DATE:  June 21, 1994
CASE NO. 94-STA-28


IN THE MATTER OF

CURTIS E. POWELL,
          COMPLAINANT,

     v.

JEFFREYS STEEL COMPANY, INC.,
          RESPONDENT.


BEFORE:   THE SECRETARY OF LABOR


                         FINAL ORDER OF DISMISSAL

     This case arises under the employee protection provision of
the Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1982 (STAA), 49
U.S.C. app. § 2305 (1988).  In a Recommended Order of
Dismissal (R.O.) issued on May 26, 1994, the Administrative Law
Judge (ALJ) recommended dismissal of the instant complaint for
failure to appear at the scheduled hearing and for failure to
respond to the ALJ's Order to Show Cause granting Complainant 16
days to show cause why the complaint should not be dismissed. 
Return receipts indicate that Complainant received both the
Notice of Hearing and the Order to Show Cause issued by the ALJ.
     Under the applicable regulations governing hearings before
Department of Labor ALJs, Complainant's request for a hearing may
be dismissed for abandonment if:
     neither the party nor his or her representative appears
     at the time and place fixed for the hearing and either
     (a) prior to the time for hearing such party does not
     show good cause as to why neither he or she nor his or
     her representative can appear or (b) within (10) days
     after the mailing of a notice to him or her by the
     administrative law judge to show cause, such party does
     not show good cause for such failure to appear and 
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    fails to notify the administrative law judge prior to the time
    fixed for hearing that he or she cannot appear.  A default
    decision, under § 18.5(b), may be entered against any party
    failing, without good cause, to appear at a hearing.
29 C.F.R. § 18.39(b).
     Accordingly, on the record before me, I affirm the ALJ's
R.O. dismissing the complaint as abandoned.
     SO ORDERED.

                               ROBERT B. REICH
                              Secretary of Labor

Washington, D.C.