R.M. and U.S. Postal Service, San Diego Post Office (Board decision, February 9, 2024)

ECAB final decision. The Board dismissed an appeal from an informational letter. 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

A postal employee appealed an OWCP letter giving him additional time to accept a modified work assignment or explain why he could not. The letter was informational and did not decide benefits. With no final adverse decision in the record, the Board dismissed the appeal for lack of jurisdiction.

Decision snapshot

• Authority: 5 U.S.C. § 8101 et seq.
• Outcome: Appeal dismissed for lack of a final adverse decision.
• Key point: A letter extending time to respond to a job offer was not appealable.

Full text (ECAB public release)

United States Department of Labor
Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

________
)
R.M., Appellant
)
)
and ) Docket No. 24-0029
)
Issued: February 9, 2024
U.S. POSTAL SERVICE, POST OFFICE, )
San Diego, CA, 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, Deputy Chief Judge JAMES D. McGINLEY, Alternate Judge

On October 16, 2023 appellant sought an appeal from a purported September 20, 2023 decision of the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP). The Clerk of the Appellate Boards assigned the appeal Docket No. 24-0029.

The Board, having duly considered this matter, notes that the Board has jurisdiction to review final adverse decisions of OWCP issued under the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act. 1 This jurisdiction encompasses any final decision issued by OWCP within 180 days of the date appellant filed their appeal. 2 The case record as transmitted to the Board does not contain a final adverse decision of OWCP issued within 180 days from the date of docketing of the current appeal.3 The Board notes that the September 20, 2023 purported decision was an informational letter, which advised appellant that he had an additional 30 days in which to report to work in an offered modified work assignment or provide good cause for failing to do so. This informational letter was therefore not a final decision and the case remained in interlocutory posture. 4 As there

1
5 U.S.C. § 8101 et seq.; 20 C.F.R. §§ 501.2(c) and 501.3(a).
2
20 C.F.R. § 501.3(e) provides in pertinent part: “Any notice of appeal must be filed within 180 days from the date of issuance of a decision of the OWCP.”
3
Id.
4
See P.T., Docket No. 16-0251 (issued March 10, 2016). is no final adverse decision issued by OWCP over which the Board may properly exercise jurisdiction, the Board concludes that the appeal docketed as No. 24 -0029 must be dismissed. Accordingly,

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT the appeal docketed as No. 24-0029 is dismissed.

Issued: February 9, 2024
Washington, DC

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

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

James D. McGinley, Alternate Judge
Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

2