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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Matter of Medical University of South Carolina
International recognition supported exceptional ability
The Regional Commissioner reviewed a petition by a large state university seeking labor-certification treatment for a research scientist under Schedule A, Group II. The beneficiary had a medical degree, extensive publication and research experience, memberships in international societies, and…
Hughes Brothers, Inc.
Point of operation guarding must be a device that physically keeps hands out, not a work rest plus a careful operator, and Paccar is overruled
Hughes Brothers makes hardware for electrical and transmission lines at a plant in Seward, Nebraska. A single operator runs a five station Cincinnati press brake, feeding quarter inch metal blanks weighing about seventeen pounds into a three inch gap between dies and stepping on a foot pedal to…
Matter of McNaughton
Canadian securities fraud conspiracy supports deportation
A British visitor appealed a deportation finding based on his Canadian conviction for conspiring to manipulate mining stock prices with intent to defraud. He argued that he was innocent, that the conduct was not criminal in the United States, and that the offense did not involve moral turpitude…
Matter of Gonzalez
Fraud waiver does not cure missing labor certification at entry
A Mexican citizen obtained a permanent resident visa after concealing an existing marriage and entered without a labor certification. His United States citizen child was born about three months after entry. The Board held that the fraud waiver in section 241(f) could not cure his separate lack of a…
Louisiana-Pacific Corporation
Review ends when the Secretary withdraws his petition unopposed and no compelling public interest remains
This is a one sentence order, and the whole of it is procedural. Review in this docket had been directed on the Secretary's petition for discretionary review. On June 2, 1978 the Secretary moved to withdraw that petition. Louisiana-Pacific did not oppose. The Commission granted the withdrawal in…
Matter of Spiliopoulos
Board reduces bond set in custody proceeding
An Argentine visitor working for an airline appealed an immigration judge's increase of his bond from $1,000 to $2,500. The Board held that an immigration judge may increase a bond first set by the District Director. It found a bond necessary because of the respondent's short residence…
Continental Oil Co.
A precaution need only be recognized by safety experts as feasible, not be customary in the industry, before its absence violates the general duty clause
Continental filled the storage tanks at its Atlanta tank farm by attaching a pipeline and walking away for a set period while gasoline ran in. On September 25, 1972 the shutoff failed and the tank overflowed. A truck driver arriving to load saw the fuel escaping and telephoned terminal manager Don…
Matter of Da Lomba
Fraud waiver ends deportation proceedings
A Portuguese citizen entered the United States in 1971 through a marriage the Board found was arranged solely to obtain an immigrant visa. After her divorce, she married a lawful permanent resident and had a United States citizen child. An immigration judge denied her request to reopen and end…
Matter of DeJong
Exclusion hearing lacked jurisdiction over tanker crew
The master and crew of a Dutch oil tanker sought temporary landing as alien crewmen while the vessel transferred oil off California. An immigration inspector questioned their crewman status and sent them to an exclusion hearing, where an immigration judge ordered them excluded for lacking immigrant…
Seaboard Coast Line Railroad Company
Stay entered while certiorari was pending is dissolved, putting the 1977 decision back in force
This is a one paragraph housekeeping order. On July 10, 1978 the Commission dissolved a stay it had entered on September 6, 1977, which put its decision of August 3, 1977 back into effect. The attached stay order supplies the history. The case had already been through a long route. In November 1974…
Matter of Konishi
Artist's gallery does not qualify for investor exemption
A Japanese artist sought adjustment of status and claimed that his paintings and one-person gallery made him an investor exempt from labor certification. The Board found that creating and selling his own paintings was his primary work, and that the gallery served to sell the products of that work…
Matter of Agdinaoay
Prior marriage fraud bars later spouse visa petition
A United States citizen petitioned for immediate relative status for her husband, a Philippine citizen. The husband had previously obtained immigration status through an earlier marriage that an immigration judge found was entered into to obtain his immigrant entry, and the deportation order became…
Connecticut Natural Gas Corp.
