Federal Agency Decisions
Workplace-safety cases from the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC), mine-safety cases from the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission (FMSHRC), and environmental appeals from the EPA's Environmental Appeals Board, each with a plain-English summary, the standards it cites, and whether it counts as precedent. More agencies are coming.
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R B Coal Company, Incorporated
Four citations settled for $1,250
R B Coal Company operated the RB #5 Mine and faced four alleged Part 75 violations initially assessed at a total of $17,000. After the Secretary presented evidence on the first citation, the parties reached a comprehensive settlement. Judge Jerold Feldman modified the four violations from…
Asarco, Inc.
Miner statement mostly protected from discovery
Asarco sought statements from miners, an MSHA investigation report, and a case analysis in proceedings involving two contests and David Hopkins's discrimination case at the Sweetwater Mine. Judge Richard W. Manning held that the miners' statements and the investigation materials were protected by…
Asarco, Inc.
Motion to compel mostly denied
Asarco sought documents from the Secretary in consolidated contest and discrimination proceedings. The judge held that most miner statements and agency memoranda were protected by the informant's privilege or the deliberative process privilege. The judge nevertheless required the Secretary to…
Secretary of Labor o/b/o Price v. Jim Walter Resources, Inc.
Discriminatory drug-testing discharges affirmed
Jim Walter Resources operated underground coal mines in Alabama and required employees whose duties involved safety to undergo random drug testing. Safety committee members Michael Price and Joe John Vacha were discharged after they could not provide urine samples during testing, although they…
What these documents are
- The agencies: Workplace-safety cases from the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC), mine-safety cases from the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission (FMSHRC), and environmental permit and penalty appeals from the EPA's Environmental Appeals Board (EAB). Each decision page names its agency.
- Commission and Board decisions: Rulings by the agency's highest review level (the Commission at OSHRC and FMSHRC, 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.