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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Environmental Utilities Corp.
Trench violation reclassified as serious
Environmental Utilities installed sewer pipe in trenches in Columbia, Pennsylvania. Two employees remained in the Marietta Pike trench after two of three trench jacks were removed, leaving the trench inadequately protected from a cave-in. The Commission changed the judge's classification from…
W. E. Dalton, M. L. Dalton & J. B. Truelove, d/b/a E. L. Dalton & Co.
Trench timbering and warning-vest items affirmed
E. L. Dalton & Co. performed trenching work beside a public street and near railroad tracks in Irving, Texas. The Commission affirmed a serious trench-timbering violation because the company used three-quarter-inch plywood where the applicable table required larger timber, and it sustained a $100…
Bonitz All-Weather Crete Co., Inc.
Flat-roof guardrail citation vacated
Bonitz employees installed roof insulation on a flat hospital roof about 26 feet above the ground without guardrails or other fall protection. The judge found a serious violation after rejecting the company's claims that guardrails were infeasible or would create a greater hazard, and assessed a…
Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Co.
Amended open-pit citation affirmed
Kaiser was originally cited under a floor-hole standard for failing to provide covers or guardrails around open carbon pits. In an earlier order, the Commission found that the open-pit standard applied instead and provisionally amended the citation. Kaiser argued that the amendment caused…
Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corp.
Amended open-pit guarding citation affirmed
Kaiser was originally cited under a floor-hole standard for failing to cover or guard open carbon pits. In an earlier decision, the Commission substituted the standard specifically requiring covers or guardrails for open pits and gave Kaiser an opportunity to object. The Commission rejected…
Matter of Quispe
Acknowledgment of paternity in Peru did not establish legitimation
A United States citizen sought a visa for his Peruvian father. The father had acknowledged him before a civil registrar shortly after his birth, and a Maryland court later entered an adoption order. The Board held that acknowledgment of paternity under Peruvian law did not legitimate the…
Matter of Abebe
Kenyan refugee travel document did not bar exclusion hearing
An Ethiopian applicant who had fled to Kenya sought admission to the United States as a student using a refugee travel document issued by Kenya, but had no visa. After a District Director denied his asylum request, an immigration judge ordered him excluded. The Board held that the cited 30 day rule…
Matter of Chouliaris
Appeal preserves voluntary departure, with a limit on reinstated time
A Greek citizen conceded that he had remained beyond his authorized admission and sought nearly a year to depart voluntarily while awaiting a visa petition. The immigration judge granted five months, believing he lacked authority to grant a longer period. The Board held that neither the statute nor…
Matter of Cenatice, et al.
Haitian applicants' exclusion appeals dismissed
Thirteen Haitian applicants arrived by boat and sought admission as refugees. Their asylum applications to the District Director were denied, and an immigration judge ordered them excluded for lacking immigrant visas. The Board held that their detention upon arrival did not constitute entry, so…
Air Products & Chemicals, Inc.
Review direction vacated at employer's request
Air Products asked the Commission to vacate the direction for review in its case. The Commission found that the company did not seek any change to the judge's decision. It granted the motion under the Commission's policy statement, making the judge's decision the final order. Commissioner Moran…
Stimson Contracting Co.
Three trench items affirmed and duplicate item vacated
Stimson Contracting employees installed sewer pipe in a trench that was 17 feet deep and four feet wide at the bottom. The company placed excavated material too close to the edge, did not provide an adequate exit, and left a crawler crane above and near the trench without additional shoring or…
Rust Engineering Company; Allegheny Industrial Electric Company
Scaffold access item reduced to de minimis
A Rust Engineering employee climbed down a 15-foot scaffold using its end-frame bars instead of a separate access ladder. The Commission agreed that the bars were not equivalent to a proper ladder because their spacing varied from 19 to 21 inches and the record did not show slip-resistant…
General Electric Company
Unguarded paint-room pit violated open-pit standard
General Electric used a long, five-foot-deep pit to paint the undersides of railroad cars at its Erie facility. After a car left the room, painters routinely cleaned debris from a floor surrounding the unguarded pit and worked within two to three feet of its edge. The Commission held that…
The House of Glass
Seven equipment and electrical items affirmed
The House of Glass operated a retail glass and glazing business in Great Falls, Montana. OSHA cited conditions involving a discharged fire extinguisher, a radial saw, an unguarded pulley, blocked electrical equipment, and three ungrounded appliances or machines. The Commission found the record…
Ribblesdale, Inc.
Inadvertent default set aside
Ribblesdale was cited for pump-jack scaffold conditions involving missing guardrails, inadequate pole bracing, and inadequate foundations. Its lawyer failed to appear at the hearing after misunderstanding the company's instruction to stop work on a different OSHA matter. The judge entered default…
Swimline Corp.
