Opinion ID: 156912
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Penalty Assessed

Text: Finally, Walker Stone challenges the amount of the penalty assessed by the administrative law judge on remand. In assessing civil monetary penalties pursuant to the Mine Act, a Commission administrative law judge is required to consider the following six criteria: the operator’s history of previous violations, the appropriateness of such penalty to the size of the business of the operator charged, whether the operator was negligent, the effect on the operator’s ability to continue in business, the gravity of the violation, and the demonstrated good faith of the person charged in attempting to achieve rapid compliance after notification of a violation. 30 U.S.C. § 820(i). Walker Stone argues the judge erred by finding that it was negligent and, consequently, the penalty assessed must be reduced. As noted by the Commission, administrative law judges are accorded broad discretion is assessing civil penalties under the Mine Act. See Secretary of Labor v. Ambrosia Coal & Constr. Co., 18 F.M.S.H.R.C. 1552, 1564 (1996). Their discretion, however, is not unbounded; penalties assessed under the Mine Act must reflect proper consideration of the criteria set forth in the Act. See id. A penalty assessment which is not supported by substantial evidence or which is 6 (...continued) Donovan ex rel. Anderson v. Stafford Constr. Co., 732 F.2d 954, 961 (D.C. Cir. 1984) (noting remand would serve no purpose when all evidence bearing upon issue was contained in record and record would support only one conclusion); Secretary of Labor v. American Mine Servs., Inc., 15 F.M.S.H.R.C. 1830, 1834 (1993) (same). -21- legally erroneous must be reversed on appeal. See 30 U.S.C. § 816(a)(1); Ambrosia Coal & Const. Co., 18 F.M.S.H.R.C. at 1564. Of the six penalty criteria in the Mine Act, Walker Stone challenges only the administrative law judge’s analysis of the negligence criterion. The administrative law judge found that had Boisclair followed internal company policies, the accident would not have occurred. See Walker III, 19 F.M.S.H.R.C. at 744. Walker Stone argues the judge impermissibly imputed Boisclair’s negligence to Walker Stone for penalty assessment purposes. In Secretary of Labor v. Southern Ohio Coal Co., 4 F.M.S.H.R.C. 1458, 1464 (1982), the Commission held that a rank-and-file employee’s negligence may not be directly imputed to a mine operator for penalty assessment purposes. Instead, in assessing the level of negligence attributable to an operator when a rank-and-file employee is responsible for a violation of the Mine Act, “the operator’s supervision, training and disciplining of its employees must be examined to determine if the operator has taken reasonable steps to prevent the rank-and-file miner’s violative conduct.” Id. Within this legal framework, the appropriate inquiry is not whether the steps taken by the operator were necessarily optimal, but whether they were adequate. See id. at 1465. Walker Stone contends there is not substantial evidence to support the administrative law judge’s implicit finding that its internal policies were not -22- sufficient to ensure its employees’ safety. Walker Stone asserts that the record shows “the company’s policies were to the point; were well-known by affected employees; covered the conduct that occurred; were simple, direct, and easy-tounderstand; and were enforced through appropriate communication to employees.” Walker Stone argues that to the extent the judge second-guessed the effectiveness of its policies, his decision was improper because it exceeded the appropriate bounds of review. Walker Stone further asserts the judge’s conclusion of negligence “erroneously rests on the premise that because Walker Stone violated the standard, ipso facto, it was negligent.” The administrative law judge found that Walker Stone “failed to exhibit the care required by the circumstances.” Walker III, 19 F.M.S.H.R.C. at 744. The judge, however, also found that Walker Stone’s “negligence was mitigated, at least in part, by the fact that Boisclair . . . put himself in harm’s way” by violating company directives. Id. The administrative law judge’s recognition that Walker Stone’s negligence was mitigated by Boisclair’s action is evidence that the judge did not improperly impute Boisclair’s negligence to the operator. Instead, the judge found that Walker Stone itself was also negligent in failing to provide adequate protection. Contrary to Walker Stone’s assertions, substantial evidence supports the administrative law judge’s conclusion that it was negligent. The only evidence in -23- the record to support Walker Stone’s contention that it provided effective protection are the policies it references. None of these policies were written. Further, the policy which is most clearly substantiated by the record, the policy of not working above another individual, is designed primarily to protect persons from falling objects, not to prevent the injury which occurred in this case. It is undisputed that the crusher operator did not sound a warning or accurately account for all the employees who were assisting in unclogging the crusher before he jogged the rotor, nor was there evidence of a company policy requiring the crusher operator to take such precautions. Walker Stone points to no other evidence indicating that additional safeguards were taken to protect workers from hazardous motion. One of the MSHA inspectors testified that “the company itself did not take or place enough emphasis on job safety analysis.” The inspector further testified that Walker Stone had no written policy on starting the crusher. There is thus substantial evidence to support the judge’s negligence finding. Based on the record, this court cannot say the administrative law judge’s conclusion that Walker Stone took inadequate steps to effectively protect its employees is legally erroneous, especially in light of operators’ “primary responsibility” under the Mine Act to prevent the existence of unsafe conditions and practices in their mines. 30 U.S.C. § 801(e). This court therefore affirms the penalty assessed. -24-