A manhole and an 18-inch conduit do not support a 6-foot-8 trench wall, and the trenching standard is not vague when read alongside its own tables
Connecticut Natural Gas opened a trench at Charter Oak Avenue and Prospect Street in Hartford to fix a leaking gas main. Two compliance officers found an employee down in it straddling the pipe, at a point 6 feet 8 inches deep and 2 feet 8 inches wide, with nothing shoring the walls, a concrete…
Matter of Kung
Franchise control was sufficient, but employment facts required a remand
The Commissioner reviewed a Chinese student's application to change status to treaty investor after purchasing a franchised restaurant for $53,000. The Commissioner held that the investment was not disqualified as a marginal business because the applicant had an additional $46,000 in reserve funds…
Matter of Man
Secondary wife cannot qualify as petitioner's stepmother
A United States citizen sought immediate relative status for a woman who had lived with her father in Hong Kong as his secondary wife. The petitioner said that children born to the woman and her father were her siblings and that she had lived with the woman in a mother-daughter relationship. The…
Matter of Au Yeung
Uncompleted adoption defeats son's visa petition
A United States citizen petitioned for immigrant preference status for a man who had entered the country years earlier as an eligible orphan expected to be adopted by the citizen and his wife. The adoption never occurred, and the beneficiary returned to Hong Kong before later entering the United…
Dutchess Mechanical Corporation
A subcontractor that puts its guardrail complaint to the general contractor in writing and tells its employees to stay clear has done what is realistic under Anning-Johnson
Dutchess Mechanical was the plumbing, heating and air conditioning subcontractor on a two story building going up in Palisades, New York. An OSHA inspection in November 1975 turned up unguarded stairwell openings and stairways. Dutchess did not dispute that the conditions existed or that its…
Matter of Rahmati
Later failed marriage does not prove visa fraud at the start
A United States citizen petitioned for immediate relative status for her Iranian husband. The District Director revoked approval because an immigration judge had previously rescinded the husband's permanent resident status after finding that his earlier marriage was no longer viable when he…
Trio Industries, Inc.
Settlement penalty corrected from $350 to the agreed $200
The parties in this case reached a settlement, and the administrative law judge approved it on May 25, 1978, but his order mistakenly assessed a $350 penalty when the parties had agreed on $200. The judge tried to fix the error with a corrective order on June 5, after the original order had already…
John's Roofing & Sheet Metal Co., Inc.
No fall protection near a 32-foot roof edge upheld
A roofing contractor had employees working near the edge of a round gymnasium roof, 32 feet above the ground, without any protection from falling, and OSHA cited it under the personal protective equipment standard, 29 C.F.R. § 1926.28(a), because the workers should have been wearing safety belts…
Hamilton Roofing Co., Inc.
A gentle slope removes the catch platform hazard, not the hazard of stepping off the edge
Commissioner Barnako wrote for the Commission, with Chairman Cleary. Commissioner Cottine took no part. The question is whether a general fall protection standard can be applied to roofers at all, given that one specific standard elsewhere in the construction rules sets a slope threshold that this…
Scullin Steel Co.
A company that tested nothing before deciding the citation was wrong shows bad faith, not good
Chairman Cleary wrote for the Commission. Commissioner Barnako concurred separately. This is a failure to abate case, not an ordinary contest, and the difference in burden is the point of it. How the case arose. Scullin Steel, a division of Diversified Industries, makes side frames and bolsters for…
Titanium Metals Corp. of America
Unrebutted testimony that the same method was used is direct evidence, not a presumption
Commissioner Barnako wrote for the Commission, with Chairman Cleary. The question was whether Administrative Law Judge Erwin L. Stuller properly vacated a citation alleging that an employee was exposed to sulfur dioxide above the concentration for which his respirator was approved. The Commission…
Papertronics, Div. of Hammermill Paper co.
Machine-guarding citation reversed for lack of proof of a hazard
A paper-products plant was cited for failing to guard the nip points and pinch points on several slitter-rewinder machines and a folding machine under the general machine-guarding standard, 29 C.F.R. § 1910.212(a)(1). The administrative law judge affirmed the violation, but the Commission reversed…
McLean-Behm Steel Erectors, Inc.
Subcontractor must at least ask the general contractor to fix a fall hazard
A steel-erection subcontractor placing reinforcing steel on a three-story church addition had employees working near an unguarded floor opening and open, unguarded floor edges with drops of up to twenty-five feet. OSHA cited it for a nonserious floor-opening violation (29 C.F.R. § 1926.500(b)(1))…
Havens Steel Co.
