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 Chung
Idle savings did not establish treaty investment
A Korean business visitor sought to change his nonimmigrant status to treaty investor so he could invest in a shoe manufacturing business. He showed $10,400 in a savings account and said he intended to invest it, but submitted no evidence that he had invested or had begun investing in an…
Carr Erectors, Inc.
Elevated-work citations vacated
Carr Erectors employees worked about 42 feet above the ground while constructing a cement bulk plant. The employer supplied safety belts and lines and instructed employees to use them, although two employees were observed without that protection. The Commission affirmed the judge's conclusion that…
Matter of Burris
Canadian citizenship foreclosed brother's preference petition
A U.S. citizen petitioned for fifth preference immigrant status for his brother. The brother had been born in the United States but later became a Canadian citizen and lost U.S. citizenship. The Board applied the then governing statute's rule treating a U.S. born noncitizen as born in the country…
Matter of Ramos
Former citizenship retention rule applied despite claimed ignorance
The respondent was born in Mexico in 1939 to a U.S. citizen mother and acquired U.S. citizenship at birth under the law then in force. He first entered the United States at age 33, after the period in which a later statute required him to live in the country to retain that citizenship. He argued…
Kimball Office Furniture, Inc., A Div. Of Jasper Corp.
Derailer abatement extended six months
Kimball Office Furniture was cited for failing to install a derailer on a leased railroad spur track used at its plant. It did not timely contest the citation, so the violation became a final order, but it later sought more time to abate after the railroad owner denied permission to install the…
Greyhound Lines-West
Open maintenance-pit citation affirmed with no penalty
Greyhound operated a bus maintenance pit that was 40 feet long, about 5.5 feet deep, and unguarded whenever no bus covered it. A yellow stripe marked the pit, but employees still worked around and inside the area while it was open for periods ranging from a few minutes to as long as two hours. The…
J. D. Blum Construction Company
Serious trench citation reinstated
J. D. Blum Construction excavated a water-main trench that was up to 7.5 feet deep, contained wet clay and loam, and was sloped at about 65 degrees without shoring or bracing. The Commission found the soil soft and unstable based on water seepage, sloughing, photographs, and witness testimony. It…
Ford Motor Co., Metal Stamping Div.
Noise-abatement period set at two years
A United Auto Workers local challenged the time allowed for Ford's metal-stamping plant to reduce excessive workplace noise through feasible engineering or administrative controls. The Commission held that employees may contest whether an abatement period is reasonable, but may not directly require…
Hamilton Lumber Co.
Saw-guarding failures to correct affirmed
Hamilton Lumber operated cutoff and radial saws at its retail lumber yard. An uncontested citation required lower blade guards on the saws and required the radial saw cutting head to return gently to its starting position. A reinspection five days after the abatement date found that the three cited…
Corbin Lavoy, d/b/a Empire Boring Co.
Serious toluene-exposure and safety-program violations affirmed
Empire Boring employees manually excavated inside a 42-inch steel casing extending beneath railroad tracks in an area contaminated by toluene. The employer had been warned that toluene fumes were present and that workers needed gas masks, but the site had only dust masks and no effective safety…
Hartwell Excavating Co.
Repeated trench citation vacated
Hartwell Excavating was cited for a repeated violation involving a sewer trench up to 14.5 feet deep and received a proposed $1,800 penalty. The Secretary later abandoned the repeated classification because the earlier citation had not yet become final and attempted to proceed instead on a…
P & Z Co., Inc. and J.F. Shea Co., Inc.
Dismissal vacated for lack of findings and reasons
OSHA issued two serious and 29 nonserious citation items after inspecting a Washington, D.C., construction site, with proposed penalties totaling $2,180. The complaint sought to add a joint venture to the two corporations named in the citations. The employers moved to dismiss based on notice of the…
Owens-Illinois, Inc.
Noise contest reinstated after two-citation confusion
Two compliance officers conducted one inspection and separately recommended citations. The Area Director issued two nonserious citations and proposed penalties, which were mailed separately. Owens-Illinois received the documents several days apart and mistakenly calculated its contest deadline from…
The Davies Can Company
Three-plant noise settlement approved
Davies Can admitted that workplace noise at its Tampa, Solon, and Leetsdale plants exceeded the permitted levels. The company agreed to pursue feasible engineering and administrative controls by December 1, 1975, maintain a mandatory hearing-protection program, and file periodic progress reports…
Arlie R. Hawk, General Contractor
Serious excavation citation affirmed
Arlie R. Hawk installed underground storage tanks, septic tanks, and sewer lines. Two men spread sand in a 13-foot-deep excavation that was not shored or sloped when a wall collapsed, killing one man and leaving the other uninjured. Hawk argued that the men were volunteers rather than employees…
Candler-Rusche
Serious crane-riding citation affirmed
Candler-Rusche employees used crane rigging to ride over a 10-foot fence after unloading pile-driving tubing. The crane block contacted the boom, releasing the rigging and a 400-pound weight; one employee was killed and another sustained spinal and leg injuries. The employer argued that riding the…
David Neiss, d/b/a Neiss Engineering Company
Fall-hazard penalties reduced
Neiss Engineering was cited for 12 nonserious conditions at a concrete apartment-building project, including ladder defects, unguarded floor openings and platforms, housekeeping, unsecured gas cylinders, and other guarding issues. The judge affirmed the violations and adjusted the proposed…
Penn-Dixie Industries, Inc.
