United States Department of Labor 

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board 

_________________________________________ 

C.E., Appellant 

and 

U.S. POSTAL SERVICE, POST OFFICE, 

Warner Robins, GA, Employer 

_________________________________________ 

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Docket No. 15-16 

Issued: February 6, 2015 

Appearances: Case Submitted on the Record

L.Z. Dozier, Esq., for the appellant 

Office of Solicitor, for the Director 

DECISION AND ORDER 

Before: 

CHRISTOPHER J. GODFREY, Chief Judge 

PATRICIA HOWARD FITZGERALD, Judge 

ALEC J. KOROMILAS, Alternate Judge 

JURISDICTION 

On October 2, 2014 appellant, through his attorney, filed a timely appeal from the 

April 9, 2014 merit decision of the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP). 

Pursuant to the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act1 (FECA) and 20 C.F.R. §§ 501.2(c) and 

501.3, the Board has jurisdiction over the merits of this case. 

ISSUE 

The issue is whether OWCP properly denied appellant’s claim for a December 16, 2008 

work injury as untimely filed. 

FACTUAL HISTORY 

On June 19, 2013 appellant, then a 33-year-old rural carrier, filed a traumatic injury claim 

(Form CA-1) alleging that he sustained injury to his back and right leg at work on 

December 16, 2008. Regarding the cause of the claimed injury, he stated, “I was stepping out of 

 1

 5 U.S.C. §§ 8101-8193. 
2

my postal truck with a parcel when my right knee buckled and a sharp pain shot up my back.” 

Appellant did not stop work at the time of the claimed December 16, 2008 injury. On the same 

form, Willie Finney, a supervisor, noted, “Employee stated he reported this on 

December 16, 2008. There is no record of this ever being reported.” Mr. Finney indicated that 

the employing establishment was challenging appellant’s claim and stated, “This incident was 

never reported and he earlier states that he was also injured off the job.” 

In a June 19, 2013 letter to OWCP, an official for the employing establishment 

challenged appellant’s claim for a December 16, 2008 work injury as untimely filed, noting that 

he did not inform anyone at the employing establishment that he was claiming a December 16, 

2008 work injury until he filed his Form CA-1 on June 19, 2013. The official discussed a 

workers’ compensation claim appellant had previously filed in connection with a May 9, 2008 

vehicular accident at work. The official noted that the claim regarding a May 9, 2008 accident 

eventually led to a third-party action being filed and suggested that appellant filed his Form 

CA-1 on June 19, 2013 as part of his counsel’s strategy in the third-party action.2

In a June 27, 2013 letter, OWCP asked appellant to answer various questions about his 

claimed December 16, 2008 injury, including whether there were any witnesses to the claimed 

work incident, whether he reported the claimed injury to a supervisor, and whether he sustained 

any other injury, either on or off duty, between December 16, 2008 and the date the claimed 

injury was first reported to his supervisor and to a physician. It requested that he submit 

documentary evidence in support of his claim for a December 16, 2008 injury. Appellant was 

provided 30 days to respond, but the record does not establish that he provided any documentary 

evidence within the allotted time. 

In a July 29, 2013 decision, OWCP denied appellant’s claim for a work-related 

December 16, 2008 injury. Regarding the basis for the denial of the claim, it stated: 

“You have established that you are a federal civilian employee who filed a timely 

claim; however, after a thorough review of all evidence, your claim is denied 

because the factual component of the third basic element, fact of injury, has not 

been met. 

“Specifically your case is denied because the evidence is not sufficient to 

establish that the event(s) occurred as you described. The reason for this finding 

is that you did not respond to any of the questions posed in the development letter, 

nor did you sign the certification statement confirming everything you claimed 

was true/correct, and we did not receive the medical evidence necessary to 

support your claim.” 

