United States Department of Labor 

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board 

__________________________________________ 

O.H., Appellant 

and 

U.S. POSTAL SERVICE, EMBARCADERO 

POSTAL CENTER, San Francisco, CA, 

Employer 

__________________________________________ 

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Docket No. 15-495 

Issued: May 13, 2015 

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 

PATRICIA H. FITZGERALD, Deputy Chief Judge 

COLLEEN DUFFY KIKO, Judge 

On January 6, 2015 appellant, through counsel, filed a timely appeal from a December 9, 

2014 merit decision of the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP) finding that 

appellant had not established periods of total disability beginning November 4, 2013. The Board 

docketed the appeal as No. 15-495. 

The record before the Board indicates that appellant has three accepted employment 

injuries. In claim number xxxxxx670, appellant, on May 22, 2008, in her capacity as a mail 

handler, injured her back when opening an overhead mail container. OWCP accepted her claim 

for sprain of lumbosacral joint. In claim number xxxxxx781, appellant, on September 15, 2004, 

fell back injuring her right hand and back while attempting to unload a mail cage from a truck. 

OWCP accepted the claim for lumbar and neck sprain and contusion of the right hand. It 

combined claim numbers xxxxxx781 and xxxxxx670, which are both currently before the Board, 

with the latter as the master file.1

 

 1

 By decision dated July 18, 2012 under claim number xxxxxx670, the Board reversed a December 7, 2011 

OWCP merit decision, finding that OWCP failed to meet its burden of proof to terminate appellant’s wage-loss 

compensation and medical benefits effective July 3, 2011 due to an unresolved conflict in medical evidence. Docket 

No. 12-609 (issued July 18, 2012). 
2

Appellant also had an accepted claim for a bilateral foot condition, claim number 

xxxxxx649, which is not currently available for review by the Board. The record indicates that 

appellant was performing light-duty work until November 3, 2013 in accordance with her 

restrictions under claim number xxxxxxx649. Appellant then stopped work on November 4, 

2013 and has not returned. OWCP denied appellant’s claim for periods of disability beginning 

November 4, 2013 in its December 9, 2014 decision currently before the Board. 

OWCP’s decision dated June 9, 2014 and the medical evidence in the record address 

appellant’s disability for work due to both her back injuries and her foot conditions accepted in 

claim number xxxxxx649. While OWCP stated that it was not making a finding of fact with 

respect to claim number xxxxxx649 in the December 9, 2004 decision, in the June 9, 2014 

decision, OWCP stated that appellant’s physicians failed to reference which of her work duties 

under claim number xxxxxx649, caused her ongoing disability. Appellant’s attending physician, 

Dr. Michael E. Hebrard, a Board-certified physiatrist, has opined that appellant’s foot conditions 

resulted in consequential injuries to her spine and resulted in her alleged periods of total 

disability. OWCP included a description of the accepted conditions of her foot injury in the 

statement of accepted facts when referring her claim for a second opinion evaluation by 

Dr. Mohinder Nijjar, a Board-certified orthopedic surgeon, and he addressed this claim in his 

report. 

The Board, having reviewed the case record, finds that the case is not in posture for 

decision. The Board finds that the factual and medical issues regarding appellant’s current 

claims for disability are intertwined such that all three OWCP claims must be combined2

 and a 

de novo decision issued regarding whether her claims for disability beginning November 4, 2013 

and continuing are employment related. 

 

 2 See Federal (FECA) Procedure Manual, Part 2 -- Claims, File Maintenance and Management, Chapter 2.400.8 

(February 2000). 
3

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

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

consistent with this order of the Board. 

Issued: May 13, 2015 

Washington, DC 

 

 Christopher J. Godfrey, Chief Judge 

 Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board 

 

 Patricia H. Fitzgerald, Deputy Chief Judge 

 Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board 

 

 Colleen Duffy Kiko, Judge 

 Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board