ANN Z. COOK BECOMES A JUDGE AT JOB SAFETY COMMISSION

Chairman Stuart E. Weisberg today announced that Ann Z. Cook has joined the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission as an Administrative Law Judge, assigned to the agency's Washington, D.C. headquarters.

An ALJ at the U.S. Department of Transportation for three years before assuming her new position, Judge Cook will rule on cases alleging violations of work place safety and health rules. The Review Commission is the independent Federal agency that adjudicates disputes between employers and OSHA that arise from OSHA inspections of work places.

Prior to her tenure at Transportation, Judge Cook was an ALJ for the U.S. Social Security Administration in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from 1994 to 1995.  She worked at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission in various posts from 1978 to 1994, including those of senior trial attorney and Legal Assistant to the Director of the Division of Enforcement. Judge Cook was in private law practice in California before joining the Federal government.

Judge Cook graduated from Boalt Hall School of Law of the University of California at Berkeley, earned an undergraduate degree at Fresno State College, with highest honors, and a master's degree at Stanford University in political science.  She has also studied at various schools, including the University of Grenoble in France and the Goethe Institute in Murnau, Germany.  The judge has been active in numerous community endeavors, including the Literacy Council of Northern Virginia and the Open Door Program of the District of Columbia Superior Court as a mediator.

"Judge Cook's judicial experience and her outstanding record as an adjudicator will make her a superb addition to the Commission's judges' corps," Chairman Weisberg remarked in announcing her appointment.