United States Department of Labor 

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board 

__________________________________________ 

C.W., Appellant 

and 

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS, 

VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION, 

Hines, IL, Employer 

__________________________________________ 

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Docket No. 15-55 

Issued: April 8, 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 

PATRICIA H. FITZGERALD, Deputy Chief Judge 

ALEC J. KOROMILAS, Alternate Judge 

On October 10, 2014 appellant filed a timely appeal from the August 22, 2014 decision 

of the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP), denying her request for 

reconsideration as it was untimely filed and failed to establish clear evidence of error. The 

appeal was docketed as No. 15-55. Having reviewed the case record submitted by OWCP, the 

Board finds that OWCP improperly denied further merit review of appellant’s case. 

OWCP accepted appellant’s claim for sprain of the back, lumbar region, right, and 

lumbosacral spondylosis without myelopathy. In a decision dated July 5, 2013, it found that she 

had not met her burden of proof to establish permanent impairment. On July 9, 2014 appellant 

again requested a schedule award and submitted medical evidence utilizing the American 

Medical Association, Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, (6th ed. 2009) 

(hereinafter, A.M.A., Guides) which supported permanent impairment. In an August 22, 2014 

decision, OWCP found that the request was untimely filed and failed to present clear evidence of 

error. It did not review the medical evidence. 

The Board has held that where a claimant submits medical evidence regarding a 

permanent impairment at a date subsequent to a prior schedule award decision, he or she is 
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entitled to a merit decision on the medical evidence.1

 In the present appeal, appellant submitted 

new medical evidence supporting impairment after OWCP’s July 5, 2013 decision denying her 

claim for a schedule award. Moreover, it contained an impairment rating that referenced the 

A.M.A., Guides. It is evident from the record that appellant was not seeking reconsideration of 

the July 5, 2013 OWCP decision, but was seeking a schedule award based on new medical 

evidence. 

The case will be remanded for further development on the issue of whether appellant has 

a permanent impairment due to her accepted conditions. After this and any other appropriate 

development, OWCP shall issue a de novo decision on her claim. 

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT the August 22, 2014 decision of the Office of 

Workers’ Compensation Programs be set aside, and the case is remanded for further 

development consistent with this order. 

Issued: April 8, 2015 

Washington, DC 

 

 Christopher J. Godfrey, Chief Judge 

 Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board 

 

 Patricia H. Fitzgerald, Deputy Chief Judge 

 Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board 

 

 Alec J. Koromilas, Alternate Judge 

 Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board 

 1 See Linda T. Brown, 51 ECAB 115 (1999); Paul R. Reedy, 45 ECAB 488 (1994); see also B.K., 59 ECAB 228 

(2007) (where it was evident that the claimant was seeking a schedule award based on new and current medical 

evidence, OWCP should have issued a merit decision on the schedule award claim rather than adjudicate an 

application for reconsideration).