M.K. and U.S. Postal Service, Processing and Distribution Center, Brooklyn, NY (Board decision, August 15, 2018)

ECAB remand decision. The Board set aside OWCP’s partial decision and returned the full wage loss claim for review. Entitlement 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

M.K., a postal mail handler, sought disability compensation beginning June 13, 2015 for an accepted right wrist ganglion cyst. OWCP denied only the period beginning June 13, 2016 and did not address the preceding year of the same claim. The Board found that deciding just part of the period risked inconsistent results. It set aside the denial and ordered a new decision covering the full claimed period; the wage loss claim remains unresolved.

Decision snapshot

• Authority: 5 U.S.C. § 8101 et seq.
• Outcome: September 21, 2016 wage loss denial set aside and remanded.
• Key point: OWCP had to decide the entire claimed disability period together.

Full text (ECAB public release)

United States Department of Labor
Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

________
)
M.K., Appellant
)
)
and ) Docket No. 17-0252
) Issued: August 15, 2018
U.S. POSTAL SERVICE, PROCESSING &
)
DISTRIBUTION CENTER, Brooklyn, NY,
)
Employer
)
__________ )

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

ORDER REMANDING CASE

Before:
PATRICIA H. FITZGERALD, Deputy Chief Judge ALEC J. KOROMILAS, Alternate Judge
VALERIE D. EVANS-HARRELL, Alternate Judge

On November 15, 2016 appellant filed a timely appeal from a September 21, 2016 merit decision of the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP). By that decision, OWCP denied appellant’s claim for compensation (Form CA-7) for total disability commencing June 13, 2016, finding that the medical evidence of record was insufficient to establish disability causally related to the accepted right wrist condition. The Board assigned the appeal Docket No. 17-0252.

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

On February 28, 2016 appellant, then a 48-year-old mail handler filed an occupational disease claim (Form CA-2) alleging that factors of his federal employment resulted in a right wrist injury. He related that he initially became aware of this condition on April 6, 2015 and related it to factors of his federal employment on May 8, 2015. Appellant stopped work on May 7, 2015 and did not return. On June 10, 2016 OWCP accepted the claim for right wrist ganglion cyst. Appellant subsequently filed a claim for compensation (Form CA-7) on July 8, 2016 for temporary total disability for the period June 13, 2015 through July 8, 2016. He submitted several reports by Dr. William J. Lackey, a Board-certified orthopedic surgeon, to support his claim for disability. However, by its September 21, 2016 decision, OWCP denied appellant’s disability claim for the period beginning June 13, 2016 and continuing after analyzing Dr. Lackey’s reports and without addressing the period of disability claimed for the year prior, i.e., commencing June 13, 2015. Moreover, there is no indication in the record that it was either further developing that portion of appellant’s claim, or that it planned to further develop that portion of appellant’s claim.

The Board finds that by adjudicating only a portion of appellant’s claim for disability, commencing June 13, 2016, as opposed to June 13, 2015, would result in piecemeal adjudication of appellant’s claim. To consider appellant’s appeal in piecemeal fashion, as presented to the Board, could result in further inconsistent results.1 It is the Board’s policy to avoid such an outcome.2 In order to avoid piecemeal adjudication and inconsistent results, the Board will set aside OWCP’s September 21, 2016 decision and remand the case to OWCP to adjudicate appellant’s claim for compensation for disability commencing June 13, 2015 and continuing. Following such further development as deemed necessary, OWCP shall issue a de novo decision on appellant’s claim for total disability. Accordingly,

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT the September 21, 2016 decision of the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs is set aside and the case is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this order of the Board.

Issued: August 15, 2018
Washington, DC

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

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

Valerie D. Evans-Harrell, Alternate Judge Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

1
See A.B., Docket No. 17-1480 (issued June 8, 2018).
2
Id.; see also William T. McCracken, 33 ECAB 1197 (1982).

2