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 San Martin
Board restored release on a $15,000 immigration bond
A Colombian citizen appealed an immigration judge's order holding him without bond while deportation proceedings were pending. The district director had set a $15,000 immigration bond, but the judge denied release altogether. The Board considered his prior deportation, criminal conviction, failure…
Safeway Stores, Inc.
Wheel-blocking violations affirmed before reconsideration
Safeway routinely loaded and unloaded semitrailers at three distribution facilities without wheel chocks or blocks. The Commission affirmed three violations of the truck-operations standard and penalties totaling $110. It vacated the parallel allegations under a second powered-industrial-truck…
Chicago Bridge & Iron Co.
Electrical and passageway items affirmed
Chicago Bridge & Iron was one of many contractors building nuclear-reactor containment vessels. OSHA cited improper attachment plugs, unguarded temporary bulbs, temporary lights suspended by unsuitable cords, 110-volt portable lighting in moist metal vessels, and hoses and cables obstructing…
Charles A. Davison & Margaret S. Davison, dba Davison Wood Products
Machine-guarding items affirmed without penalties
OSHA cited a small woodworking business for unguarded sanding machines, a jointer, saw belts and pulleys, and a rip saw, along with alleged electrical, spray-booth ventilation, and first-aid violations. The judge affirmed the four machine-guarding items without penalties. He vacated the electrical…
Shaffer Construction & Engineering Co.
Fatal trenching violations affirmed
Eight employees worked in an approximately eight-foot-deep trench cut into soft, wet, unstable soil near highway and railroad traffic. The walls were almost vertical, had no shoring or bracing, and one wall collapsed and killed an employee. The Commission affirmed a serious violation of the…
Anheuser-Busch, Inc.
Forklift overhead-guard citation vacated
Anheuser-Busch operated 17 forklifts without overhead guards in brewery aisles bordered by stacked cans, bottles, kegs, and pallets. The judge found that the employer restricted those forklifts to operations without a foreseeable falling-object danger and that its stacking and handling practices…
J.M. Roofing Co.
Fatal crane power-line violation affirmed
A crane lowering roofing equipment contacted an energized 4,800-volt power line and electrocuted an employee. The foreman knew the crane was operating in the narrow area between the building and the line but took no effective action to maintain the required ten-foot clearance. Commissioners Cleary…
West Allis Lime and Cement Company
Reverse-alarm citation vacated
A ready-mix concrete truck backed approximately 650 feet through a construction site without a reverse alarm or observer. The judge held that the truck driver's work was construction activity covered by the cited standard, but vacated because OSHA did not prove that the truck's rear view was…
Frozen Fruit Concentrates, Inc.
Forklift overhead-guard violation affirmed
A forklift operator removed a damaged overhead guard and used the truck for about six hours to stack cartons of frozen juice as high as 11 feet 3 inches. His supervisor saw the unguarded truck in operation. The Commission affirmed a serious violation because cartons stacked above the operator could…
Spring Air Mattress Co. of Colorado
Cotton-dust citation vacated for inconclusive sampling
Spring Air Mattress processed cotton linters into batting in a garnetting room where visible dust settled on employees and machinery. OSHA sampled two employees for about three and a half hours and calculated total dust concentrations of 3.15 and 2.90 milligrams per cubic meter, above the…
Matter of Zoellner
Deportation order and destination affirmed
A German citizen appealed an immigration judge's deportation order based on convictions for crimes involving moral turpitude. The Board found that certified conviction records established deportability and that the judge had told him he could seek adjustment of status with a waiver, although he…
Matter of Swissair "Flight 164," et al.
Reconsideration of carrier fines denied
Swissair sought reconsideration of five fines imposed after passengers arrived during the suspension of transit without visa rules. It argued that the suspension lacked required rulemaking procedures and that the government had not given separate notice that fines would resume. The Board found that…
D. Fortunato, Inc.
Failure-to-abate notice vacated as premature
D. Fortunato did not contest a serious citation alleging missing scaffold guardrails and paid its $550 penalty. The citation was received on January 15 and required immediate abatement. OSHA reinspected the next day, found the condition uncorrected, and issued a failure-to-abate notice with an…
Matter of Yang
Stock purchase did not qualify for investor exemption
A Chinese national working as an electronics technician bought $10,000 of common stock in his employer and sought an exemption from the labor certification requirement as an investor. The Regional Commissioner held that the stock purchase exposed him to personal investment risk but did not give him…
Atlantic Dry Dock Corporation and Atlantic Marine, Inc.
