S.B. and U.S. Postal Service, Post Office, Independence Annex, Charlotte, NC (Board decision, December 15, 2020)

ECAB remand decision. The Board set aside OWCP’s denial of S.B.’s emotional condition claim and directed it to combine related case files. The 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

S.B. had several claim files concerning emotional conditions, including a current occupational disease claim. OWCP denied the current claim without combining those related files. The Board found that a fair ruling required the agency to review the files together. It remanded for administrative combination, any needed development, and a new decision.

Decision snapshot

• Authority: Administrative combination of related OWCP claim files.
• Outcome: September 11, 2019 denial set aside and remanded.
• Key point: Related emotional condition claims required a combined record.

Full text (ECAB public release)

United States Department of Labor
Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

________
)
S.B., Appellant
)
)
and ) Docket No. 19-1937
) Issued: December 15, 2020
U.S. POSTAL SERVICE, POST OFFICE,
)
INDEPENDENCE ANNEX, Charlotte, NC,
)
Employer
)
__________ )

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

ORDER REMANDING CASE

Before:
JANICE B. ASKIN, Judge
PATRICIA H. FITZGERALD, Alternate Judge
VALERIE D. EVANS-HARRELL, Alternate Judge

On September 21, 2019 appellant filed a timely appeal from a September 11, 2019 merit decision of the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP). The Clerk of the Appellate Boards docketed the appeal as No. 19-1937.1

On April 17, 2018 appellant, then a 40-year-old city carrier assistant filed an occupational disease claim (Form CA-2) for an emotional condition and other stress-related conditions. She noted that she first became aware of her condition on February 8, 2018. OWCP assigned File No. xxxxxx341. By decision dated September 11, 2019, it denied appellant’s emotional condition claim, finding that the evidence of record was insufficient to establish a compensable employment factor.

The Board, having duly considered this matter, finds this case not in posture for decision.

1
The Board notes that following the September 11, 2019 decision, OWCP received additional evidence. However, the Board’s Rules of Procedure provides: “The Board’s review of a case is limited to the evidence in the case record that was before OWCP at the time of its final decision. Evidence not before OWCP will not be considered by the Board for the first time on appeal.” 20 C.F.R. § 501.2(c)(1). Thus, the Board is precluded from reviewing this additional evidence for the first time on appeal. Id. Appellant has several other claims involving emotional conditions. Under OWCP File No. xxxxxxx368, OWCP accepted that, on August 12, 2017, she, then a 38-year-old city carrier assistant, sustained a right ankle sprain and sprain of right rotator cuff capsule as a result of an employment-related fall in the performance of duty. Appellant subsequently requested that her accepted claim be expanded to include additional conditions including depression. Under OWCP File Nos. xxxxxx435, xxxxxxx066 and xxxxxx767, she attributed emotional conditions to either a consequence of her accepted August 12, 2017 employment-related injury and/or factors of her federal employment.

OWCP’s procedures provide that cases should be administratively combined when correct adjudication of the issues depends on frequent cross-referencing between case files.2 For example, if 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, doubling is required.3

As OWCP File Nos. xxxxxxx368, xxxxxx341, xxxxxx435, xxxxxx066 and xxxxxx767, all involve claims for an emotional condition, for a full and fair adjudication, they must be administratively combined. Consolidation of the case files prior to the final decision would allow OWCP to consider all relevant claim files and accompanying evidence in developing appellant’s current occupational disease claim.

Accordingly, the Board will remand the case to OWCP to ensure that the previously cited OWCP files have been administratively combined. Following this and other such further development as deemed necessary, OWCP shall issue a de novo decision regarding appellant’s emotional condition claim in File No. xxxxxx341 based upon a review of the evidence from all of the consolidated OWCP files.

2
K.R., Docket No. 20-0911 (issued October 30, 2020); R.R., Docket No. 19-0368 (issued November 26, 2019);
Federal (FECA) Procedure Manual, Part 2 -- Claims, File Maintenance & Management, Chapter 2.400.8c (February 2000). 3 Id.

2
 IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the September 11, 2019 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: December 15, 2020
Washington, DC

Janice B. Askin, Judge
Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

Patricia H. Fitzgerald, Alternate Judge
Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

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

3