United States Department of Labor 

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board 

__________________________________________ 

M.J., Appellant 

and 

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, 

EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS & 

RESPONSE, Alexandria, VA, Employer 

__________________________________________ 

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Docket No. 14-1100 

Issued: October 1, 2014 

Appearances: Case Submitted on the Record

Jason S. Lomax, 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 April 16, 2014 appellant, through counsel, filed an application for review of an Office 

of Workers’ Compensation Programs’ (OWCP) nonmerit decision dated March 27, 2014. The 

appeal was docketed as No. 14-1100. 

In a merit decision dated March 20, 2013, OWCP denied appellant’s traumatic injury 

claim. In a letter dated March 20, 2014, received by OWCP on March 20, 2014, appellant 

requested reconsideration of the March 20, 2013 decision. By decision dated March 27, 2014, 

OWCP denied appellant’s request for reconsideration without a merit review, finding the request 

was untimely and that appellant had not established clear evidence of error. It stated in the 

decision that appellant’s request was untimely because it was received more than one year after 

the decision was issued; therefore, she was not entitled to a merit review of the March 20, 2013 

decision. 

The Board finds that OWCP improperly determined in this case that appellant failed to 

file a timely application for reconsideration. In computing the time for requesting 

reconsideration, the date of the event from which the designated period of time begins to run 

shall not be included when computing the time period. The last day of the period so computed 
2

shall be included unless it is a Saturday, a Sunday or a legal holiday.1 The time for requesting 

reconsideration of OWCP’s March 20, 2013 decision began to run on March 21, 2013 and thus 

would have expired on March 20, 2014. 

Pursuant to OWCP regulations at 20 C.F.R. § 10.607(a) an application for 

reconsideration must be received by OWCP within one year of the date of OWCP’s decision for 

which review is sought. 

As appellant’s request for reconsideration was received on that date, March 20, 2014, it 

was timely. The case will thus be remanded to OWCP for application of the standard for 

reviewing timely requests for reconsideration.2

 

Accordingly, the Board finds that appellant has filed a timely appeal of the March 20, 

2013 merit decision. The case will be remanded for OWCP to further review appellant’s 

March 20, 2014 reconsideration request in accordance with its regulations and procedures. 

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

Compensation Programs dated March 20, 2014 is set aside. The case is remanded to OWCP for 

further proceedings consistent with this order of the Board. 

Issued: October 1, 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 

 1 Angel M. Lebron, Jr., 51 ECAB 488 (2000); John B. Montoya, 43 ECAB 1148 (1992). 

2 See Debra McDavid, 57 ECAB 149 (2005).