Advisory radiation guide could not support citation
OSHA cited Swimline after measuring electromagnetic exposure above 10 milliwatts per square centimeter at an operator's position on a radio-frequency heat sealer. The judge held that the cited radiation guide was advisory because it said the level "should not" be exceeded, while an enforceable…
Matter of Wing's Tea House
Cook lacked required experience on visa petition filing date
A Kentucky restaurant sought sixth preference visa classification for a Chinese specialty cook. Its job offer required one year of experience, which the cook lacked when the labor certification request was accepted in August 1974. The Department of Labor later advised that the certification…
Matter of Finlayson
Canadian mother and children may seek suspension of deportation
A Canadian family sought reconsideration after the Board denied their applications for suspension of deportation. The Board explained that a 1976 statutory change removed Western Hemisphere natives from the special immigrant category, eliminating a categorical barrier that had applied to the mother…
Sun Outdoor Advertising, Inc.
Scaffold guardrail violation affirmed as serious
Two Sun Outdoor Advertising employees painted a billboard from an unguarded suspension scaffold 20 feet above rocky ground. One employee wore a safety belt, while the other had forgotten to reconnect his belt for about 15 minutes after lunch. The Commission affirmed the serious guardrail violation…
Briscoe/Arace/Conduit, A Joint Venture
Beam fall-protection item affirmed and roof item vacated
Employees of the joint venture worked on 18-inch-wide beam bottoms about 16 feet above a basement floor cluttered with stored scaffolding. They used no personal fall protection. The Commission affirmed a serious violation and a $700 penalty because a cable system for attaching safety belts was…
Matter of Anselmo
Prior fictional marriage did not trigger the visa bar
A lawful permanent resident petitioner sought second preference classification for his spouse. The beneficiary had previously obtained permanent residence through an immediate relative petition based on documents for a marriage that never took place. The Board held that section 204(c) did not apply…
McHugh & McHugh
First-aid and crane swing-radius items affirmed
McHugh & McHugh used two barges and a crane while constructing a railroad bridge over the Willamette River. The Commission affirmed a first-aid item because supplies locked in a shore-side trailer were not easily accessible to employees working on barges in the river. It also affirmed a serious…
Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp.
Crane brake item affirmed without penalty
Wheeling-Pittsburgh operated a 35-ton overhead crane after its engine had been repaired but before the hydraulic foot brake was reinstalled. Operators normally stopped the crane by reversing its electric motor, but that method would not work during a power failure and the foot brake was used in…
J. P. Fyfe, Inc.
Flat-roof guardrail citation vacated
J. P. Fyfe employees performed roofing work on a one-story building about 15 to 17 feet above the ground. OSHA observed seven employees on the roof, including two within two or three feet of the edge, without perimeter guarding or personal fall protection. OSHA alleged a repeat serious…
Western Waterproofing Co., Inc.
Five suspension-scaffold items affirmed
Western Waterproofing employees sprayed a building from a two-point suspension scaffold supported by outrigger beams at heights up to 22 feet. The judge found that the outrigger supports lacked required bearing, anchorage, and bracing, and that the scaffold lacked a secondary tieback, safety belts…
Mikel Company, Inc.
Machine-guarding items affirmed in part and penalties reduced
Mikel Company manufactured high-style furniture using saws, routers, a jointer, and a root shaper. The judge vacated the root-shaper item because the evidence showed a hold-down guard was installed, but affirmed jointer and router guarding violations with penalties of $30 and $35. Four saw-guarding…
Matter of Great Wall
Store could not support the offered wage
An Iowa gift shop and food store petitioned for sixth preference classification for a store manager. The Acting Regional Commissioner found that the business could not pay the wage offered in its certified job offer when the petition was filed. The beneficiary had received no salary despite working…
Quillian Pipe Company, Inc.
Trench violation reduced from willful to serious
Quillian Pipe employees worked in an inadequately protected trench that was more than five feet deep while installing underground pipeline in Macon, Georgia. OSHA had recently explained trenching requirements to the company's president after an earlier inspection, then cited the later condition as…
Matter of Khan
Investor did not show a commitment to complete the required investment
A Pakistani citizen sought to reopen his deportation case so he could apply for adjustment of status under the investor exemption from labor certification. He operated a tire business and submitted invoices, a lease, bank records, and canceled checks. The Board found that his investment had not…
Iowa Southern Utilities Co.
Energized-line inspection violation affirmed
An Iowa Southern Utilities lineman was electrocuted while removing part of a three-phase power line energized at 13,200 volts. The parties stipulated that the crew failed to take the precautions needed to determine the line was de-energized before work began. The Commission treated the temporary…
Deemer Steel Casting Co.
