J.M. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Brooklyn, NY (Board decision, July 15, 2013)

ECAB remand decision. The Board set aside OWCP’s September 24, 2012 denial and directed it to combine J.M.’s related claim files before issuing a new decision. Whether his occupational disease claim qualifies for compensation remains unresolved. A party may petition the Board for reconsideration within 30 days of issuance unless this order 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

J.M., a postal worker, claimed a work-related back and upper extremity condition. OWCP denied his occupational disease claim after referring to medical evidence from an earlier accepted lumbar sprain claim. The Board found that the earlier claim file was missing from the record available for review. It set aside the denial and directed OWCP to combine the two files, develop the record as needed, and decide the compensation claim again. The Board did not decide whether the claimed conditions were caused by his work.

Decision snapshot

• Authority: OWCP procedure for combining related injury claim files when adjudication requires cross-reference.
• Outcome: OWCP’s September 24, 2012 denial set aside; case remanded for file consolidation and a new decision.
• Key point: The Board could not fully review a decision that relied on evidence held in a missing related claim file.

Full text (ECAB public release)

United States Department of Labor
Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

________
)
J.M., Appellant
)
)
and ) Docket No. 13-1111
) Issued: July 15, 2013
U.S. POSTAL SERVICE, POST OFFICE,
)
Brooklyn, NY, Employer
)
__________ )

Appearances: Case Submitted on the Record
Appellant, pro se
Office of Solicitor, for the Director

ORDER REMANDING CASE

Before:
PATRICIA HOWARD FITZGERALD, Judge
ALEC J. KOROMILAS, Alternate Judge
MICHAEL E. GROOM, Alternate Judge

On March 16, 2013 appellant filed an application for review of a September 24, 2012 decision of the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP) denying his occupational disease claim for a back and upper extremity condition. OWCP assigned File No. xxxxxx723 to this claim. The evidence of record also shows that appellant filed a traumatic injury claim that was accepted for lumbar sprain under File No. xxxxxx293.1 This earlier claim, to which OWCP assigned File No. xxxxxx293, is not presently before the Board.

Having duly reviewed the matter, the Board finds that the case is not in posture for a decision. The Board notes that, in the present claim, OWCP referred to and relied upon medical evidence from File No. xxxxxx293. It referenced diagnostic reports from 2004 and a November 30, 2009 medical report regarding appellant’s medical treatment for a back strain and bilateral wrist tendinitis and carpal tunnel syndrome. OWCP stated that the evidence of record failed to establish that he sustained any back and bilateral upper extremity conditions as a result of his employment duties. By decisions dated May 2 and September 24, 2012, it denied appellant’s claim finding that the evidence failed to establish that he sustained a diagnosed condition causally related to his federal employment.

1
The record reveals that appellant also filed a previous traumatic injury claim under File No. xxxxxx047.
Cases should be combined when correct adjudication of the issues depends on frequent cross-reference between files. OWCP procedures provide for the doubling of a claim when a new injury case is reported for an employee who previously filed an injury claim for a similar condition or the same part of the body and also where two or more separate injuries (not recurrences) have occurred on the same date.2 The case record now before the Board does not contain the case file for File No. xxxxxx293. Therefore, for a full and fair adjudication, appellant’s claims should be doubled. On remand, OWCP shall combine File Nos. xxxxxx723 and xxxxxx293. Following this and such other development as deemed necessary, it shall issue an appropriate decision on his claim for compensation.

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT the September 24, 2012 decision of the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs is set aside and the case remanded to OWCP for further proceedings consistent with this order of the Board.

Issued: July 15, 2013
Washington, DC

Patricia Howard Fitzgerald, Judge
Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

Alec J. Koromilas, Alternate Judge
Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

Michael E. Groom, Alternate Judge
Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

2
Federal (FECA) Procedure Manual, Part 2 -- Claims, File Maintenance and Management, Chapter 2.400.8(c) (February 2000).

2