Dust failure-to-abate penalty affirmed
Penn-Dixie's cement and mortar plant was ordered to reduce employee exposure to excessive dust by June 1, 1974. Its petition for more time was denied as untimely, and a reinspection found that no physical changes or progress reports had been made during the abatement period. Dust concentrations…
Otis Elevator Company
Subcontractor held responsible for accessible site hazards
Otis Elevator installed elevators in a 26-story office building where its employees had access to debris, missing elevator-shaft toeboards, and an inadequately guarded executive-elevator floor opening. Otis argued that other subcontractors created the debris and that the general contractor was…
W. L. Cobb Construction Co.
Excavation citations reduced to two nonserious violations
W. L. Cobb installed storm-drain pipe in an opening that was wider than it was deep and therefore qualified as an excavation rather than a trench. The judge vacated the trench-specific ladder and unstable-soil citations, including two proposed willful penalties totaling $6,615. He affirmed a…
Beatty Equipment Leasing, Inc.
Scaffold supplier liable for hazard to other contractors' employees
Beatty Equipment supplied and erected tubular welded scaffolding for a multi-employer construction project. The scaffold lacked midrails, and employees of lathing and plastering subcontractors worked on levels about 11 and 16 feet above the ground, although no Beatty employees were present. The…
Anning-Johnson Company
Multi-employer subcontractor defenses defined
Anning-Johnson was a drywall and ceiling subcontractor whose employees encountered unguarded floors and stairs, debris, and missing fire extinguishers at construction projects in Florida and Georgia. The company did not create or control the cited conditions and had complained to the general…
Grossman Steel & Aluminum Corporation
Known perimeter hazard required reasonable protective action
A Grossman Steel employee worked on the second floor of a school under construction, about 15 feet above the ground, where the building perimeter was completely unguarded. The general contractor was responsible for guardrails, and craft rules prevented Grossman from installing them, but Grossman…
Robert W. Setterlin & Sons Co.
Tenth-floor guardrail citation vacated
Setterlin employees installed masonry at an unguarded section of the tenth floor of a telephone building. The guardrails had been removed so cement blocks could be installed, and the record showed that the work could not be performed with standard rails in place. The Commission affirmed the judge's…
Matter of Friess
Zen trainee needed labor certification for center work
A German citizen studying at a Buddhist Zen center in New York sought adjustment to permanent resident status after his trainee stay expired. His training included work maintaining the center and its functions. The Board held that this work required labor certification, even if the center would not…
Matter of Patel
Bond removed for respondent with strong record of appearing
An immigration judge reduced the respondent's bond from $1,000 to $500. The Board found no reason for any bond. The respondent lived with his wife and U.S. citizen child, had worked for the same employer for almost two years, and had kept immigration officials informed of address changes. He had no…
Boise Cascade Corporation
Sawmill drive-guarding violations affirmed
Boise Cascade operated sawmill equipment with inadequately guarded belts, pulleys, chains, and sprockets. The Commission found that employees had access to the merry-go-round drive and to the resaw and conveyor drives, including during jam clearing, cleanup, maintenance, and travel between work…
Pan American World Airways
Caution-marking item vacated
Pan American was cited after an inspection of its Kennedy International Airport workplace. The Commission vacated an item alleging that an 8-to-10-inch step beside a degreasing tank lacked yellow caution markings. It held that the cited color-code provision did not identify which physical hazards…
P. & M. Sales, Inc.
Mixed citation ruling and $35 penalty affirmed
P. & M. Sales manufactured toys and dolls and was cited for several nonserious conditions involving its spray and electro-forming areas. The Commission held that the employer's timely written contest of the penalties, together with a contemporaneous oral communication contesting the citation, gave…
Ace Window Cleaning Co.
