G.B. and Department of Veterans Affairs, James A. Haley Veterans Medical Center, Tampa, FL (Board decision, September 16, 2015)

ECAB remand decision. The Board set aside OWCP’s September 25, 2014 and January 28, 2015 decisions and returned G.B.’s knee injury claim for combined-file review and a new decision. Whether the January 14, 2014 incident caused a compensable injury remains unresolved. Under 20 C.F.R. § 501.6(d), this Board order becomes final 30 days after issuance. A party may petition the Board for reconsideration within 30 days unless this order specifies another period, under 20 C.F.R. § 501.7(a).

Plain-English summary

G.B., a Veterans Affairs pipefitter, claimed a right knee injury when his chair gave way at work. OWCP denied the claim while referring to an earlier accepted right knee injury in a different case file. The Board found that the record before it lacked some evidence from the earlier claim, although OWCP had copied some records between the files. It set aside the denial and directed OWCP to combine the files, review the evidence, and issue a new decision. The Board did not decide whether the new injury claim should be accepted.

Decision snapshot

• Authority: Federal Employees’ Compensation Act, 5 U.S.C. § 8101 et seq.
• Outcome: Two OWCP decisions set aside; claim remanded for combined-file review and a new decision.
• Key point: The Board could not decide the new knee injury claim without the records of the earlier accepted knee injury.

Full text (ECAB public release)

United States Department of Labor
Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

________
)
G.B., Appellant
)
)
and ) Docket No. 15-0756
) Issued: September 16, 2015
DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS,
)
JAMES A. HALEY VETERANS MEDICAL
)
CENTER, Tampa, FL, Employer
)
__________ )

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

ORDER REMANDING CASE

Before:
CHRISTOPHER J. GODFREY, Chief Judge
PATRICIA H. FITZGERALD, Deputy Chief Judge COLLEEN DUFFY KIKO, Judge

On February 18, 2015 appellant filed a timely appeal of September 25, 2014 and January 28, 2015 merit decisions of the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP). The Board assigned Docket No. 15-756.

The Board has duly considered the matter and concludes that the case is not in posture for decision.

On January 29, 2014 appellant, then a 64-year-old pipefitter, filed a traumatic injury claim alleging that on January 14, 2014 he injured his right knee when his chair gave way while he was taking inventory. OWCP denied his claim finding that he failed to establish fact of injury. It found that the record contained no diagnosed medical condition causally related to the January 14, 2014 incident. By decisions dated September 25, 2014 and January 28, 2015, OWCP denied modification. In its September 25, 2014 decision, it indicated that it copied records from OWCP File No. xxxxxx624, “which covers residuals of a work-related right knee injury on May 31, 2013” into the current OWCP claim, File No. xxxxxx600.

The Board has duly considered the matter and concludes that the case is not in posture for a decision. OWCP procedures provide that cases should be doubled when a new injury is reported for an employee who previously filed an injury claim for a similar condition and further indicates that the cases should be doubled as soon as the need to do so becomes apparent.1 As OWCP referenced a prior claim which had been accepted for a right knee condition in denying appellant’s claim for a new right knee injury, it should have combined the case files in accordance with its procedures.

As the record before the Board does not contain all the evidence from the prior claim, the Board is unable to properly address and adjudicate the issue of appellant’s current traumatic injury under OWCP File No. xxxxxx624

On remand, OWCP should combine the present case record, OWCP File No. xxxxxx600, with OWCP File No. xxxxxx624. After combining these case records on remand, it should consider the evidence contained in the combined case record and, following any necessary further development, issue a de novo decision regarding whether appellant sustained an injury in the performance of duty on January 14, 2014.

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT the decisions of the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs dated January 28, 2015 and September 25, 2014 are set aside and the case remanded for further proceedings consistent with this order of the Board.

Issued: September 16, 2015
Washington, DC

Christopher J. Godfrey, Chief Judge
Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

Patricia H. Fitzgerald, Deputy Chief Judge Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

Colleen Duffy Kiko, Judge
Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

1
Federal (FECA) Procedure Manual, Part 2 -- Claims, Doubling Case Files, Chapter 2.400.8(c)(1) (February 2000).

2