K.B. and U.S. Postal Service, High Point Post Office, High Point, NC (Board decision, November 9, 2021)

ECAB final decision. The Board set aside OWCP's denial of an occupational disease claim and directed it to combine related claim files before a new decision. The Board did not decide whether the knee condition was work related. 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

K.B., a retired letter carrier, claimed that years of postal duties caused or worsened arthritis in both knees. OWCP denied his occupational disease claim. The Board found that OWCP had previously accepted separate left and right knee claims, but those files were absent from the record before it. A fair decision required OWCP to combine the related files and consider their evidence. The Board remanded for a new decision after that review.

Decision snapshot

• Authority: FECA occupational disease framework, 5 U.S.C. § 8101 et seq.
• Outcome: Denial set aside; related knee claim files to be combined and reconsidered.
• Key point: Related accepted injury files were needed to decide the new claim fairly.

Full text (ECAB public release)

United States Department of Labor
Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

________
)
K.B., Appellant
)
)
and ) Docket No. 21-0594
) Issued: November 9, 2021
U.S. POSTAL SERVICE, HIGH POINT POST
)
OFFICE, High Point, NC, Employer
)
__________ )

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

ORDER REMANDING CASE

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

On March 1, 2021 appellant filed a timely appeal from a November 23, 2020 merit decision of the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP). The Clerk of the Appellate Boards docketed the appeal as No. 21-0594.

On March 14, 2020 appellant, then a 68-year-old retired city letter carrier, filed an occupational disease claim (Form CA-2) alleging that factors of his federal employment required continuous and intermittent walking, climbing, standing, pushing, pulling, and carrying of the mail which caused or aggravated bilateral knee osteoarthritis. He stated that he first realized his condition was due to factors of his federal employment on December 9, 2019. OWCP assigned the claim OWCP File No. xxxxxx591.

In a supplemental statement, appellant explained that he had previously sustained work- related injuries to his knees: left knee OWCP File No. xxxx xx892 and right knee OWCP File No. xxxxxx131.

By decision dated May 1, 2020, OWCP accepted that appellant had established that the employment factors occurred, as alleged, but denied the claim as causal relationship had not been established between the diagnosed medical condition and the accepted employment factors. It concluded, therefore, that the requirements had not been met to establish an injury or medical condition causally related to the accepted employment factors. On November 11, 2020 appellant requested reconsideration and submitted additional evidence. By decision dated November 23, 2020, OWCP denied modification of its May 1, 2020 decision.

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

OWCP’s procedures provide that cases should be administratively combined when proper adjudication of the issues depends on frequent cross-referencing between case files.1 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. 2 In the present claim, appellant alleged injuries to both knees. OWCP previously accepted his claim for a left knee injury under OWCP File No. xxxxxx892 and a right knee injury under OWCP File No. xxxxxx131. However, the evidence pertaining to those files is not part of the case record presented before the Board. For a full and fair adjudication, the case shall be remanded to OWCP to administratively combine the current case record with OWCP File No. xxxxxx892 and OWCP File No. xxxxxx131, so it can consider all relevant claim files and accompanying evidence in adjudicating appellant’s occupational disease claim. Following this and other such further development as deemed necessary, OWCP shall issue a de novo decision. Accordingly,

1
Federal (FECA) Procedure Manual, Part 2 -- Claims, File Maintenance and Management, Chapter 2.400.8c (February 2000); T.D., Docket No. 20-1119 (issued January 29, 2021); R.R., Docket No. 19-0368 (issued November 26, 2019). 2 Id.; M.B., Docket No. 20-1175 (issued December 31, 2020); L.M., Docket No. 19-1490 (issued January 29, 2020).

2
 IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT the November 23, 2020 decision of the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs is set aside and the case is remanded for furth er proceedings consistent with this order of the Board.

Issued: November 9, 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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