<DOC>
[DOCID: f:kt94969.wais]

 
BRANHAM & BAKER COAL COMPANY
April 21, 1995
KENT 94-969-D


           FEDERAL MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH REVIEW COMMISSION

                 OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGES
                        2 SKYLINE, SUITE 1000
                          5203 LEESBURG PIKE
                    FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA  22041
                             

                            April 21, 1995
                               
SECRETARY OF LABOR,           : DISCRIMINATION PROCEEDING
  MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH      :
  ADMINISTRATION (MSHA),      : Docket No. KENT 94-969-D
  on behalf of GARIS MARTIN,  : MSHA Case No. PIKE CD 94-10
               Complainant    :
          v.                  : Road Creek Mine No. 1
                              :
BRANHAM & BAKER COAL COMPANY, :
               Respondent     :

                  DECISION APPROVING SETTLEMENT

Appearances:   Mary Sue Taylor, Esq., Office of the
               Solicitor, U.S. Department of Labor, 
               Nashville, Tennessee for the Complainant;
               Tony Oppegard, Esq., Lexington, Kentucky on 
               behalf of Garis Martin and William K. Doran, 
               Esq., Washington, D.C. for the Respondent.

Before: Judge Melick

     This case is before me upon a Complaint of 
Discrimination under Section 105(c) of the Federal Mine
Safety and Health Act of 1977 (the Act).  At hearing the
parties filed a motion to approve a settlement agreement
and to dismiss the case.  The individual Complainant, 
Garis Martin, consented to the agreement on the record.  
I have considered the representations and documentation 
submitted in this case, and I conclude that the proffered
settlement is acceptable.

     WHEREFORE, upon the acknowledged receipt of the 
agreed settlement amounts, the motion for approval of
settlement is GRANTED.  It is further ORDERED that, if it 
has not already done so, Respondent pay a civil penalty of 
$1.00 within 30 days of this order.  This nominal civil 
penalty is in recognition of conflicting views of the 
evidence, the vagaries of the trial process and that the 
monetary award to the Complainant in this case is a
disincentive in itself against future violations of Section
105(c).


                              Gary Melick
                              Administrative Law Judge


Distribution:

Mary Sue Taylor, Esq., Office of the Solicitor, U.S. Dept. 
of Labor, 2002 Richard Jones Road, Suite B-201, Nashville, 
TN  37215-2862

Tony Oppegard, Esq., Mine Safety Project of the 
Appalachian Research and Defense Fund of Kentucky, Inc.,
630 Maxwelton Court, Lexington, KY 40508

William K. Doran, Esq., Michael T. Heenan, Esq., Smith, 
Heenan and Althen, 1110 Vermont Ave., N.W., Washington,
D.C.  20005

/jf