T.L. and Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Metropolitan Detention Center (Board decision, March 5, 2025)

ECAB remand decision. The Board set aside OWCP’s denial and returned the claim for the current and earlier injury files to be combined. 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). FECA compensation decisions are generally not subject to court review under 5 U.S.C. § 8128(b).

Plain-English summary

A federal prison secretary claimed spine, knee, and hip problems that she associated with office work and an earlier accepted fall. OWCP denied the new claim while pointing to her previously accepted back and knee conditions, but the two claim files had not been combined. The Board found that OWCP needed both files to decide the overlapping issues. It set aside the denial and ordered OWCP to combine the files and issue a new decision.

Decision snapshot

• Authority: FECA; 5 U.S.C. § 8101.
• Outcome: Denial set aside; claim remanded for combined-file review and a new decision.
• Key point: OWCP had to review the accepted earlier injury file alongside the new claim.

Full text (ECAB public release)

United States Department of Labor
Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

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T.L., Appellant
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and ) Docket No. 25-0309
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Issued: March 5, 2025
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, FEDERAL
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BUREAU OF PRISONS, METROPOLITAN
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DETENTION CENTER, Brooklyn, NY,
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Employer
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__________ )

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, Deputy Chief Judge VALERIE D. EVANS-HARRELL, Alternate Judge

On February 13, 2025 appellant filed a timely appeal from a January 15, 2025 merit decision of the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP). The Clerk of the Appellate Boards assigned the appeal Docket No. 25-0309.1

On November 5, 2024 appellant, then a 35-year-old secretary, filed an occupational disease claim (Form CA-2) alleging that she injured her spine, knees, and hip due to factors of her federal employment, including a slip and fall on water while walking out of her building.2 She noted that

1
The Board notes that, following the January 15, 2025 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. 2 OWCP assigned the present claim OWCP File No. xxxxxx751. Appellant has a previously accepted December 5, 2019 traumatic injury claim (Form CA-1) for a lumbar sprain and internal derangement of right knee under OWCP File No. xxxxxx299. The claims have not been administratively combined by OWCP. she first became aware of her condition on September 2, 2024 and realized its relationship to her federal employment on November 2, 2024. Appellant did not stop work.

In support of her claim, appellant submitted a statement wherein she noted that prior to the September 2, 2024 incident, she slipped and fell in the building lobby of the employing establishment, landing on her back, and thereafter, filed a workers’ compensation claim for time off from work. She further related that she continued to have worsening neck, back and hip pain over the years and on September 2, 2024 she woke up with increased pain and sought medical treatment. Appellant indicated that she believed working in an office as a secretary and sitting down versus moving around was causing her ongoing pain.

Appellant also submitted a November 14, 2024 medical report by Dr. Steven Moalemi, a Board-certified physiatrist, who noted that she related a history that “she initially injured her low back and right knee in 2019 due to a slip and fall injury.”

On November 19, 2024 appellant provided an additional statement, which indicated that she was claiming an occupational disease, and that “this is recurrent to the injury I had in 2019” when “I slipped in the lobby as the floor was wet.”

By decision dated January 15, 2025, OWCP denied appellant’s occupational disease claim, finding that the evidence of record was insufficient to establish that her diagnosed conditions were causally related to the accepted factors of her federal employment. It noted that the medical evidence was insufficient to explain “why the claimed injuries would not be caused by your preexisting low back and right knee conditions under case file [xxxxxx]299 which has already been accepted by this office for date of injury [December 5, 2019].”

The Board, having duly considered this matter, finds that the case is not in posture for decision. OWCP’s procedures provide that cases should be administratively combined when correct adjudication of the issues depends on frequent cross-referencing between files. 3 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. 4 Appellant’s claim under OWCP File No. xxxxxx299 involved back and knee injuries, which are also at issue in the present claim. Therefore, for full and fair adjudication, this case shall be remanded for OWCP to administratively combine OWCP File Nos. xxxxxx751 and xxxxxx299, so it can consider all relevant claim files and accompanying evidence in adjudicating appellant’s current occupational disease claim.5 Following this and other such further development as OWCP deems necessary, it shall issue a de novo decision. Accordingly,

3
Federal (FECA) Procedure Manual, Part 2 -- Claims, File Maintenance and Management, Chapter 2.400.8c (February 2000).
4
Id.; M.L., Docket No. 20-1176 (issued April 29, 2021); L.M., Docket No. 19-1490 (issued January 29, 2020); L.H., Docket No 18-1777 (issued July 2, 2019). 5 Supra note 3 at Chapter 2.400.8c(1); W.D., Docket No. 19-0961 (issued March 31, 2021); L.P., Docket Nos.
18-1558, 18-1568 (issued June 21, 2019).

2
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT the January 15, 2025 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: March 5, 2025
Washington, DC

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

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

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

3