K.A. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Antioch, CA (Board decision, April 12, 2013)

ECAB final decision. The Board set aside OWCP’s May 8, 2012 denial of K.A.’s claim and remanded for consolidation of related files. The hearing representative had relied on evidence from other claims that was absent from the record before the Board. Under 20 C.F.R. § 501.6(d), this Board decision becomes final 30 days after issuance unless the Board fixed a different period in it. A party may petition the Board for reconsideration within 30 days unless this decision specifies another period, under 20 C.F.R. § 501.7(a). FECA compensation decisions are generally not subject to court review under 5 U.S.C. § 8128(b).

Plain-English summary

K.A. claimed psychological conditions after witnessing a person’s shooting death in 2009. OWCP denied the claim while discussing medical and factual material from two of her other claims. The Board found that those records were necessary to review the denial fairly but were not part of the transmitted file. It ordered OWCP to combine the related claims, reconstruct the record, and issue a new merits decision. The Board did not decide the underlying psychological claim.

Decision snapshot

• Authority: 5 U.S.C. § 8101 et seq..
• Outcome: May 8, 2012 claim denial set aside and case remanded.
• Key point: An appeal record must include related claim files used to decide the case.

Full text (ECAB public release)

United States Department of Labor
Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

________
)
K.A., Appellant
)
)
and ) Docket No. 13-207
) Issued: April 12, 2013
U.S. POSTAL SERVICE, POST OFFICE,
)
Antioch, CA, Employer
)
__________ )

Appearances: Case Submitted on the Record
Sylvia R. Johnson, for the appellant
Office of Solicitor, for the Director

ORDER REMANDING CASE

Before:
RICHARD J. DASCHBACH, Chief Judge
COLLEEN DUFFY KIKO, Judge
PATRICIA HOWARD FITZGERALD, Judge

On November 5, 2012 appellant, through her representative, filed an application for review of the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs’ (OWCP) May 8, 2012 merit decision denying her traumatic injury claim. The appeal was docketed as No. 13-207. After considering the evidence of record, the Board finds this case not in posture for a decision.

This appeal involves appellant’s July 13, 2011 traumatic injury claim (File No. xxxxxx655) in which she alleged that she developed psychological conditions as a result of observing the shooting death of an individual on February 1, 2009. Appellant’s claim was originally denied by decision dated November 15, 2011. She requested an oral hearing.

In a decision dated May 8, 2012, an OWCP hearing representative reviewed the medical evidence of record. The decision reflects that he also reviewed the evidence contained in three other claims previously filed by appellant.1 In File No. xxxxxx246, in which appellant claimed that she had developed consequential psychiatric conditions as a result of her orthopedic upper extremity injuries in that claim, the hearing representative discussed the statement of accepted

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On January 15 and February 13, 2009 appellant filed occupational disease claims for stress-related conditions (File Nos. xxxxxx462 and xxxxxx463). Her January 3, 2007 traumatic injury claim was accepted for orthopedic upper extremity conditions (File No. xxxxxx246). facts and the January 21, 2010 second opinion report prepared in that case, which referenced the shooting incident and provided a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder. He also discussed the allegations and evidence contained in File No. xxxxxx462 concerning the cause of appellant’s psychological condition.

The Board finds that it is essential to review the medical evidence contained in File Nos. xxxxxx246 and xxxxxx462 in order to render a full and fair adjudication of the present appeal. Due to the overlapping nature of the claims, the evidence contained in those case records will necessarily bear directly on appellant’s claim for compensation in File No. xxxxxx655. Without reviewing the case record in File Nos. xxxxxx246 and xxxxxx462, the Board is unable to determine whether OWCP properly considered all relevant evidence in rendering its final decision. Accordingly, this case will be remanded for OWCP to consolidate case files xxxxxx655, xxxxxx246 and xxxxxx462. Reconstruction of the record will be followed by a de novo decision on the merits of the claim, in order to protect appellant’s appeal rights.

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs’ May 8, 2012 decision be set aside and the case remanded for further development consistent with this order.

Issued: April 12, 2013
Washington, DC

Richard J. Daschbach, Chief Judge
Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

Colleen Duffy Kiko, Judge
Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

Patricia Howard Fitzgerald, Judge
Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

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