Late contest dismissed
Atlantic Dry Dock and Atlantic Marine settled an earlier citation case that required abatement of specified conditions. OSHA later issued a failure-to-abate notification with $7,982 in additional penalties. The companies did not file their notice of contest within the statutory 15-working-day…
Penn Central Transportation Company
Untimely railroad citations remained final
OSHA cited Penn Central for unsafe track conditions and multiple shop, office, electrical, housekeeping, and recordkeeping conditions at a Virginia rail yard. Penn Central did not timely contest the original citations, so the Commission held that they became final by operation of law and the…
Limbach Company, Inc.
Scaffold-base violation affirmed without penalty
Two employees worked from a tubular welded scaffold positioned over a seventh-floor shaft. The scaffold had originally been mobile, but its rear casters were removed and the rear legs were placed directly on a secured plank instead of adjustable or plain bases. The judge held that removing the…
Clarkson Construction Company
Subcontractor dump-truck violation affirmed
A subcontractor's dump truck backed along a highway-construction work area without a reverse alarm or an observer and fatally injured a Clarkson flagman. Clarkson directed where the subcontractor's trucks loaded and unloaded, controlled their operation within the project, and used them in its work…
Larry D. Mack, General Contractor
Three construction items affirmed without penalties
OSHA cited six conditions at a small construction project. The judge affirmed a technical open-wiring violation because a partially covered energized panel remained accessible, a stair-railing violation because carpenters were using the stairs, and a fire-extinguisher violation because travel…
Matter of Bronsztejn
Attempted marijuana possession supported deportation
A permanent resident appealed an immigration judge's deportation order after pleading guilty in New York to attempted marijuana possession. He argued that the evidence behind the criminal charge was insufficient and that an attempt conviction did not fall within the immigration statute's drug…
Southern Railway Company
Nine repair-shop items affirmed
OSHA cited ten conditions at Southern Railway's Spartanburg maintenance and repair facility, including spray-area lighting, welding-fume exposure, sanitation, fixed ladders, scaffolds, and welding-screen protection. The Commission rejected the railroad's claim that Department of Transportation…
Union Pacific Railroad Company
Five repair-shop items affirmed
OSHA cited eight conditions in Union Pacific's Cheyenne machine and wheel shops. The Commission affirmed five items involving missing crane load markings, uncaged access ladders, absent crane inspections, uninspected fire extinguishers, and missing extinguisher maintenance tags, with $295 in…
Illinois Terminal Railroad Company
Floor-opening item affirmed, recordkeeping item vacated
Illinois Terminal left a 10-to-12-foot-deep diesel-shop floor opening guarded only by a thin cloth rope, with reinforcing rods extending upward from the pit. The railroad admitted the condition, and the Commission affirmed the floor-opening violation and its $90 penalty because the Department of…
Union Pacific Railroad Company
Railroad office fire-safety items affirmed
OSHA cited Union Pacific's Pocatello yard office for using unsuitable fire protection around energized equipment, failing to mark exits and misleading doors, and obscuring a carbon-dioxide extinguisher behind a partition. The railroad did not rebut the conditions but argued that Federal Railroad…
Tolar Construction Company
Masonry-wall collapse violation affirmed
Tolar constructed a concrete-block wall approximately 20 to 30 feet high without pilasters and with inadequate temporary bracing. A strong wind collapsed the wall while employees were working nearby, and blocks landed as far as 200 to 300 feet from its base. The Commission affirmed a serious…
Matter of Heung
Step siblings share a parent for visa preference purposes
A U.S. citizen petitioned for sibling visa preference status for his stepsister. His mother had married the beneficiary's father, making the beneficiary her stepchild under the immigration statute. The Board held that the petitioner and beneficiary therefore had a common parent for immigration…
Union Railroad Company
Aerial-lift fall-protection violation affirmed
Eight Union Railroad employees used an aerial lift to spray-paint the underside of a bridge about 30 feet above lower surfaces. None wore a body belt with a lanyard attached to the boom or basket, and one employee fell from the basket and died. The railroad stipulated that the condition was likely…
A & W Drill Rentals and Leroy Crandall and Associates
Power-line citations vacated
A & W operated a truck-mounted soil-drilling rig near energized overhead lines while working for Leroy Crandall and Associates. The experienced A & W foreman knew the line was present, but raised the boom into it and an A & W employee handling a guy line was electrocuted. The judge found that A & W…
Matter of Scarpulla
Italian theft sentence exceeded petty offense limit
An Italian citizen sought adjustment of status after conceding that he had overstayed his visitor admission. He had been convicted in Italy of stealing olives valued at $35 and had received a sentence of one year and nine months. The Board held that theft was a crime involving moral turpitude and…
National Cleaning Contractors, Inc.
