United States Department of Labor 

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board 

__________________________________________ 

W.P., Appellant 

and 

DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY, FORT 

LEONARD WOOD, MO, Employer 

__________________________________________ 

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Docket No. 16-1566 

Issued: February 1, 2017 

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 July 27, 2016 appellant filed an application for review of an Office of Workers’ 

Compensation Programs (OWCP) decision dated June 20, 2016 which denied appellant’s request 

for reconsideration as his letter neither raised substantive legal questions or included relevant and 

pertinent new evidence and was insufficient to warrant a merit review.1 

The Board has duly considered the matter and finds that the case is not in posture for a 

decision and must be remanded to OWCP. In the case of William A. Couch,2 the Board held that 

when adjudicating a claim, OWCP is obligated to consider all evidence properly submitted by a 

claimant and received by OWCP before the final decision is issued. Following OWCP’s June 2, 

2016 decision, which affirmed the denial of appellant’s traumatic injury claim as he had failed to 

submit sufficient medical evidence to establish a causal relationship between the diagnosed 

condition and the accepted employment factors, appellant requested reconsideration on 

June 9, 2016. Appellant also submitted a new office medical report from a Dr. Elizabeth A. 

Blank, dated June 9, 2016. This report was received by OWCP on June 13, 2016. In its June 20, 

 1

 On October 8, 2015 appellant, then a 51-year-old training instructor, filed a traumatic injury claim alleging that 

February 16, 2015 he attempted to close a container which had a frozen door and felt a pop in his left shoulder. He 

did not stop work. 

2

 41 ECAB 548 (1990). 
2

2016 decision, OWCP denied appellant’s reconsideration request finding that his letter neither 

raised substantive legal questions or included new and relevant evidence and was insufficient to 

warrant a review of the June 2, 2016 decision. It did not note receipt or consideration of the 

report from Dr. Blank dated June 9, 2016. 

The Board finds that OWCP, in its June 20, 2016 decision, did not review the report from 

Dr. Blank dated June 9, 2016 that was received by OWCP on June 13, 2016.3

 For this reason, 

the case will be remanded to OWCP to enable it to properly consider all the evidence submitted 

at the time of the June 20, 2016 decision. Following such further development as OWCP deems 

necessary, it shall issue an appropriate merit decision on the claim. 

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT the June 20, 2016 decision of the Office of 

Workers’ Compensation Programs is set aside. The case record is remanded to OWCP for 

further proceedings consistent with this order of the Board. 

Issued: February 1, 2017 

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 

 3 See id.