Judge Covette Rooney Named Acting Chief Administrative Law Judge

Judge Covette Rooney has been designated Acting Chief Administrative Law Judge of the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.  She will replace Judge Irving Sommer, who retired at the end of 2010 after 19 years of distinguished service as Chief Judge.  Under his tenure, the Review Commission, among other things, instituted an innovative Settlement Part procedure for complex cases and expanded its use of Simplified Proceedings for less complex cases.

Judge Rooney joined the Review Commission in 1996 and since then has distinguished herself through her adjudication of complex cases.  Most recently, as settlement judge, she presided over a multi-million dollar settlement agreement in the Imperial Sugar Co. case, involving OSHA citations stemming from an explosion at its Port Wentworth, Georgia facility.  She previously served as an Administrative Law Judge at the Social Security Administration and Senior Trial Attorney at the U.S. Department of Labor. 

After earning an undergraduate degree at Colgate University, Judge Rooney received her Juris Doctor at Temple University School of Law.  She is admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.