Elevator-shaft hazard violation affirmed
A cleaning employee was instructed to use tools to trip an elevator hoistway door's emergency release. He was not warned that the elevator car might be absent, opened the door, stepped into the shaft, and fell 23 feet, sustaining injuries that required hospitalization. The supervisor had taught the…
Chicago Bridge and Iron Company
Fall-protection and scaffold items affirmed
Two employees worked 19 and 29 feet above ground on penetration tubes and unsecured planks without tying off, with exposed reinforcing steel below. The Commission affirmed the serious personal-protective-equipment violation and an increased $850 penalty because supervisors could have discovered the…
Fulton Instrument Company
Mercury-vapor citation reclassified
Fulton manufactured clinical thermometers and exposed employees to mercury-vapor concentrations above the standard's allowable ceiling. The judge upheld the mercury standard as a valid national consensus standard and found the inspection lawful. He reclassified the citation from serious to…
John W. McGrath Corporation
Omitted hard-hat item remained final
McGrath's notice of contest expressly challenged citation items 2 and 3 but omitted item 1, which alleged that longshore employees lacked required protective hats. At the hearing, McGrath said the omission was a typographical error and sought to defend item 1 while withdrawing its contest to the…
Johns Manville Sales Corporation
Housekeeping and fire-protection items affirmed
Johns Manville employees worked on a construction floor containing scrap lumber with protruding nails, combustible debris, and inadequate fire-protection coverage. The judge affirmed one housekeeping item for $30 and held that two additional debris and container allegations merged into that same…
Southern Pacific Transportation Company
Railroad shop items affirmed, recordkeeping item vacated
Southern Pacific Transportation Company operated a railroad shop facility in Houston, Texas. It admitted that it had not displayed the required OSHA poster, maintained the required injury and illness log, kept a monthly signed inspection report for crane hoist attachments, or marked each…
Koppers Co., Inc.
Coke-oven citation dispute remanded for a hearing
OSHA cited Koppers Co., Inc. over employee exposure to coal tar pitch volatiles during coke-oven operations and over respirator protection. The alleged serious violation concerned the absence of feasible engineering or administrative controls and protective measures for a shift foreman and pusher…
Matter of Perez
Welfare alone did not prove likely public charge status
A Mexican citizen appealed the denial of her application for suspension of deportation. The immigration judge had treated her welfare receipt as proof that she could not obtain a special immigrant visa, which would have allowed consideration of suspension under a statutory proviso. The Board held…
Matter of Singh
Father's later marriage did not establish parent status for a visa petition
A United States citizen asked to classify his father as an immediate relative for an immigrant visa. The petitioner was born outside marriage in Fiji in 1944, and his father married his mother in 1971, when the petitioner was 27. The Board held that the marriage came too late to legitimate him…
Prineville Mouldings, Inc.
Trim-saw citation vacated, floor-opening item affirmed
Prineville Mouldings, Inc. manufactured lineal pine moulding at a plant in Prineville, Oregon. OSHA cited eight unguarded trim saws as hand-fed crosscut table saws, an uncovered floor opening leading to a conveyor, and unguarded power-transmission parts on woodworking machinery. The judge found…
Northeast Stevedoring Co., Inc.
Unsecured-pontoon violations affirmed
Northeast Stevedoring Co., Inc. loaded and unloaded cargo aboard the S/S Hermes and S/S Socrates at a Brooklyn pier. OSHA cited the company for serious violations involving hatch pontoons that were not secured against accidental displacement while employees worked cargo nearby. The judge found that…
Wiley N. Jackson Company and Moore Brothers Company, Inc., a Joint Venture, d/b/a Mojac Company
Flagman-garment violation affirmed
Mojac Company was performing road and bridge construction near Interstate 95 and Glebe Road in Arlington, Virginia. An employee directing traffic around a painters' scaffold was not wearing the required red or orange garment when a backing company truck struck and killed him. The company had…
American Airlines, Inc.
Late notice of contest dismissed
OSHA cited American Airlines, Inc. after an inspection of its aircraft maintenance and engineering center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The contested item alleged that employees working on an aircraft's tail and wing did not use safety belts or other required personal protective equipment. American received…
George V. Hamilton, Inc.
Promptness dismissal reversed for a hearing
OSHA inspected George V. Hamilton, Inc. on December 15, 1972, and issued a serious citation 89 days later. Before holding a hearing, the judge ordered the Secretary to justify the delay under the Act's requirement that citations be issued with reasonable promptness. When the Secretary declined, the…
Scotty Smith Construction Co., Inc.
Crane violation affirmed and saw allegation vacated
Scotty Smith Construction was the general contractor for additions to a YMCA building in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. A company employee was electrocuted while handling a concrete bucket after the boom of a leased crane contacted energized overhead power lines. The judge found that the company chose the…
O'Dell Plumbing, Heating & Cooling, Inc.