Scaffold lifeline and first-aid violations affirmed
Ace Window Cleaning employees used a suspended scaffold while cleaning windows on a Milwaukee building. The judge found a repeated scaffold violation because one lifeline did not extend far enough to protect employees working on lower floors, and two earlier uncontested citations involved the same…
Allis-Chalmers Corporation
Transformer-top guardrail item vacated
Allis-Chalmers employees performed assembly and testing work while standing on the tops of power transformers that were 10 to 14 feet high. OSHA cited the company for failing to install standard railings on those surfaces. The Commission majority concluded that the surface of a product being…
Old Ben Coal Corporation
Coal dust withdrawal order vacated after clean inspection
Old Ben Coal Corporation challenged a withdrawal order issued after an inspector found coal dust along a belt entry at its Mine No. 24. Judge R. M. Steiner found a violation of the coal dust rule and an unwarrantable failure to comply. The judge nevertheless vacated the withdrawal order because a…
Long Manufacturing Company, N.C., Inc.
Press-brake penalty affirmed, punch-press item vacated
Long manufactured farm equipment and had been ordered to guard the operating points of two press brakes. It installed paired palm buttons, but the buttons were close enough to operate with one hand and could also be bypassed with plug-in devices. Supervisors knew that employees sometimes defeated…
Gumina Building & Construction Co.
Mixed construction-site ruling affirmed
Gumina was the general contractor on a college construction project where employees worked without hard hats, debris created tripping hazards, and oxygen cylinders were not secured upright. A separate eye-protection item was vacated because the evidence did not establish that safety glasses were…
Alfred S. Austin Construction Company
Crane-riding violation reduced to de minimis
Alfred S. Austin Construction used a crane-suspended material box to move two employees to a high-rise hoist where they installed cross-braces. The Commission held that the box and tools were a load and that moving employees while they were on that load violated the crane standard. It also…
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.
Forklift and safety-shoe penalties stand
Goodyear used a forklift to move and stack large tires at a warehouse and distribution facility. The judge found that tire loads beyond the truck's rated capacity were handled and that operators lacked enough information about load centers and tire weights to stay within the rating. He also found…
Matter of Rangel
Brief return trip required deportation proceedings
A woman admitted as the unmarried daughter of a United States citizen had concealed that she was married. After brief trips to Mexico, she was placed in exclusion proceedings when she tried to return. The Board held that her last return did not count as a new entry under the rule governing short…
Zipco Construction Corp.
Guardrail and fire-extinguisher items affirmed
Zipco was building three two-story townhouses in Yonkers, New York. An employee carried lumber near an unguarded open-sided floor eight feet above the ground without fall protection, and the townhouses lacked the required fire extinguishers. Fire-protection equipment was available elsewhere at or…
John R. Davies & Son
Trench-shoring violation affirmed with reduced penalty
John R. Davies & Son installed underground utility lines in an eight-foot-deep trench containing soft, loose, sandy material. The trench uprights were spaced about eight feet apart instead of the six-foot maximum required by the cited timbering table, and one employee was exposed in the trench. The…
Van Raalte Company, Inc.
Sewing-machine belt item affirmed as de minimis
Van Raalte manufactured women's lingerie using about 25 straight-needle sewing machines with unguarded vertical drive belts. The Commission held that the belt-guarding standard applied to those machines and that it could not invalidate the standard by deciding that guarding was unnecessary. The…
Underhill Construction Corp., individually, and DIC Concrete Corp., individually and trading as DIC-Underhill, A Joint Venture
Open-floor, saw, and ladder violations affirmed
DIC-Underhill performed structural concrete work on a high-rise building and garage complex. About 15 employees worked and moved within four feet of an unguarded second-floor perimeter approximately 13 feet above the ground. The Commission held that this showed actual exposure and that employee…
Matter of Lima
Sealed youthful marijuana conviction could not support deportation
A permanent resident faced deportation after a California misdemeanor marijuana possession conviction. He was 20 when the offense occurred. A California court later dismissed the charge and sealed his arrest and conviction records under a law then available to youthful offenders. The Board held…
A. C. Gonzalez Painting Contractors, Inc.
Ninth-floor lifeline violation affirmed
A. C. Gonzalez Painting Contractors had two employees painting from a two-point suspension scaffold at the ninth floor of a motel. Neither employee wore a safety belt attached to a lifeline, and no belts or lifelines were available at the scaffold. The Commission held that the lifeline requirement…
Matter of Kuo
Nurse's employment history showed no intent to practice at entry
A married couple appealed deportation orders. The husband had overstayed his authorized visit and could not adjust status through his wife because the visa petition based on their marriage had not been approved. The wife had entered on a blanket labor certification as a nurse but had never worked…
Concrete Construction Corporation
Dump-truck safety violations affirmed
Concrete Construction used a dump truck whose raised body lacked a permanently attached positive support and whose dumping controls lacked a latch against accidental operation. An employee was fatally injured when he was pinned between the dump body and the truck frame. The Commission held that the…
A. J. McNulty & Co., Inc.
Steel-erection fall violations affirmed
A. J. McNulty was a steel-construction subcontractor on a multistory building project. Three employees worked near the fourth-floor edge without safety belts, lanyards, or nets, and one employee welded while leaning or straddling the edge 40 to 50 feet above the ground. The Commission found that…
Slyter Chair, Inc.
