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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Secretary of Labor v. CONSOL Mining Company, LLC
Special-assessment motion denied
CONSOL asked the judge to vacate the Secretary’s proposed special assessments for two section 104(d)(1) violations and require regular assessment procedures instead. Judge Alan G. Paez held that the Mine Act gives the Secretary discretion to propose penalties and that the regulations permit special…
Empire Iron Mining Partnership
Part 48 training violations may carry S&S designations
MSHA cited Empire Iron Mining Partnership for alleged violations of new-miner and new-task training requirements and designated both violations significant and substantial. Empire sought partial summary decision, arguing that Part 48 training regulations are not mandatory health or safety standards…
Pine Ridge Coal Company, LLC
Four-day roof-fall reporting delay draws $6,000 penalty
A large roof fall struck a continuous miner at Pine Ridge Coal Company's Big Mountain No. 16 mine, pulled out roof supports, displaced a ventilation curtain, and left the No. 6 face unsafe to reach. Judge Thomas P. McCarthy found that the unplanned fall occurred in active workings and both impaired…
Consolidation Coal Company
Reporting citations and high negligence affirmed
Consolidation Coal was cited for reporting more employee hours than its payroll and other time records showed at its Robinson Run No. 95 and Blackstone No. 1 mines. The company had added time that miners spent on mine property before and after their paid shifts. The Commission held that the Part 50…
Drummond Company, Inc.
Excessive-history penalties remanded for recalculation
Drummond challenged civil penalties calculated under the Secretary of Labor's interim excessive-history program. The Commission held that the program exceeded an interim court mandate, was adopted without the required notice-and-comment process, and conflicted with the Secretary's Part 100 penalty…
Drummond Company, Inc.
Excessive-history penalties remanded for recalculation
Drummond challenged civil penalties calculated under the Secretary of Labor's interim excessive-history program. The Commission held that the program exceeded an interim court mandate, was adopted without the required notice-and-comment process, and conflicted with the Secretary's Part 100 penalty…
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.