E.Z. and Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Coast Guard, Washington, DC (Board decision, March 16, 2015)

ECAB final decision. This procedural erratum ordered the earlier remand decision reissued after an incorrect mailing; it made no new ruling on the injury claim. Under 20 C.F.R. § 501.6(f), Board decisions and orders are sent to the parties on issuance. A party may petition for reconsideration within 30 days of issuance unless the order specifies another period, under 20 C.F.R. § 501.7(a).

Plain-English summary

The Board had set aside OWCP’s September 9, 2013 decision and remanded for consideration of evidence received on the decision date. Its clerk mailed that decision to an incorrect address. This erratum held that the decision had not been properly issued and ordered it reissued. The erratum made no new ruling on whether the injury claim was compensable.

Decision snapshot

• Authority: 20 C.F.R. § 501.6(f).
• Outcome: Earlier remand decision reissued; no new claim ruling.
• Key point: A decision mailed to the wrong address had to be correctly issued.

Full text (ECAB public release)

United States Department of Labor
Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

________
)
E.Z., Appellant
)
)
and ) Docket No. 14-274
) Issued: March 16, 2015
DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY,
)
U.S. COAST GUARD, Washington, DC,
)
Employer
)
__________ )

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

ORDER OF ERRATUM

Before:
ALEC J. KOROMILAS, Alternate Judge
MICHAEL E. GROOM, Alternate Judge
JAMES A. HAYNES, Alternate Judge

The Board issued a decision in the above-entitled matter on November 10, 2014. By that decision, the Board set aside the September 9, 2013 decision of the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP) and remanded the case, in accordance with the Board’s holding in Linda Johnson, 45 ECAB 439 (1994), for consideration of the evidence OWCP received on the date it issued its final decision. The Clerk of the Board, however, inadvertently mailed the Board’s November 10, 2014 decision to an incorrect address.

Board regulations provide that it will send its decisions and orders to appellant at the time of issuance.1 In Bertha Keeble,2 the Board, citing Ralph W. Moody,3 noted that a decision of the Board is issued when it is filed and mailed, and that the presumption will be that this was accomplished on the date the decision is dated.4 The Board found in Keeble that, as the decision

1
20 C.F.R. § 501.6(f).
2
45 ECAB 355 (1994).
3
44 ECAB 375 (1993).
4
See also B.B., Docket No. 14-799 (issued September 12, 2014). in that case was mailed to an incorrect address, the decision was not properly issued. Consequently, the Board ordered that the decision be correctly issued.

Similarly, as the Board in the instant case mailed its November 10, 2014 decision to an incorrect address, the Board concludes that such decision was not properly issued and must be correctly issued in accordance with the Board’s regulations.

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT the Board’s November 10, 2014 decision is reissued.5

Issued: March 16, 2015
Washington, DC

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

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

James A. Haynes, Alternate Judge
Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

5
Michael E. Groom, Alternate Judge, participated in the original decision but was no longer a member of the Board effective December 27, 2014.

2