling on spousal visa petition
A U.S. citizen sought immediate relative status for her husband, but the District Director denied the visa petition because he considered her earlier Dominican divorce invalid. He treated that divorce as one for cause and found that its pronouncement came too late. The Board reaffirmed that a…
Tonolli Corporation
Second abatement extension sent to hearing
Tonolli Corporation sought a second one-year extension of an abatement deadline, moving the requested date to October 25, 1979. The judge granted the request after the Secretary missed an extended response deadline by several days. The Secretary's late opposition presented reasons the Commission…
The Harvester Company
Once the Commission has reinstated a notice of contest under Rule 60(b), the judge on remand cannot dismiss the case for want of jurisdiction to reinstate it
A small popcorn popper manufacturer in Pratt, Kansas lost its case by not answering the mail, got it back, and then lost it again when the judge on remand decided the Commission had never had the power to give it back. The Commission reversed that and sent the case down a second time. How it got…
Matter of Sanchez
Honduran law made acknowledged son eligible for visa preference
A U.S. citizen petitioned for a visa preference for his unmarried son, whom he had acknowledged in Honduras shortly after birth. The District Director denied the petition because the son was born outside marriage and had not been legitimated by his parents' marriage. The Board found that Honduras's…
Secretary of Labor v. Peabody Coal Company
Peabody Coal Company (FMSHRC BARB 77-45-P): Loose-rib violation and $8,000 penalty upheld
A judge found Peabody Coal in violation of the mine standard requiring overhanging or loose faces and ribs to be removed or supported and assessed an $8,000 penalty. Peabody argued that the term "rib" covered only ribs made of coal and challenged the penalty as too high. The Commission rejected…
Kama Corp.
Noise-inspection trade-secret dispute remanded
OSHA alleged excessive noise at Kama's plastic manufacturing plant and sought a discovery inspection by government personnel and a private acoustical consultant. Kama acknowledged no trade secrets in the specific machinery being tested but said a walk through the plant would expose other…
Louisiana Army National Guard, New Orleans
Louisiana Guard review petition lacked agency approval (FLRA FLRC No. 78A-134)
The Louisiana Army National Guard sought Authority review of an Assistant Secretary decision. Under the applicable rule, an agency petition needed approval from the agency head or a designee. The Authority said the Department of Defense was the relevant agency for that approval and had declined to…
Hurlock Roofing Company
A greater hazard defense dies on the freestanding scaffold nobody explained, because an expert opinion with no reason behind it earns no deference
Five of Hurlock's roofers were shingling townhouses under construction in Dover, Delaware. The roofs sloped 5 inches in 12 and stood 19 feet at the eaves, with no parapets. Nobody wore a safety belt, no catch platform was installed, and there was no other fall protection. Judge William E. Brennan…
ACTION, Washington, D.C. and American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Local 2027
ACTION ballot appeal denied before final election result (FLRA 22-08642(RO))
AFSCME Local 2027 challenged a ruling that four disputed ballots in an ACTION representation election should be opened and counted. The Assistant Secretary had denied review of that ruling, but the election case had not reached a final disposition. The Authority said its procedural rules barred an…
Potlatch Corporation
A violation is repeated if a final order already exists against the same employer for a substantially similar one, and citing the same standard twice makes that case prima facie
This is the decision where the Commission stopped improvising on what "repeated" means and set out a test. The facts are small. The holding is not. The facts. A compliance officer inspected Potlatch's sawmill on November 4, 1975. Citation three alleged a repeated failure to comply with the…
Bethlehem Steel Corporation
A party that already won below cannot use review to buy a better reason, and shipbuilding congestion that lasts for weeks is not temporary disarray
A compliance officer inspected Bethlehem Steel's Sparrows Point shipyard in Maryland over three days in May 1975 and cited two things aboard Hull 4643: an uncertificated derrick or crane under the shipbuilding hoisting standard, and an excessive accumulation of materials in seven work areas under…
Matter of Esfandiary
Malicious trespass conviction supported deportation charge
An Iranian lawful permanent resident appealed an immigration judge's order of deportation after convictions for grand larceny and malicious trespass in Florida. He argued that malicious trespass did not necessarily involve moral turpitude. The Board agreed that the statute could cover conduct…
Trans World Airlines, Inc.
Aircraft-door citation remained vacated
OSHA cited Trans World Airlines for unguarded aircraft doorways that exposed maintenance employees to falls of up to 15 feet. The judge vacated the citation after concluding that Federal Aviation Administration regulation displaced OSHA jurisdiction over the working condition. The Commission…
Southwestern Bell Telephone Co.
A trained employee and a belt left in the truck is not unpreventable misconduct when no work rule covered the job the foreman knew was coming
Southwestern Bell was installing telephone cable in a building under construction in Oklahoma City. The last piece of cable on the whole job ran through a junction box mounted above a run of utility pipes. A compliance officer found the lineman, Paciorek, kneeling on those pipes about 16 feet above…
Williams Enterprises, Inc.
