United States Department of Labor 

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board 

__________________________________________ 

G.J., Appellant 

and 

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, BUREAU OF 

PRISONS, FIELD ACQUISITION OFFICE, 

Grand Prairie, TX, Employer 

__________________________________________ 

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Docket No. 14-1894 

Issued: March 2, 2015 

Appearances: Case Submitted on the Record

Appellant, pro se 

Office of Solicitor, for the Director 

ORDER REMANDING CASE 

Before: 

CHRISTOPHER J. GODFREY, Chief Judge 

COLLEEN DUFFY KIKO, Judge 

PATRICIA HOWARD FITZGERALD, Judge 

On August 27, 2014 appellant filed an application for review of an August 5, 2014 

decision of the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP) in which an OWCP 

hearing representative affirmed a November 22, 2013 schedule award decision. The appeal was 

docketed as 14-1894 and adjudicated by OWCP under file number xxxxxx940.1

 

The Board has duly considered the matter and concludes that this case is not in posture 

for decision. On November 5, 2013 appellant submitted a schedule award claim and an 

October 13, 2013 report from Dr. Christine Huynh, a Board-certified physiatrist, who advised 

that appellant had a seven percent whole person impairment under Table 16-15, Complex 

Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) of the Lower Extremity, of the sixth edition of the American 

Medical Association, Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment (hereinafter A.M.A., 

Guides).2

 Following receipt of the schedule award claim and Dr. Huynh’s report, OWCP 

 1

 On May 20, 2011 appellant, a contract and procurement officer, injured his left leg while in travel status when 

he tripped over a curb. OWCP initially accepted a contusion of the left lower leg. After further medical 

development on September 4, 2012 OWCP additionally accepted reflex sympathetic dystrophy of the left lower 

limb; sprain of unspecified sites, left knee and leg; traumatic compartment syndrome of left leg. 

2

 A.M.A., Guides (6th ed. 2008). 
2

forwarded the record with a statement of accepted facts to Dr. Ronald Blum, an OWCP medical 

adviser, who is Board-certified in orthopedic surgery. The statement of accepted facts indicated 

that under file number xxxxxx132 appellant had been granted a schedule award for 20 percent 

left leg impairment on October 24, 2006. In his November 14, 2013 report, Dr. Blum noted 

appellant’s receipt of the prior schedule award and referred to his report dated October 5, 2006, 

found in that record. He indicated that, under Table 16-15, appellant was entitled to seven 

percent left leg impairment, rather than the whole person impairment found by Dr. Huynh, and 

advised that the seven percent impairment should be combined with the 20 percent previously 

awarded under file number xxxxxx132, which would yield an additional five percent 

impairment. 

In its November 22, 2013 schedule award decision, granting appellant an additional five 

percent impairment, OWCP referenced the prior schedule award, issued under file number 

xxxxxx132. In the August 5, 2014 decision, an OWCP hearing representative described the 

events that caused an April 11, 2006 injury, adjudicated under file number xxxxxx132, and 

further referenced elements of that claim. The hearing representative indicated that OWCP “may 

wish to possibly consider doubling the instant case with file number xxxxxx132.” 

It is thus apparent that both Dr. Blum, OWCP medical adviser, and OWCP hearing 

representative had access to both the files for claim numbers xxxxxx132 and xxxxxx940. The 

Board does not have access to the former. For the Board to conduct a full and fair adjudication 

of an appeal, the case record must be complete and contain all evidence relied upon by OWCP in 

reaching its decision.3

Hence, the Board finds that this case is not in posture for a decision as the record before 

the Board is incomplete and would not permit an informed adjudication of the case by the Board. 

The case must therefore be remanded to OWCP to obtain OWCP file number xxxxxx132 and 

combine it with the instant case, OWCP file number xxxxxx940, and for further reconstruction 

and development deemed necessary, to be followed by an appropriate de novo decision on 

appellant’s schedule award claim.4

 3 Lon E. Grinage, 57 ECAB 177 (2005). See Federal (FECA) Procedure Manual, Part 2 -- Claims, File 

Maintenance and Management, Chapter 2.400.8(c) (February 2000) (cases should be doubled when correct 

adjudication of the issues depends on frequent cross-reference between files). 

4

 The Board also notes that section 16.5 of the A.M.A., Guides indicates that CRPS impairment is a “stand alone” 

approach and if impairment is assigned for CRPS, the CRPS impairment cannot be combined with any other 

approach for the same extremity under Chapter 16, The Lower Extremities. A.M.A., Guides, supra note 2 at 540. 
3

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT the August 5, 2014 decision of the Office of 

Workers’ Compensation Programs is set aside and the case remanded to OWCP for further 

proceedings consistent with this order of the Board. 

Issued: March 2, 2015 

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