Two machine-guarding violations affirmed
Slyter Chair manufactured wood and upholstered furniture at a plant in Tacoma, Washington. OSHA cited the company because sewing-machine needles and wood-shaper cutting heads were not adequately guarded, and because a drum of lacquer thinner was kept near spray-finishing operations. The Commission…
Love Box Company
First-aid violation affirmed
Love Box manufactured corrugated boxes and employed about 151 workers. The Commission held that the company needed a person trained in first aid on its second shift because the nearest hospital was about nine minutes away, and it assessed a $25 penalty. It vacated an aisle-obstruction item because…
Matter of Lieu
Former Saigon Embassy employee granted permanent residence
A woman who had worked at the United States Embassy in Saigon for 19 years sought adjustment to permanent residence after the Embassy closed in April 1975. The State Department recommended special immigrant status based on her honorable service and found it in the national interest. The Acting…
Cormier Well Service
Oil-rig fall-hazard violation affirmed
Cormier Well Service allowed an employee who was learning derrick work to stand without a safety belt or lifeline on an oil-rig platform about 55 feet above the derrick floor. An equipment failure dislodged a 100-pound iron ball that struck the employee, causing him to fall to his death. The…
American Bag Co., Inc.
Failure-to-abate penalties reduced
American Bag was a 17-employee leather bag manufacturer in Puerto Rico. After the company did not contest an initial citation, OSHA reinspected and alleged that multiple violations had not been corrected, that the citation had not been posted, and that an injury log had not been maintained. The…
Franklin R. Lacy
Citation vacated for lack of commerce proof
Franklin R. Lacy owned and managed an apartment building in Kirkland, Washington, and directly hired workers to construct an additional building. OSHA issued eight nonserious citation items and proposed $220 in penalties. The Commission adopted the judge's ruling that the Secretary had not proved…
Nugent Service, Inc.
Heavy-lifting citation vacated
Nugent Service supplied workers for a freight-transfer dock. OSHA alleged that the company required employees to lift objects weighing more than 132 pounds, lacked enough material-handling equipment, and failed to train employees in safe lifting methods. The Commission held that the Secretary had…
W. N. Couch Construction Company
Trench-protection violations affirmed
W. N. Couch Construction had employees working in an 11-foot-deep trench whose wall included at least 4 1/2 feet of unstable backfill. The trench was also next to backfilled excavations, a heavily traveled road, and an operating backhoe, but the company used no shoring, bracing, or other cave-in…
Ricardo Correa, Jr., d/b/a Ricardo's Mexican Enterprises of Omaha
Masa-feeder failure-to-abate penalties vacated
Ricardo's Mexican Enterprises produced Mexican food in Omaha, Nebraska. OSHA initially cited conditions involving a masa feeder after a young employee was fatally injured while cleaning the machine, and the uncontested citation became final. In the later failure-to-abate case, the Commission found…
Signode Corporation
Steel-strapping rewinder guarding violation affirmed
Signode used lines of machines to rewind steel strapping onto reels weighing about 100 pounds. Each machine had an unguarded wheel with six rotating paddles, and employees moved among operating machines while changing reels. The Commission held that the paddles presented a hazard because they could…
Hammet Company, Inc.
Trenching citations vacated
Hammet excavated a trench with two sections, each more than five feet deep. OSHA initially cited the soft-or-unstable-soil trenching rule, but on review conceded that the soil was hard and compact and sought to substitute the hard-soil rule. The Commission held that the record did not prove either…
Empire-Detroit Steel Division, Detroit Steel Corporation
Coke-oven exposure item vacated
Empire-Detroit operated a steel mill in New Boston, Ohio. OSHA alleged that a coke-oven lid man was exposed to excessive coal tar pitch volatiles and that feasible engineering controls were not used. Although the exposure limit was exceeded, the Commission affirmed vacation of that item because the…
Warnel Corporation
Safety-belt violation affirmed after amendment
Two Warnel employees installed window frames at the edge of a third floor about 30 feet above the ground. They had to move outside the existing guardrail to perform the work, but they used no safety belts or other fall protection. The Commission held that a safety belt was not the structural…
DIC-Underhill, A Joint Venture
Perimeter-guarding and housekeeping violations affirmed
DIC-Underhill performed structural concrete work on a New York City apartment building. The first and second floor edges were unguarded, with drops greater than six feet, and employees worked on both levels. The Commission held that the general perimeter-guarding standard applied to concrete…
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.