B.B. and U.S. Postal Service (Board decision, August 15, 2024)

ECAB remand decision. The Board set aside OWCP's disability denial and remanded for claim development. OWCP must issue a new decision after allowing evidence, so 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

A postal distribution clerk claimed wage-loss compensation after an accepted right shoulder injury. OWCP denied the disability claim without first giving him the opportunity required by its procedures to supply missing evidence. The Board set aside the denial and ordered OWCP to develop the claim and issue a new decision.

Decision snapshot

• Authority: Federal Employees' Compensation Act, 5 U.S.C. § 8101 et seq.
• Outcome: Disability denial set aside; opportunity to submit evidence ordered.
• Key point: OWCP had to request missing evidence before denying the compensation claim.

Full text (ECAB public release)

United States Department of Labor
Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

________
)
B.B., Appellant
)
)
and ) Docket No. 24-0745
)
Issued: August 15, 2024
U.S. POSTAL SERVICE, LAX MAR VISTA )
STATION, Los Angeles, CA, 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 VALERIE D. EVANS-HARRELL, Alternate Judge JAMES D. McGINLEY, Alternate Judge

On July 3, 2024 appellant filed a timely appeal from a July 1, 2024 merit decision of the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP). The Clerk of the Appellate Boards assigned the appeal Docket No. 24-0745.

On January 8, 2024 appellant, then a 30-year-old distribution clerk, filed a traumatic injury claim (Form CA-1) alleging that he sustained a right shoulder injury that same day when unloading an over-the-road (OTR) container while in the performance of duty. He stopped work on January 8, 2024 and returned to work on January 10, 2024. OWCP accepted the claim for right shoulder impingement syndrome, unspecified sprain of right shoulder joint, and superior glenoid labrum lesion of right shoulder. It paid appellant wage-loss compensation on the supplemental rolls from March 26 through May 24, 2024.

On June 24, 2024 appellant filed a claim for compensation (Form CA-7) for disability from work for the period May 25 through June 21, 2024.

By decision dated July 1, 2024, OWCP denied appellant’s disability claim.

The Board, having duly considered this matter, finds that the case is not in posture for decision.
OWCP’s procedures provide that development of a claim for wage-loss compensation may be required to adjudicate the claim, make the payment, or both. Thus, it will be necessary for OWCP to request additional information when a claim for compensation is received, but there is insufficient evidence of record to pay the claim. 1

Therefore, appellant should have been afforded an opportunity to submit the requested evidence. OWCP, however, issued its decision denying her disability claim on July 1, 2024 without fulfilling its responsibility to develop the claim pursuant to its own procedures. 2

Thus, the Board finds that this case must be remanded for proper application of OWCP’s procedures, allowing appellant an opportunity to submit the necessary evidence. Following further development as OWCP deems necessary, it shall issue a de novo decision. Accordingly,

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT the July 1, 2024 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, 2024
Washington, DC

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

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

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

1
See Federal (FECA) Procedure Manual, Part 2 -- Claims, Compensation Claims, Chapter 2.0901.5 (February 2013).
2
Id. See e.g., Order Remanding Case, V.H, Docket No. 23-1013 (issued February 15, 2024).

2