Appellant requested a hearing before an OWCP hearing representative. At the 

February 24, 2014 hearing, he testified in response to a question regarding why he delayed in 

 2

 The record appears to contain a 2012 document from the third-party action that mentions a work incident on 

December 16, 2008. The record contains a “PS Form 1769/301 Accident Report” that generally mentions a 

December 16, 2008 accident, but the document does not indicate when it was produced or who produced it. The 

unsigned document was added to the record on June 20, 2013. 
3

filing his claim for a December 16, 2008 work injury. Appellant stated, “When I talked to my 

supervisor and when the incident actually happened she never instructed me that I needed to file 

a claim for it.... So I wasn’t aware that that was something I was supposed to do.” He noted 

that on December 16, 2008 he held a package weighing about 20 to 30 pounds and that, when he 

stepped out of his postal truck, his right knee buckled and the pain shot up his back. Counsel 

indicated that appellant reported the December 16, 2008 incident to his employer around the time 

it occurred. He also noted that appellant had filed a claim for a May 2008 vehicular accident at 

work. 

Subsequent to the hearing, appellant submitted medical records in support of his claim. 

He submitted a report from the date of the claimed injury, i.e., December 16, 2008, which was 

produced by Dr. K. Scott Malone, an attending Board-certified orthopedic surgeon. The report 

makes no mention of appellant having sustaining a work injury on December 16, 2008 and 

indicates that he had no significant changes in his back and leg symptoms. In a March 26, 2014 

report, Dr. Malone detailed his treatment of appellant and noted that appellant “returned to my 

office on December 16, 2008 and reported his pain had flared up.” He stated: 

“I have reviewed [appellant’s] records. I have also reviewed a copy of his 

deposition in which he testified that the flare up of his symptoms on 

December 16, 2008 occurred when he was stepping out of his postal vehicle with 

a parcel and his right leg completely buckled and he felt pain shoot up in his leg 

and back. I have also reviewed a decision by Judge Jason Ashford of the State 

Court of Houston County in which he found that [appellant] suffered a new 

work[-]related accident or aggravation on December 16, 2008.” 

In an April 9, 2014 decision, an OWCP hearing representative affirmed OWCP’s July 29, 

2013 decision denying appellant’s claim for a December 16, 2008 work injury as modified to 

reflect that the claim was denied on the grounds that it was untimely filed. She found that 

appellant’s claim was not filed within three years of his claimed December 16, 2008 injury and 

that he did not submit probative evidence showing that his immediate supervisor had knowledge 

of the claimed December 16, 2008 injury. 

LEGAL PRECEDENT 

The issue of whether a claim was timely filed is a preliminary jurisdictional issue that 

precedes any determination on the merits of the claim.3

 In cases of injury on or after 

September 7, 1974, section 8122(a) of FECA provides that an original claim for compensation 

for disability or death must be filed within three years after the injury or death. Compensation 

for disability or death, including medical care in disability cases, may not be allowed if a claim is 

not filed within that time unless: 

“(1) the immediate superior had actual knowledge of the injury or death within 30 

days. The knowledge must be such as to put the immediate superior reasonably 

on notice of an on-the-job injury or death; or 

 3 Charles Walker, 55 ECAB 238 (2004); see Charles W. Bishop, 6 ECAB 571 (1954). 
4

“(2) written notice of injury or death as specified in section 8119 was given within 

30 days.”4

Section 8119 of FECA provides that a notice of injury or death shall be given within 30 

days after the injury or death; be given to the immediate superior of the employee by personal 

delivery or by depositing it in the mail properly stamped and addressed; be in writing; state the 

name and address of the employee; state the year, month, day and hour when and the particular 

locality where the injury or death occurred; state the cause and nature of the injury, or in the case 

of death, the employment factors believed to be the cause; and be signed by and contain the 

address of the individual giving the notice.5

 Actual knowledge and written notice of injury under 

section 8119 serve to satisfy the statutory period for filing an original claim for compensation.6