Failure-to-abate settlement approved
Deemer Steel had previously been ordered to control dust from portable pneumatic grinding wheels and was given time to seek a variance. After OSHA denied the variance application and reinspected the plant, it issued a failure-to-abate notice with a proposed $1,260 penalty. The parties agreed to…
Adler & Neilson Co., Inc.
Central recordkeeping satisfied construction rules
Adler & Neilson performed architectural metal installation as a subcontractor at a temporary construction site. OSHA cited the company for not keeping its injury and illness log and annual summary at that worksite. The Commission found that the company had maintained the records at its central…
Croom Construction Co.
Safety-belt citation vacated under wrong standard
A Croom Construction employee fell through a temporarily covered roof opening to a concrete floor 15 to 17 feet below and died. OSHA cited the company for not using lifelines, safety belts, or lanyards while employees installed roofing sheets. The Commission held that the cited standard regulated…
Northwestern Insulation Co., Inc.
Scaffold violations and walkaround inspection affirmed
Northwestern Insulation employees worked from multilevel scaffolding while covering heat-exchanger towers on a roof about 30 feet above the ground. The judge affirmed violations involving missing guardrails and toeboards, excessive plank spans, and excessive plank overhang, with total penalties of…
Greyhound Lines, Inc.
Unguarded bus service pits violated open-pit rule
Greyhound maintained 15 bus service pits that were 42 feet long, four feet wide, and four feet six inches deep. The pits lacked covers or guardrails when buses were not being serviced, and employees regularly worked in the surrounding area. The Commission rejected Greyhound's claim that federal…
Matter of Gonzalez
Voluntary departure application remanded under controlling Third Circuit ruling
A Colombian citizen conceded that he had overstayed his visitor admission and appealed the denial of voluntary departure. The immigration judge had treated his conviction for impersonating an immigration officer as a bar to showing good moral character, despite a judicial recommendation against…
Carl E. Widell & Son; L. Feriozzi Concrete Company; L & S Steel Service, Inc.
Excavation citations vacated for lack of moving-ground danger
Employees of three contractors worked in a pumping-station excavation about 48 feet square and 27 feet deep. OSHA alleged that the west wall exposed employees to moving ground because its slope was less than the approximate angle listed in a trenching table. The judge found that OSHA did not prove…
James M. Inman Construction Corp.
Serious excavation violation affirmed with a reduced penalty
James M. Inman Construction was the general contractor for construction of a department store in Hackensack, New Jersey. A front-end loader used a muddy road beside a seven-foot-deep excavation where no stop logs or barricades protected the edge, and a concrete subcontractor's employee was standing…
S. E. Smith & Sons
Saw-guard violations affirmed with a reduced penalty
S. E. Smith & Sons contested five nonserious items and five serious machine-guarding items involving table and radial saws. The employer argued that each saw operator should decide whether to use the required safety devices. The judge rejected that position because compliance with the standards…
Howard P. Foley Co.
Injury-log item affirmed and four worksite items vacated
Howard P. Foley performed electrical work at a power-plant construction site. The judge affirmed a recordkeeping item because the onsite injury and illness log contained no entry for a known lost-time injury, and he assessed a $50 penalty. He vacated a housekeeping item because valves awaiting…
ABCO Tree & Hedge Service
Power-line tree-trimming violation affirmed
An ABCO employee trimming a tree with a seven-foot aluminum pole saw contacted an energized power line and was electrocuted. He was about eight feet from the line and used neither insulated equipment nor personal protective equipment for electrical hazards. The judge found that contact was…
Titanium Metals Corporation of America
Roadway citation affirmed and failure-to-abate charge vacated
Titanium Metals refined titanium at a Nevada facility where forklifts carried open pots of molten magnesium chloride over exterior roadways with dips and ruts. The uneven surfaces caused the hot material to splash, and the record included an employee burn from a splash. The judge held that the…
Alpha Masonry, Inc.
Scaffold guardrail and access violations affirmed
Alpha Masonry employees worked from a fourth-floor scaffold with unguarded ends. Employees also moved between the building and the scaffold by taking a two-foot horizontal and three-foot vertical step while exposed to falls of about 38 to 41 feet. The judge found serious guardrail and safe-access…
Calcedo Construction Corporation
Scaffold charge reduced from willful to serious
Calcedo employees worked below overhead steel activity without hard hats, cut brick without eye protection, and used a 25-foot scaffold without a proper access ladder, complete planking, guardrails, or toeboards. The judge affirmed Citation 1's head and eye protection items and Citation 2's…
Georgia Electric Company
Power-line and defective-control violations affirmed
Georgia Electric was installing light poles along a highway when a crew erected a pole close to energized lines using a boom truck. The foreman let an inexperienced temporary operator proceed even though the regular operator had previously considered the task unsafe and company managers had warned…
Chicago and North Western Transportation Co.