The headache ball is part of the hook, and sending employees home when inspectors arrive
Chairman Cleary wrote for the Commission; Commissioner Barnako concurred in the result but on different reasoning for the penalties. Both cited items were affirmed, including the serious citation Judge Alan M. Wienman had vacated. The setting. On October 3, 1975 Havens was the steel erection…
General Dynamics Corp., Quincy Shipbuilding Div.
An instruction no employee knows is not an effective instruction
Commissioner Barnako wrote for the Commission, with Chairman Cleary. The question was whether Quincy violated the general duty clause by failing to give adequate instructions on supporting vertically standing steel plates. Judge Ben D. Worcester had vacated the serious citation and its $800…
Reynolds Metals Co.
Trade secret discovery dispute remanded for factual findings
This discovery order remanded a contested noise citation for further proceedings without deciding whether Reynolds violated the standard. Commissioner Barnako wrote the lead opinion on the second remand. Chairman Cleary concurred only in the result, saying the Commission's earlier decision should…
Dye Construction Company
Objecting that a witness is speculating is not an objection that the evidence is outside the pleadings, so it does not block a Rule 15(b) amendment to seriousness
Three of Dye Construction's employees were working inside an eight foot trench box set in a fifteen foot excavation, directly beneath the edge of an eight foot spoil pile, with no ladder in the box. The Secretary cited a willful violation of three trenching standards and proposed a nine thousand…
Evansville Materials, Inc.
Where a derrick's actual capacity is unknown, the certificated safe working load is its capacity, and exceeding it is a recognized hazard
Chairman Cleary wrote for the Commission on the case's third trip up from Judge Brady, who had twice been remanded and had each time declined to find a violation. The Commission reversed him and affirmed the citation with the proposed penalty. What happened. On May 22, 1973 Evansville loaned its…
Evansville Materials, Incorporated
Commission affirms a $550 general-duty-clause violation for overloading a derrick
Evansville Materials supplied a derrick barge and operator to raise Central Soya Corporation's sunken harbor boat from the Ohio River. The derrick boom buckled during the operation, and a Central Soya employee fell into the river and drowned. OSHA originally cited a marine-terminal standard, 29…
Floyd S. Pike Electrical Contractor, Inc.
Citation vacated for unpreventable foreman misconduct
Pike was converting an electrical distribution line when a hoist line contacted an energized line and electrocuted a foreman who was leaning against an ungrounded truck. The cited standard required lifting equipment near energized lines to be grounded or treated as energized and barricaded. After a…
Interstate Roofing Co., Inc. of Georgia
A safety program the employer never describes cannot support an unpreventable misconduct defense
The Commission affirmed Judge James D. Burroughs's decision finding Interstate Roofing in violation of section 5(a)(2) of the Act for failing to comply with 29 C.F.R. § 1926.28(a), on personal protective equipment, and 29 C.F.R. § 1926.450(a)(10), which requires that portable ladders in use be…
Salah & Pecci Construction Co., Inc.
Riding an aerial lift down is "working from" it, so the tie-off requirement applies the whole time an employee is in the basket
The question was whether an employee being lowered in an aerial lift is "working" within the meaning of 29 C.F.R. § 1926.556(b)(2)(v), which requires that a body belt be worn and a lanyard attached to the boom or basket when working from an aerial lift. Judge Abraham Gold read the standard to apply…
Ashland Petroleum
Deposition denial reversed, document-production denial affirmed, discovery remanded
This is an interlocutory ruling on a discovery fight, not a decision on any citation. The employer wanted to depose employees of General Electric Company and to force GE to hand over documents, and the administrative law judge denied both requests. The Commission granted the employer's…
Griffin & Brand of McAllen, Inc.
A produce shipper that sets the crew's wages and can have any worker removed is the employer of that crew, whatever the crew leader's paperwork says
An eighteen man crew picked cantaloupes on a leased farm near Coyanosa, Texas during the 1975 season and lived in five run-down housing units on the property. OSHA inspected the camp on August 5, 1975 and cited Griffin & Brand, the shipper that had contracted for the crop, on two citations: six…
National Steel & Shipbuilding Co.
