United States Department of Labor 

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board 

__________________________________________ 

S.J., Appellant 

and 

U.S. POSTAL SERVICE, POST OFFICE, 

O’Fallon, IL, Employer 

__________________________________________ 

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Docket No. 14-1041 

Issued: November 10, 2014 

Appearances: Case Submitted on the Record

Alan J. Shapiro, Esq., for the appellant 

Office of Solicitor, for the Director 

ORDER REMANDING CASE 

Before: 

CHRISTOPHER J. GODFREY, Chief Judge 

COLLEEN DUFFY KIKO, Judge 

PATRICIA HOWARD FITZGERALD, Judge 

On March 27, 2014 appellant, through counsel, filed a timely application for review of a 

March 5, 2014 merit decision by the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP) 

denying his claim for a traumatic injury. The Board docketed the appeal as No. 14-1041. 

Having reviewed the case record submitted by OWCP, the Board finds that this case is not in 

posture for decision. 

This case has been before the Board. The facts as set forth in the Board’s prior decision 

are hereby incorporated by reference.1

By letter dated November 1, 2012 and received by OWCP on November 5, 2012, 

appellant, through counsel, requested reconsideration. In support of the request for 

reconsideration, appellant’s counsel submitted two new medical reports, a February 23, 2012 

report by Dr. Rob Fast, a chiropractor, and a November 12, 2011 report by Dr. William H. 

Thom, a physician Board-certified in anesthesiology and pain medicine. Although this medical 

 1 S.J., Docket No. 11-321 (issued September 9, 2011). (On February 22, 2010 appellant, then a 45-year-old mail 

carrier, filed a traumatic injury claim alleging that on February 13, 2010, due to weather conditions, he slipped and 

fell on concrete injuring his head and hip. The Board affirmed OWCP’s October 20, 2010 denial of appellant’s 

claim. The Board found that, although appellant established that an employment incident occurred as alleged, he did 

not establish that an injury resulted from the fall). 
2

report was not new (it had previously been received by OWCP on December 12, 2011) it has 

never been reviewed by OWCP. By decision dated March 5, 2014, it denied modification of the 

denial of appellant’s claim. In the decision, OWCP discussed Dr. Fast’s report, but only referred 

to earlier reports of Dr. Thom which had been reviewed by the Board in its September 9, 2011 

decision. 

OWCP denied appellant’s claim for the reason that he did not submit medical evidence 

sufficient to establish a causal relationship between his accepted employment incident of 

February 13, 2010 and his medical diagnoses. As the Board’s jurisdiction of a case is limited to 

reviewing that evidence that was before OWCP at the time of its final decision,2

 it is necessary 

that OWCP review all the evidence submitted by a claimant and received by OWCP prior to the 

issuance of its final decision.3

 

Accordingly, the Board finds that this case is not in posture for decision as OWCP did 

not review all the relevant evidence before issuing its decision. On remand, OWCP shall review 

all submitted evidence and, following any necessary further development, issue a de novo

decision. 

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT the decision of the Office of Workers’ 

Compensation Programs dated March 5, 2014 is set aside, and the case is remanded for further 

development consistent with this order of the Board. 

Issued: November 10, 2014 

Washington, DC 

 

 Christopher J. Godfrey, Chief Judge 

 Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board 

 

 Colleen Duffy Kiko, Judge 

 Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board 

 

 Patricia Howard Fitzgerald, Judge 

 Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board 

 2

 20 C.F.R. § 501.2(c)(1). 

3 See William A. Couch, 41 ECAB 548 (1990).