Railroad coverage upheld and four items affirmed
Chicago and North Western Transportation challenged a seven-item citation at its railroad facility in Boone, Iowa. The Commission rejected the company's claim that the railroad industry was exempt from OSHA jurisdiction because the Federal Railroad Administration had not exercised authority over…
E. S. Albrecht Company
Aerial-lift belt item affirmed and flagman item vacated
E. S. Albrecht performed heavy and highway construction work at a Pennsylvania road site. Two employees worked from an aerial-lift basket without wearing body belts and attaching lanyards to the boom or basket. Although the employer had told employees to use the belts and its project manager…
Chevron Oil Co.; Harvey Industries, Inc.; and McBroom Rig Building Service, Inc.
Subcontractor cases affirmed and Chevron case remanded
Chevron operated an offshore oil and gas production platform where Harvey Industries and McBroom Rig Building Service worked as subcontractors. After an explosion and fire, OSHA cited all three employers under the general duty clause, alleging hazards involving pipeline corrosion controls and…
Data Electric Company, Inc.
Three items affirmed and one stairway item vacated
Data Electric was an electrical subcontractor on construction of a municipal services building in New York. It did not create or control the unguarded stairways and floor perimeters, but the Commission held that a noncontrolling subcontractor must take realistic measures to protect its own…
Granite-Groves, A Joint Venture
Excavation walkway and impalement violations affirmed
Granite-Groves was constructing a metro tunnel in a District of Columbia excavation that was 50 to 60 feet deep. Employees regularly crossed unguarded steel wales and struts about 50 feet above the bottom without safety belts, and vertically protruding reinforcing steel was below their work area…
Matter of Vindman
Adjustment applications denied under the public charge provision
A married couple entered the United States as refugee parolees and applied to become permanent residents after two years. The District Director denied their applications on public charge grounds, and the Regional Commissioner reviewed the denials on certification. Neither applicant had worked in…
Matter of Baterina
Exchange visitor residence requirement sent back for fact finding
A nurse from the Philippines sought to reopen her deportation proceedings to apply for adjustment of status. The immigration judge had treated an earlier District Director finding as binding and refused to decide whether the exchange visitor foreign residence requirement applied to her. The Board…
Taylor Building Associates
Safety-net and ladder violations affirmed during steel erection
Taylor Building Associates was erecting structural steel for a building in Pearl, Mississippi. Employees connecting beams worked more than 25 feet above the ground without safety nets, and employees climbed steel columns without ladders. The Commission reversed the judge’s vacation of the…
Jess Howard Electric Co.
Fixed-stair citation for a mobile trailer vacated
Jess Howard Electric was cited at a construction site in Whitehall, Ohio, for not providing an access stairway to a tool trailer. OSHA relied on the general-industry standard requiring fixed industrial stairs for regular travel between structure levels and access to operating platforms. The…
R. L. Dixon, Inc.
First-aid and circuit-breaker citations vacated
R. L. Dixon was cited at a Richmond, Virginia, construction site for lacking a person with verified first-aid training and for not marking circuit breakers to show their purpose. The company waived a hearing and asked for a decision based on its written submissions. It stated that a clinic, two…
SACO Electric, Inc.
Safety-belt violation affirmed for elevated electrical work
SACO Electric sent an employee to install electrical equipment on a grain-elevator structure more than 50 feet above the ground. The employee was not wearing a safety belt, and the OSHA inspector and employee found no belts in the employee’s truck. SACO asserted in its answer that the experienced…
Patterson & Wilder Construction Co., Inc.
One repeat trench spoil violation affirmed and trench-support citation vacated
Patterson & Wilder Construction was installing sewer drain pipe at two worksites in Washington, Georgia. OSHA cited the company for storing excavated soil too close to trench edges and for failing to shore or adequately slope a trench in hard or compact soil. The judge affirmed the spoil-pile…
Tip-Top Plumbing & Heating Co.
Trench-shoring item affirmed and added-precautions item vacated
Tip-Top Plumbing & Heating was relocating water lines during sewer work in Kansas City, Missouri. One employee worked for about 30 to 40 minutes in a narrow trench approximately nine feet deep and twelve feet long without shoring or sloping. The company chose to proceed quickly to restore water…
Elford, Inc.
Extinguisher and saw-switch items affirmed
Elford was remodeling a building when OSHA issued ten nonserious citation items. Two items were not contested and became final orders. Of the remaining items, the judge affirmed a fire-protection item because the extinguisher near a kerosene storage area had been discharged and was ineffective. The…
4G Plumbing & Heating, Inc.
Grounding item vacated and ladder item affirmed
4G Plumbing & Heating was a subcontractor at a building project in Anaconda, Montana. OSHA found that an extension cord serving a pipe buffer was missing its grounding prong. The judge vacated that item and its proposed $30 penalty because the cord had been new when brought to the job and the…
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.