T.H. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, New York, NY (Board decision, April 11, 2016)

ECAB remand decision. The Board set aside OWCP’s December 29, 2015 decision and returned the request for review under the timely filing standard. The injury claim 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).

Plain-English summary

T.H., a Postal Service letter carrier, asked OWCP to reconsider its denial of a left wrist injury claim. OWCP treated her request as late because it received it on December 7, 2015, more than a year after its December 5, 2014 decision. The Board found that the deadline fell on a Saturday and extended to Monday, December 7. It set aside OWCP’s decision and directed it to review the request under the standard for timely reconsideration. The Board did not decide whether the injury claim should be accepted.

Decision snapshot

• Authority: 20 C.F.R. § 10.607(a).
• Outcome: December 29, 2015 untimeliness decision set aside and request remanded.
• Key point: A reconsideration deadline falling on Saturday extended to the next business day.

Full text (ECAB public release)

United States Department of Labor
Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

________
)
T.H., Appellant
)
)
and ) Docket No. 16-0435
) Issued: April 11, 2016
U.S. POSTAL SERVICE, POST OFFICE,
)
New York, NY, 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 January 7, 2016 appellant filed a timely appeal from a December 29, 2015 decision of the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP), which found that her request for reconsideration was untimely filed and did not present clear evidence of error. The appeal was docketed as No. 16-0435.

On April 22, 2014 appellant, then a 28-year-old letter carrier, filed a traumatic injury claim (Form CA-1) alleging that she sustained a left wrist injury in the performance of duty on April 17, 2014 while casing mail.1 OWCP denied the claim by decision dated December 5, 2014, finding the medical evidence was insufficient to establish the claim.

Appellant requested reconsideration of the December 5, 2014 OWCP decision by letter dated December 2, 2015, and submitted additional evidence. The received date of this additional evidence in the Integrated Federal Employees’ Compensation System (iFECS) was December 7, 2015. In a December 29, 2015 decision, OWCP denied appellant’s request for reconsideration, finding that it was untimely filed and failed to establish clear evidence of error.

1
OWCP developed the claim as an occupational disease claim occurring over more than one work day or shift, as appellant was claiming constant use of her left wrist contributed to a diagnosed condition. It found that the receipt date of December 7, 2015 was more than one year after the December 5, 2014 decision.

The Board finds that appellant’s reconsideration request was timely. Section 10.607(a) of the implementing regulations provides that an application for reconsideration must be received within one year of the date of OWCP decision for which review is sought.2 Under OWCP procedures, the date of receipt is the received date in iFECS.3

In this case, the last OWCP merit decision was dated December 5, 2014, and one year (365 days) after this decision was December 5, 2015. It is well established, however, that in computing the time for requesting reconsideration, if the last day of the period is a Saturday, Sunday, or a legal holiday, then a claimant has until the next business day to submit a timely reconsideration request.4 As December 5, 2015 was a Saturday, appellant had until Monday, December 7, 2015 to request reconsideration. Thus, her reconsideration request was timely received by OWCP.

Because appellant filed a timely reconsideration request, OWCP should have reviewed her request under the standard for a timely request.5 The clear evidence of error standard utilized by OWCP in its December 29, 2015 decision is appropriate only for untimely reconsideration requests.6 The Board will set aside OWCP’s December 29, 2015 decision and remand the case for an appropriate final decision on appellant’s timely request for reconsideration.

2
20 C.F.R. § 10.607.
3
Federal (FECA) Procedure Manual, Part 2 -- Claims, Reconsiderations, Chapter 2.1602.4(b) (October 2011).
4
S.Y., Docket No. 15-1510 (issued November 16, 2015); Debra McDavid, 57 ECAB 149 (2005).
5
See 20 C.F.R. § 10.606(b)(3).
6
Id. at § 10.607(b).

2
 IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT the decision of the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs dated December 29, 2015 is set aside and the case remanded for further action consistent with this order of the Board.

Issued: April 11, 2016
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

3