HEARING WITH JUDGE Donaldson AT 9:00 a.m. NOTICE OF HEARING AND PREHEARING ORDER — 2026STA00062

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGES
COVINGTON DISTRICT OFFICE
Issue Date: 15 October 2026
In the Matter of:
CARCELIA YSIA DELK,
Complainant,
v.
VERTICAL EARTH, INC.,
Respondent.
CASE NO.: 2026-STA-00062
ANGELA F. DONALDSON
Administrative Law Judge
NOTICE OF HEARING AND PREHEARING ORDER
This proceeding arises under the Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1982, 49 U.S.C.
§ 31105 (herein the STAA) and the regulations promulgated thereunder at 29 C.F.R. Part 1978
and 20 C.F.R. Part 24. The STAA prohibits covered employers from discharging or otherwise
discriminating against employees with regard to their terms and conditions of employment who
have engaged in certain protected activities with regard to their terms and conditions of
employment.
Complainant requested a hearing based upon the Secretary’s findings dated March 31, 2026
that her complaints of discrimination were not meritorious.
Notice of Hearing and Pre-Hearing Conference:
The parties are advised that a formal hearing before an Administrative Law Judge of the
U.S. Department of Labor is scheduled as follows:
Hearing Date and Time: May 11, 2027, 9:00 a.m. Central Time
Method of Hearing: Video Conference (Microsoft Teams)
A pre-hearing conference will be held by telephone on April 20, 2027, at 10:00 a.m.
Central Time, to discuss the anticipated witnesses, exhibits, and length of hearing. The parties are
advised to call 1-866-748-2606 with participant code 17820952 to join the telephone pre-hearing
conference.
Representation:
At the time of docketing, both parties were self-represented. If a party (Complainant or
Respondent) remains self-represented at this time, they are required to email my Attorney
Advisor Cory P. Robinson (Robinson.Cory.P@dol.gov) to request a copy of the form: Notice of
Intent to Proceed Pro Se. Instructions for completing and returning the form will be included.

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If the party is represented by an attorney, counsel should immediately file a Notice of
Appearance. 29 C.F.R. § 18.22(a).
Pre-Hearing Order:
1. Pleadings:
(a) Within 30 days of service of this Notice, Complainant shall file with the undersigned
Administrative Law Judge and serve upon the Respondent a detailed Complaint that contains:
1. A list of each protected activity the Complainant relies on, with the date and
a detailed description of the activity;
2. A list of the adverse actions the Respondent took against the Complainant in
retaliation for the protected activities, the date of each such action, and a
statement explaining why the action would be considered retaliatory unless
the retaliation is self-evident (e.g., a suspension or termination); and
3. A list of each type of relief the Complainant seeks and a statement explaining
exactly how every demand for money damages has been calculated.
(b) Within 30 days of service of the Complaint, after service of the aforementioned
Complaint, the Respondent shall serve and file an Answer that contains:
1. A statement either admitting or denying each protected activity the
Complainant relies on in his/her pre-trial statement occurred;
2. A statement admitting or denying whether each adverse action the
Complainant lists in his/her complaint occurred;
3. A statement admitting or denying whether Respondent knew of each protected
activity before taking each adverse action(s) alleged;
4. A statement admitting or denying whether a retaliatory motive played any role
in each alleged adverse action;
5. A detailed statement describing Respondent’s reason(s) for each adverse
action when it contends the adverse action was unrelated to any protected
activities;
6. A statement that details each objection to relief that Complainant seeks; and
7. Any affirmative defenses.
Any further responsive pleading following the Complaint and Answer is not
required and will be rejected, if filed.
2. Discovery
The parties shall conclude all discovery no later than 45 days prior to the hearing. Each
party shall be limited to five depositions, ten requests for admissions, ten interrogatories and ten
requests for production. A party shall respond to discovery requests within the time frames set
forth in the procedural rules.