A crane swing radius is barricaded by a barricade and not by an oiler, and that nobody walked into it is not evidence that nobody could
A judge vacated three citation items against Williams Enterprises for want of employee exposure. The Commission reversed him on all three. Chairman Cleary wrote; Commissioner Barnako dissented and would have affirmed the judge throughout. The case is worth reading for the access question, which the…
Reynolds Metal Company
Settlement conditionally affirmed for employee objections
Reynolds and the Secretary settled serious general duty clause and emergency-eyewash citation items by reducing penalties, extending abatement dates, and withdrawing the company's contest. Two unions had elected party status but were not properly served with the proposed agreement or given a clear…
United Mine Workers of America v. Westmoreland Coal Company
UMWA v. Westmoreland Coal Company (FMSHRC HOPE 76-16): Next shift miners entitled to compensation
A withdrawal order at Westmoreland Coal Company's mine began during a June 1975 shift. The United Mine Workers of America sought compensation for miners idled on the following shift. Westmoreland argued that the inspector had orally ended the order before the written termination time of 11:00 p.m…
Matter of Sunoco Energy Development Company
Labor certification was limited to stated job location
The Regional Commissioner reviewed a petition seeking sixth-preference classification for a Welsh mining engineer based on a labor certification for work at the White River Shale Project in Vernal, Utah. The beneficiary was instead employed at the petitioner's home office in Dallas, Texas. The…
Matter of Knudsen
Changed job duties supported a new immigrant petition
A company that processed sheepskins petitioned to classify a worker for a permanent Master Tanner-Dyer position after previously bringing him to the United States as an H-2 temporary worker. The Regional Commissioner found that the permanent position had different duties from the earlier temporary…
Matter of Lopez-Monzon
Family-reunification purpose controlled waiver discretion
The Commissioner reviewed a waiver application from an unmarried Guatemalan woman who had a United States citizen child. The child lived in Guatemala with the child's father, and the record did not show that the applicant had legal custody or intended to bring the child to the United States. The…
Stahr and Gregory Roofing Co., Inc.
Ladder and floor-guarding violations affirmed
Stahr and Gregory employees repeatedly used two ladders to reach roofing work, passing an unguarded second-floor edge and an inadequately guarded floor opening. The company did not create or control the conditions, and the general contractor was responsible for guardrails, but Stahr and Gregory…
Secretary of Labor v. Penn Allegh Coal Company, Inc.
Penn Allegh Coal Company (FMSHRC PITT 78-97-P): Review granted and supplemental opinion struck
The Secretary of Labor petitioned for review after a judge ruled that a safety canopy standard was unenforceable in a case against Penn Allegh Coal Company. The Commission granted review of the issues in the petition, including the standard's validity and several disputed hearing procedures. After…
Matter of Salmon
Relief request remanded for review of new evidence
The respondent appealed an immigration judge's denial of discretionary relief from deportation under section 212(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. He had conceded deportability following robbery convictions. The Board held that his conviction did not, by itself, end his lawful permanent…
Bristol-Myers Company
Denial of post-citation inspection reversed
OSHA cited Bristol-Myers under the occupational noise standard and later sought a plant inspection by an acoustical expert to evaluate feasible controls. The judge denied discovery because he believed the Secretary should have fully developed that evidence before issuing the citation. The…
Matter of Garcia
Reopen adjustment case while spouse's visa petition is pending
The Board had upheld an overstay deportation order, and one respondent moved to reopen so he could seek adjustment of status based on a visa petition filed by his U.S. citizen spouse. The visa petition and adjustment application had been filed together, but the petition was still pending. The Board…
Matter of Lee
Immigration violations alone did not bar permission to reapply
The Commissioner reviewed a Chinese applicant's request for permission to reapply for admission after deportation. The applicant had repeatedly violated restrictions on foreign crewmen, deserted a vessel, and later surrendered to immigration authorities and departed voluntarily. The Commissioner…
Matter of Maloney
Remand Panamanian daughter's visa petition for custody finding
A U.S. citizen sought a visa preference for his married daughter born in Panama in 1937. The District Director denied the petition because she was born outside marriage and, in his view, had never been legitimated. The Board held that Panama's 1946 Constitution extended equal status to children…
Owens-Illinois, Inc.
The Secretary may send a non-federal expert into a plant over a trade secret objection, under a four-part protective order the employer itself can enforce
This is an interlocutory discovery ruling, and it overrules a line of Commission precedent. The question was whether the Secretary may bring an expert who is not a federal employee into an employer's plant for discovery, when the employer says trade secrets might be revealed. The Commission held…
Boonville Division of Ethan Allen, Inc.
Saw-guarding penalty reduced to $300
Ethan Allen used a combination woodworking machine with two continuously rotating saw blades whose lower central sections were unguarded. The Commission rejected arguments that nearby clamps, the operator's normal hand movements, or the raised blade position provided adequate protection. It held…
Continental Grain Company
Supplemental settlement approved
Continental Grain and the Secretary filed a settlement that amended the citation and proposed penalty and required compliance with the Act. The judge approved that agreement before the parties filed a supplement withdrawing Continental Grain's contest and certifying proper service. The Commission…
Walling Crate Company
Settlements remanded to clarify abatement dates
Walling Crate faced two consolidated cases covering numerous serious, repeated, and nonserious violations, including repeated occupational-noise and failure-to-abate allegations. The judge approved agreements in which the parties reduced penalties, withdrew Walling's contests, and stated that the…
Material Fabrication Corporation
Mixed ALJ decision affirmed without review
The judge found Material Fabrication in violation of several OSHA standards and rejected other alleged violations. Commission review was directed only on whether the judge erred in finding no violation of the scaffold standard at 29 C.F.R. § 1910.28(a)(1). Neither party sought review or submitted a…
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.