Serious trenching violations affirmed
O'Dell Plumbing, Heating & Cooling was installing a storm drain at a hospital construction project in Liberty, Missouri. OSHA cited the company after employees worked in an approximately 14-foot-deep trench whose unstable sides were not adequately supported or sloped and whose spoil piles were…
Clarence Martin, d/b/a Martin Masonry Company
Penalties reduced for small masonry contractor
Martin Masonry Company was completing a penthouse on the roof of a six-story building in Oakland, California. The company conceded violations involving an employee working near the roof edge without a safety belt, a masonry-saw operator without goggles, makeshift fasteners on a material hoist, and…
Bechtel Corp.
Citations vacated for lack of employee exposure
Bechtel served as engineer and construction manager at the Trojan Nuclear Plant project in Oregon. OSHA cited housekeeping debris, compressed-gas cylinders without valve caps, and an unguarded recess at the construction site. Other contractors created the cited conditions, and the record did not…
Matter of Harris
Marriage no longer viable when residence application decided
An Austrian citizen entered the United States to marry a U.S. citizen and married within the required 90 days. They separated before her application for permanent residence was decided and later divorced. The Board held that a marriage must remain viable when the application is decided for either…
Matter of Piggott
Suspension upheld for family from Antigua
Two natives of Antigua sought suspension of deportation after an immigration judge found them deportable. The Service argued that the adjacent island restriction barred their applications. The Board held that the statutory proviso allowed them to seek suspension because natives of an adjacent…
Matter of Loo
Board directed a new deportability charge
A Chinese citizen who had entered the United States claiming citizenship appealed an immigration judge's termination of his deportation proceedings. He wanted to pursue suspension of deportation as a route toward lawful permanent residence. The Board found that he remained in the country without…
Matter of Peerless Insurance Company
Bond obligor had to prove departure
Peerless Insurance Company appealed the district director's declarations that six immigration delivery bonds had been breached. The obligor argued that the government had not proved that the six people failed to leave the United States before their voluntary departure deadline. The Regional…
Matter of Ponco
Forged visa evidence upheld deportability finding
A man born in the Philippines challenged an immigration judge's finding that he was deportable because he had entered with an invalid nonimmigrant visa. The Board rejected his claims to United States citizenship or nationality. It held that substituting a different immigration judge had been…
George A. Hormel and Company
Reconsideration denied despite pending variance request
Hormel asked the Commission to reconsider an earlier decision requiring guardrails on the carcass side of a shaving platform. The company argued that it had applied for a variance and that strict compliance would create a greater hazard. The Commission found that Hormel had not proved alternative…
Plessey-Burton, Inc.
Housekeeping and emergency-water violations affirmed
Plessey-Burton cleaned, processed, and electroplated electrical components at a Los Angeles facility. The Commission affirmed a housekeeping violation based on acid spills and disorderly chemical-drum storage that created slipping and tripping hazards. It also affirmed a violation for failing to…
Bouma Post Yards, Inc.
Split mill-safety ruling affirmed with no penalties
Bouma Post Yards operated a small Montana mill that processed logs into fence posts. OSHA cited a broad group of conditions involving tanks, fuel dispensing, defective equipment, industrial trucks, machinery, welding cables, electrical grounding, wire rope, vehicle alarms, and fire extinguishers…
Matter of Tajer
Georgia pardon could defeat deportation charge
An Iranian student faced deportation after a Georgia theft conviction. She later received an unconditional pardon from the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles and appealed the immigration judge's refusal to reopen her case. The Board held that Georgia's constitution had given the Board of…
Colorado Fuel & Iron Steel Corp.
Serious hot-roll-line guarding violation affirmed
Colorado Fuel & Iron operated a steel mill in Pueblo, Colorado. Employees worked beside a roll table carrying steel bars heated above 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit at speeds of 15 to 20 miles per hour. The citation alleged that a recorder lacked protection from bars leaving the table and that a crop…
Tech-Steel, Inc.
$30 penalty assessed for obstructed aisles
Tech-Steel fabricated structural steel at a Utah facility. The company admitted that scrap metal, extension cords, welding leads, and hoses obstructed work areas, aisles, and passageways used with overhead cranes. The judge affirmed the violations but vacated the proposed $30 penalty. The…
Matter of Sacco
Board dismissed an appeal during a pending deportation hearing
During a deportation hearing, the respondent asked the immigration judge to stay proceedings while he pursued naturalization and to issue a subpoena for his military service records. He appealed the judge's denials before the judge entered a final deportation order. The Board held that its…
Murro Chemical Co., Inc.
Conveyor hazard affirmed under general duty clause
Murro Chemical manufactured soap and fatty acids at a Virginia facility. OSHA initially cited an unguarded feed-conveyor worm gear under a machine-guarding standard, then amended the charge at the hearing to the general duty clause because the cited standard did not fit the condition. The judge…
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.