A dismantling crew does not suspend the guardrail standard for a painter working off the scaffold, and the respirator charge is saved by amending to the right standard
Commissioner Barnako wrote for the Commission, reviewing Judge James A. Cronin's June 23, 1975 decision in a consolidated proceeding covering three citations from two inspections of National's San Diego shipyard. The Commission affirmed the judge on the housekeeping and willfulness questions…
Ray Boyd Plaster & Tile, Inc.
Guardrails that merely hinder the work are still required, and scaffold rungs spaced 19 inches apart are only de minimis
Commissioner Barnako wrote for the Commission, modifying the decision of Judge Dee C. Blythe. The serious guardrail item and its $250 penalty were affirmed, subject to an offer of remand. The nonserious scaffold access item was modified to de minimis with no penalty and no abatement. Ray Boyd was…
Truax & Hovey Drywall Corp.
Three scaffold violations affirmed, but the penalty cut because the judge counted a fatality the violations did not cause
Commissioner Barnako wrote for the Commission. Judge Seymour Fier found that Truax violated three construction scaffolding standards, charged as a single item, and assessed a $1,000 penalty. The Commission reduced the penalty to $650 and otherwise affirmed. Truax was the drywall subcontractor on a…
J. M. Martinac Shipbuilding Corp.
An unguarded hatch beside the path of travel is a violation, and three prior final orders under the same standard make it repeated
The Commission affirmed the violation Judge Thomas J. Donegan found but modified his decision to reflect that the item is affirmed as a repeated violation. No penalty was assessed, and the penalty question was not before the Commission. The hatch. On August 5, 1975 a compliance officer inspected…
Matter of Yam
Rescue from Niagara River did not constitute an entry
Two fishermen found an unconscious Chinese citizen floating in the Niagara River and brought him ashore for emergency treatment. An immigration judge later found him deportable for entering without inspection, citing his prior deportations and lack of permission to reapply for admission. The Board…
George J. Igel & Co., Inc.
Defective fire extinguisher and inadequate trench shoring both upheld
This pipe-laying contractor was inspected at a trench worksite and cited for two things: a portable fire extinguisher in a backhoe cab whose gauge showed it needed recharging (nonserious, 29 C.F.R. § 1926.150(c)(1)(viii)) and inadequate shoring in a trench 7 to 13 feet deep (serious, 29 C.F.R. §…
Winn-Dixie Atlanta, Inc., Store No. 1810
Locked rear doors violate the no-lock sentence outright, and fear of theft does not excuse them
The Commission affirmed Judge John S. Patton's decision finding Winn-Dixie in nonserious violation of section 5(a)(2) of the Act for failing to comply with 29 C.F.R. § 1910.36(b)(4) and 29 C.F.R. § 1910.37(q)(1) at its retail grocery store in Warner Robins, Georgia. The penalty was $35. The locked…
Joseph Bucheit & Sons Co.
Section 1926.28(a) still requires fall protection below the 25-foot trigger for safety nets
Bucheit was building a bridge on a highway construction project. An OSHA compliance officer observed and photographed two employees working without fall protection from loose planks beneath the bridge span, stripping the form lumber that had held the concrete in place while the bridge deck was…
Perini Corporation
The employer that creates a hazard answers for every worker on the site, and material near a floor edge is stored however briefly it sits there
Perini was the general contractor on a building construction project in Boston. Judge Foster Furcolo affirmed two items of a citation for nonserious violations and assessed a $40 penalty. The case reached the Commission on former Commissioner Moran's issueless direction for review; Perini's…
Matter of Siqueiros
College work and a United States home preserve resident status
A Mexican lawful permanent resident had worked as a cross border farm laborer before enrolling at Arizona Western College and taking a regular part time job in its carpentry shop. An immigration judge found that school had become his main reason for entering the United States and ordered him…
Matter of Wang
Uncertain overseas support does not establish labor certification exemption
A Chinese visitor sought permanent residence without a labor certification, saying she did not plan to work because her husband in Hong Kong had agreed to send her $600 a month. She also received about $100 a month in interest, but the husband's payments were her main support. The Board found no…
Matter of Davis
Renunciation and abandonment of permanent residence
Garry Davis formally renounced his United States nationality at the American Embassy in Paris in 1948, saying he intended to become a citizen of the world. The Board held that the voluntary oath was effective even though it left him stateless. Davis later obtained United States immigrant visas, but…
Matter of Lee
Grandfather did not establish a valid adoption under Taiwan law
A grandfather sought a visa for his granddaughter as his adopted daughter. He said he had cared for her since 1960 and submitted affidavits and a Taiwanese notary's certification. The Board held that an adoption must be valid under the law where it occurred as well as meet the immigration statute's…
New England Telephone and Telegraph Co.
