United States Department of Labor 

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board 

__________________________________________ 

E.H., Appellant 

and 

U.S. POSTAL SERVICE, POST OFFICE, 

San Antonio, TX, Employer 

__________________________________________ 

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Docket No. 16-0180 

Issued: June 7, 2016 

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 

COLLEEN DUFFY KIKO, Judge 

 On November 10, 2015 appellant filed an application for review of a decision of the 

Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP) dated October 20, 2015 reducing her 

wage-loss compensation to zero as she did not cooperate with the early stages of vocational 

rehabilitation. 

OWCP accepted that on or before April 15, 2003 appellant, then a 39-year-old clerk, 

sustained bilateral rotator cuff sprains. She underwent a right rotator cuff repair on 

June 19, 2003. Appellant retired from the employing establishment effective July 28, 2004. She 

received total disability compensation. On July 16, 2014 OWCP referred appellant for 

vocational rehabilitation after the medical evidence demonstrated that she could perform lightduty work. Appellant advised OWCP on September 30, 2014 that she would not cooperate with 

vocational rehabilitation as she believed she was totally disabled. Following additional 

development, OWCP issued a November 25, 2014 decision reducing her wage-loss 

compensation to zero, based on her failure to cooperate with the preliminary stages of vocational 

rehabilitation. Following a telephonic hearing, appellant submitted additional medical evidence. 

In the decision dated and finalized October 20, 2015, the OWCP hearing representative 

affirmed the November 25, 2014 decision, finding in part that the medical evidence, including 

new reports from Dr. Richard E. Duey, an attending Board-certified orthopedic surgeon, dated 
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March 17 and September 4, 2015 and a new report from Dr. Ellen Duncan, an attending Boardcertified anesthesiologist, did not establish good cause for refusal. However, the record as 

transmitted to the Board does not contain the new medical reports. 

 The Board finds that the case is not in posture for a decision as the record is incomplete 

and the case must be remanded for reconstruction of the record. 

In order to perform a fully informed adjudication of the issues, the Board must be able to 

review the complete evidentiary basis for OWCP’s October 20, 2015 decision finding that 

appellant had not submitted sufficient evidence to establish good cause for her failure to 

cooperate with vocational rehabilitation. The hearing representative relied on relevant medical 

evidence that is not included in the electronic case record now before the Board. Therefore, the 

case must be remanded to OWCP for reconstruction of the record, including associating 

Dr. Duey’s March 17 and September 14, 2015 reports and Dr. Duncan’s September 11, 2015 

report with the case record. Following this and all other development deemed necessary, OWCP 

shall issue an appropriate decision in the case. 

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

Compensation Programs dated October 20, 2015 be set aside and the case remanded for further 

action consistent with this order. 

Issued: June 7, 2016 

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