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The STAA does not provide explicit statutory subpoena authority. See Fagan v. Dep’t
of the Navy, ARB Case No. 2023-0006, ALJ Case No. 2021-CER-00001 (BRB Feb. 28, 2024).
3. Pre-Hearing Exchange:
No later than 30 days prior to the hearing, the parties shall:
(a) Identify and exchange exhibits
The parties shall jointly identify and exchange relevant and material documentary evidence
to which they have no objections and that they agree should be proffered at the hearing. The parties
shall identify a complete set of the marked Joint Exhibits in their Joint Prehearing Statement. See
instructions below in Section 4 for submitting documents.
Joint Exhibits shall be marked with the abbreviation “JX,” numbered sequentially and
paginated (example: JX-1, p. 1 of 15). Exhibits should not be alphabetized. A Joint Exhibit Index
must be included.
The parties must bear in mind that when later filing exhibits, a party may only submit a
distinct party exhibit (CX for Complainant/RX for Respondent), when the opposing party objects
to the admission of such exhibit. Thus, for every Complainant’s or Respondent’s Exhibit, the
record must include the opposing party’s objection to the exhibit. Otherwise, the exhibit must be
marked as a Joint Exhibit.
(b) Exchange witness lists
The parties shall also exchange witness lists, including a short summary of the witness’s
anticipated testimony. Expert witnesses included in the pre-hearing witness list must be so
designated, and the summary of their opinion should include a description of the area in which
they will provide an opinion.
(c) Confer regarding stipulations
The parties shall confer about stipulations as to facts, issues, and/or evidentiary matters and
be prepared to document same before or at the hearing. See 29 C.F.R. § 18.80(b).
4. Filing of Pre-Hearing Statements and Exchange:
No later than 21 days before the hearing, the parties must submit to the undersigned their
Pre-Hearing Statements, Stipulations, and Exhibits. Pre-Hearing Statements must comply with the
requirements of 29 C.F.R. § 18.80.
The parties are encouraged to use the United States Department of Labor’s eFile/eServe
System (EFS) for filing documents electronically. Electronic exhibits must be clearly organized
and labeled to permit easy location and identification (for instance, employ bookmarks in a multi-
exhibit PDF).

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In lieu of using EFS, a self-represented party may file documents by email to OALJ-
Covington@dol.gov. Represented parties may do so only if the attorney asks prior permission and
demonstrates an inability to file via EFS.
Parties are discouraged from submitting an entire set of records when only a few pages are
relevant. See 29 C.F.R. 18.82 (f). If an exhibit includes more than 20 pages, the Court will consider
as part of the administrative record upon which it bases its decision only those pages specifically
cited at hearing or on brief. The parties are responsible to ensure their exhibits are legible. Illegible
records will not be considered in the ALJ’s decision.
Unless otherwise ordered, depositions of witnesses who testify live at hearing will not be
considered part of the record on which the decision is based, except to the extent specific pages
are cited and offered in the course of impeachment by prior inconsistent statement or used to clarify
such statements.
The parties must ensure that ALL PRIVATE INFORMATION IS REDACTED from
the documents before they are submitted electronically. See generally E-Government Act of
2002, Pub.L. 107-347. See also 29 C.F.R. § 18.31 (providing guidance regarding redaction of
social-security numbers, taxpayer-identification numbers, birth dates, names of individuals known
to be a minor, and financial-account numbers).
5. Objections/Motions in Limine:
Any objections to the proposed witnesses and/or exhibits listed by the opposing party and
any motions in limine must be filed no later than 7 days before the hearing. If no objections are
timely filed, any such objections shall be deemed waived, unless good cause is shown.
6. Interpreter:
The parties must advise the undersigned promptly if an interpreter will be needed at the
hearing. The availability of an interpreter provided by the Department of Labor cannot be
confirmed as of the date of this order, so contacting the undersigned regarding any need for an
interpreter should be initiated as soon as the need is identified. The party(ies) requiring the use of
an interpreter may also provide their own interpreter, as long as the parties can stipulate to the
individual retained to provide such services.
7. Dispositive Motions:
Any motions for dispositive action must be filed in accordance with 29 C.F.R. § 18.70, no
later than 30 days prior to the hearing. Opposition or other responses to such motions shall be filed
in accordance with 29 C.F.R. § 18.33(d).
8. Post-Hearing Briefs:
At the hearing, a date will be set for the filing of proposed findings of fact, conclusions of
law and briefs pursuant to 29 C.F.R. § 18.57(a).

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9. Consequences of Failure to Comply:
Failure to comply with provisions of this pre-hearing order may result in the imposition of
sanctions including, but not limited to, the exclusion of evidence, the dismissal of the claim, or the
entry of a default judgment. It is incumbent on the non-defaulting party to file an appropriate
motion with the presiding judge regarding any defaults hereunder.
10. Contact Information:
The undersigned may be contacted through her Paralegal Specialist Matilda Terrell or
Attorney Advisor Cory P. Robinson via email at Terrell.Matilda@dol.gov and
Robinson.Cory.P@dol.gov.
Alternative Dispute Resolution:
The parties are encouraged to consider using the DOL OALJ settlement judge
program as a method of informally resolving this matter. This free, court-sponsored alternative
dispute resolution option is available in OALJ proceedings. See 29 C.F.R. § 18.13; See Settlement
Judges.1
SO ORDERED.
ANGELA F. DONALDSON
ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGE
1 https://www.dol.gov/agencies/oalj/topics/information/SETTLEMENT_JUDGE