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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Michael Wilson v. Armstrong Coal Company, Inc.
Removing miners' representative contact information was interference
Armstrong Coal replaced a posted list of miners' representatives with a version that omitted every representative's address and telephone number, including Michael Wilson's. Judge Kenneth R. Andrews held that removing the contact information made confidential safety reporting harder and therefore…
Thunder Basin Coal Company
Remand assessment sets $13,350 in penalties
Thunder Basin Coal Company was cited for refusing to post two United Mine Workers officials as miners' representatives and for failing to abate the resulting citation. The ALJ found the underlying violation non-serious and assessed a $350 penalty, while finding high negligence and no good-faith…
Thunder Basin Coal Company
Penalty assessment vacated and remanded
Thunder Basin Coal Company disputed penalties arising from its refusal to post a notice designating miners' representatives at the Black Thunder Mine. After the ALJ assessed a total penalty of $1,300, the Commission held that the judge had not adequately applied the Mine Act's penalty criteria…
Thunder Basin Coal Company
$1,300 penalty assessed
Thunder Basin Coal Company refused to post a form designating Dallas Wolf and Robert Butero as miners' representatives at its Black Thunder Mine. After the company did not abate the citation within the required time, MSHA issued a failure-to-abate order and proposed a total penalty of $26,360…
Kerr-McGee Coal Corporation
Nonemployee miners' representatives permitted to accompany inspections
Kerr-McGee operated a nonunion surface coal mine where miners designated two United Mine Workers of America agents as their representatives for mine inspections. The Commission held that section 103(f) of the Mine Act and Part 40 allow miners to choose nonemployees, including union agents, as…
Kerr-McGee Coal Corporation
Miners' representative designation must be posted
Kerr-McGee Coal Corporation refused to post a designation naming United Mine Workers representatives for miners at its Jacobs Ranch Mine. Judge Michael A. Lasher, Jr. held that Mine Act representative-of-miners rules do not require a union to be certified for collective bargaining before it can…
Benjamin Coal Company
Miners’ representative notice violation upheld
Benjamin Coal failed to post information identifying the United Mine Workers of America as a representative designated by four miners at its preparation plant. The company argued that the union had not won majority support in an NLRA election and that its representatives were not Benjamin…
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.