When a traumatic injury definite in time, place, and circumstances is involved, the time 

for giving notice of injury and filing for compensation begins to run at the time of the incident, 

even though the employee may not have been aware of the seriousness or ultimate consequences 

of his injury.7 The Board has held that the applicable statute of limitations commences to run 

although the employee does not know the precise nature of the impairment.8

ANALYSIS 

On June 19, 2013 appellant filed a traumatic injury claim (Form CA-1) alleging that he 

sustained injury to his back and right leg at work on December 16, 2008. Regarding the cause of 

the claimed injury, he stated, “I was stepping out of my postal truck with a parcel when my right 

knee buckled and a sharp pain shot up my back.” On the same form, Mr. Finney, appellant’s 

supervisor, noted that there was no record of appellant reporting a December 16, 2008 injury 

prior to his June 19, 2013 filing of a Form CA-1. In an April 9, 2014 decision, OWCP denied 

appellant’s claim for a December 16, 2008 work injury on the grounds that it was untimely filed. 

The Board finds that OWCP properly found that appellant did not file a timely claim for 

an alleged December 16, 2008 work injury. As appellant alleged that he sustained a traumatic 

injury on December 16, 2008, the time limitation began to run on December 16, 2008 for this 

claimed injury.9 As appellant did not file a claim until June 19, 2013, his claim was not filed 

within the three-year period of limitation. 

Appellant’s claim would still be regarded as timely under section 8122(a)(1) of FECA if 

his immediate superior had actual knowledge of the claimed December 16, 2008 injury within 30 

days, or under section 8122(a)(2) if written notice of injury was given to his immediate superior 

 4

 5 U.S.C. § 8122(a). 

5

 5 U.S.C. § 8119; Larry E. Young, 52 ECAB 264 (2001). 

6 Laura L. Harrison, 52 ECAB 515 (2001). 

7 Emma L. Brooks, 37 ECAB 407, 411 (1986). 

8 Delmont L. Thompson, 51 ECAB 155 (1999). 

9 See supra note 7. 
5

within 30 days as specified in section 8119. Appellant has not satisfied either of these 

provisions. On appeal, counsel argued that appellant’s statements at the February 24, 2014 

hearing with an OWCP hearing representative establish that his immediate superior had actual 

knowledge of his claimed December 16, 2008 injury within 30 days. However, appellant only 

made vague comments about providing such notice and there is no evidence in the record to 

support his assertions that his immediate superior had such knowledge. Moreover, the record 

does not establish that he provided a statement to his immediate superior such that he satisfied 

the provisions of sections 8119 and 8122(a) of FECA.10 

The record shows that, despite appellant’s assertion that he did not know that he needed 

to file a workers’ compensation claim for a work injury, he had previously filed a workers’ 

compensation claim on at least one other occasion, including one for a May 2008 vehicular 

accident at work. There is no evidence that appellant’s immediate superior had actual 

knowledge of appellant’s claimed December 16, 2008 injury prior to receiving the Form CA-1 

he filed on June 19, 2013.11

For these reasons, appellant’s claim for a December 16, 2008 work injury was untimely 

filed and OWCP properly denied the claim on this basis. 

CONCLUSION 

The Board finds that OWCP properly denied appellant’s claim for a December 16, 2008 

work injury as untimely filed. 

 10 See supra notes 4 and 5. 

11 Appellant submitted medical evidence in which a December 16, 2008 work incident is mentioned. The record 

also appears to contain a document from a 2012 third-party action that mentions a work incident on 

December 16, 2008. However, this evidence does not show that appellant’s immediate superior had actual 

knowledge of his claimed December 16, 2008 work injury within 30 days. 
6

ORDER 

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT the April 9, 2014 decision of the Office of 

Workers’ Compensation Programs is affirmed. 

Issued: February 6, 2015 

Washington, DC 

 

 Christopher J. Godfrey, Chief Judge 

 Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board 

 

 Patricia Howard Fitzgerald, Judge 

 Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board 

 

 Alec J. Koromilas, Alternate Judge 

 Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board