A walkaround defense raised for the first time on remand was untimely and outside the scope of the remand
The Commission reversed Judge Ben D. Worcester's decision on remand and reinstated its own earlier decision, which had found New England Telephone in violation of 29 C.F.R. § 1926.501(f). The disputed penalty was $55. The procedural history matters more than the facts here. Judge Worcester's…
Matter of Kohama
Affidavits supported adjustment applications
The Associate Commissioner reviewed adjustment applications from a Japanese husband and wife who were elderly, unemployed, and supported by their daughter and son-in-law. The applicants submitted affidavits of support and evidence that their family had provided support for many years, while the…
Cauldwell-Wingate Corporation
Construction manager liable for hazards it could address
Cauldwell-Wingate was the construction manager under contract to the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York for buildings at Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn. After inspections in July and August 1975 it received two citations for nonserious violations of section 5(a)(2) of the Act…
Howard Electric Co.
Remanded so the employer can put on evidence for the Anning-Johnson and Grossman Steel defenses
This is a one-paragraph order, not a decision on the merits. The Commission granted Howard Electric's motion for remand dated April 18, 1978 and sent the case back to the judge so the company could present additional evidence on the Anning-Johnson and Grossman Steel defenses. Those two 1976…
Matter of M/V Trinity Mariner
Carrier's crewman fines reduced to $210
A carrier was fined $2,010 after a crewman deserted the M/V Trinity Mariner. The Board reduced the detention fine from $1,000 to $200 because the immigration agency's two-year delay had prevented the carrier from presenting evidence for mitigation. It removed the separate $1,000…
Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc., Store No. 86
Unguarded compressor fan blades in a locked motor room upheld as a violation
In the motor room of a Winn-Dixie retail food store, two cooler and freezer compressor fans had unguarded blades within seven feet of the working level, and OSHA cited the store for a nonserious machine-guarding violation under 29 C.F.R. § 1910.212(a)(5). The store argued its employees were not…
P. Gioioso and Sons, Inc.
Judge's findings adopted where the arguments on review only repeat what he already weighed
This is a short decision affirming Review Commission Judge David J. Knight's August 18, 1976 decision. The case reached the Commission only because former Commissioner Robert D. Moran directed review under section 12(j). Neither party asked for review, though Gioioso filed a brief in response to…
Matter of King and Yang
Crewmen remain deportable but receive voluntary departure
Immigration officers questioned two Chinese crewmen working at a restaurant, then took them to their residence, where they handed over landing permits. The Board upheld the finding that they had remained in the United States beyond their authorized stay. It found that the initial questioning and…
Electrocast Steel Foundry, Inc.
Harassment-inspection suppression claim remanded for a hearing
This steel foundry demanded that OSHA get a search warrant before inspecting its Cicero, Illinois plant. After OSHA obtained the warrant and inspected, it issued citations, and the foundry moved to suppress the evidence and dismiss the case, arguing the inspection had turned punitive and…
Andy Anderson, d/b/a Andy Anderson Irrigation & Construction
Trench-cave-in violation upheld, penalty cut to $150
This employer was installing sewer pipe in a 70-foot trench that ran 6 to 8 feet deep with nearly vertical, unshored walls and no ladder for exit. OSHA cited a serious violation for failing to shore or slope the trench under 29 C.F.R. § 1926.652(c) and for failing to provide an adequate means of…
Havens Steel Co.
Steel erection standards do not reach a one-story warehouse, and the Secretary makes a prima facie safety net case by showing no listed protection was used
Havens was the steel erection subcontractor on a warehouse in Lenexa, Kansas. On May 12, 1975 a compliance officer saw its employees erecting the skeletal steel framework 29 feet 4 inches above ground with no fall protection, and saw a defective ladder on the site. OSHA issued a serious citation…
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.