DATE:  March 16, 1995
CASE NO. 94-STA-47


IN THE MATTER OF 

EDWARD L. GREEN
          COMPLAINANT,

     v.

CURTIS EXPO & STORAGE,
          RESPONDENT.


BEFORE:   THE SECRETARY OF LABOR


                         FINAL DECISION AND ORDER

     Before me for review is the Recommended Decision and Order
(R.D. and O.), issued by the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) on
November 29, 1994, in this case which arises under the Surface
Transportation Assistance Act of 1982 (STAA), 49 U.S.C. A. §
2305 (1988), and its implementing regulations at 29 C.F.R. Part
1978 (1994).
     Factual Background
     The facts of this matter have been completely set forth in
the ALJ's recommended order.  In most pertinent part they are as
follows:
     Complainant Green filed a complaint of discriminatory
     treatment under the Act on July 18, 1993.  On April 14,
     1994, the Regional Administrator for the Occupational
     Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), issued
     preliminary findings (as the designee of the Labor
     Secretary) in which he determined that the complaint
     lacked any actionable merit.  Complainant was notified
     of the Regional Administrator's findings by letter in 
[PAGE 2]
which he was informed that he had thirty (30) days from his
receipt of the findings by which to file any objections he might
have to them.  As a consequence of his inaction, i.e., his
failure to file objections, Complainant was further informed that
the recommended dismissal would become the final, and
unappealable, decision of the Agency.  R.D. and O. at 1. 
Finally, Complainant was served, by certified mail, with a Show
Cause Order, issued by the ALJ on September 28, 1994. 
Complainant did not respond to this order.
     The Complainant knowingly failed to respond to two separate
notifications that his complaint was being dismissed and that he
had a limited timeframe in which to object to the dismissal.  His
letter protesting the investigation which led to the Regional
Administrator's findings, was postmarked July 28, 1994 -- over
ninety (90)days after the issuance of the preliminary findings. 
Additionally, Complainant totally ignored the ALJ's September,
1994 Show Cause Order.
     Under the circumstances, the decision of the ALJ is entirely
appropriate and I adopt it, copy appended.  The Act and the
regulations expressly provide that any objections to the findings
of the Regional Administrator shall be filed within 30 days of a
complainant's receipt of such findings or orders.  If this
mandatory time frame is not followed, the Regional
Administrator's determinations become the final decision of the
Agency, by operation of law.  See, 49 U.S.C. §
2305(c)(2)(A) and 29 C.F.R. § 1978.105, as cited in the R.D.
and O. at 2.
     Having thoroughly reviewed the record in this matter I adopt
the decision of the ALJ which dismisses the complaint.
     The complaint, therefore, IS DISMISSED.
     SO ORDERED. 
                              ROBERT B. REICH
                              Secretary of Labor
Washington, D.C.