C.S. and U.S. Postal Service, East Chicago Post Office, East Chicago, IN (Board decision, September 30, 2021)

ECAB final decision. The Board dismissed an appeal docketed without a valid application for review. A party may petition the Board for reconsideration within 30 days of issuance unless this decision specifies another period, under 20 C.F.R. § 501.7(a). FECA compensation decisions are generally not subject to court review under 5 U.S.C. § 8128(b).

Plain-English summary

The Clerk assigned an appeal docket number even though no person adversely affected by a final OWCP decision, or an authorized representative, had applied for review. The Board found that there was no valid appeal before it. It dismissed the inadvertently opened docket without reaching any compensation issue.

Decision snapshot

• Authority: 20 C.F.R. § 501.3(a).
• Outcome: Inadvertently docketed appeal dismissed.
• Key point: A valid appeal requires an application by an adversely affected person or authorized representative.

Full text (ECAB public release)

United States Department of Labor
Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

________
)
C.S., Appellant
)
)
and ) Docket No. 21-0032
) Issued: September 30, 2021
U.S. POSTAL SERVICE, EAST CHICAGO
)
POST OFFICE, East Chicago, IN, Employer
)
__________ )

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

ORDER DISMISSING APPEAL

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

On October 5, 2020 the Clerk of the Appellate Boards inadvertently assigned Docket No.
21-0032 to a purported appeal from a decision of the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP).

The Board, having duly considered the matter, finds that this appeal was inadvertently docketed. Section 501.3(a) of the Board’s Rules of Procedure provides that a “person adversely affected by a final decision of the Director [of OWCP] or his or her authorized Representative, may file for review of such decision by the Board.”1 The Board concludes that neither a “person adversely affected” by a final OWCP decision, nor an “authorized Representative,” has filed an application for review by the Board of a final decision issued by OWCP. As such, there is no valid appeal before the Board and Docket No. 21-0032 must be dismissed. Accordingly,

1
20 C.F.R. § 501.3(a).
 IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT the appeal docketed as No. 21-0032 is dismissed.

Issued: September 30, 2021
Washington, DC

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

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

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

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