United States Department of Labor 

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board 

__________________________________________ 

G.B., Appellant 

and 

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS, 

JAMES A. HALEY VETERANS MEDICAL 

CENTER, Tampa, FL, Employer 

__________________________________________ 

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Docket No. 15-0756 

Issued: September 16, 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 

COLLEEN DUFFY KIKO, Judge 

On February 18, 2015 appellant filed a timely appeal of September 25, 2014 and 

January 28, 2015 merit decisions of the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP). 

The Board assigned Docket No. 15-756. 

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

decision. 

On January 29, 2014 appellant, then a 64-year-old pipefitter, filed a traumatic injury 

claim alleging that on January 14, 2014 he injured his right knee when his chair gave way while 

he was taking inventory. OWCP denied his claim finding that he failed to establish fact of 

injury. It found that the record contained no diagnosed medical condition causally related to the 

January 14, 2014 incident. By decisions dated September 25, 2014 and January 28, 2015, 

OWCP denied modification. In its September 25, 2014 decision, it indicated that it copied 

records from OWCP File No. xxxxxx624, “which covers residuals of a work-related right knee 

injury on May 31, 2013” into the current OWCP claim, File No. xxxxxx600. 

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

a decision. OWCP procedures provide that cases should be doubled when a new injury is 

reported for an employee who previously filed an injury claim for a similar condition and further 
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indicates that the cases should be doubled as soon as the need to do so becomes apparent.1 As 

OWCP referenced a prior claim which had been accepted for a right knee condition in denying 

appellant’s claim for a new right knee injury, it should have combined the case files in 

accordance with its procedures. 

As the record before the Board does not contain all the evidence from the prior claim, the 

Board is unable to properly address and adjudicate the issue of appellant’s current traumatic 

injury under OWCP File No. xxxxxx624 

On remand, OWCP should combine the present case record, OWCP File No. xxxxxx600, 

with OWCP File No. xxxxxx624. After combining these case records on remand, it should 

consider the evidence contained in the combined case record and, following any necessary 

further development, issue a de novo decision regarding whether appellant sustained an injury in 

the performance of duty on January 14, 2014. 

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

Compensation Programs dated January 28, 2015 and September 25, 2014 are set aside and the 

case remanded for further proceedings consistent with this order of the Board. 

Issued: September 16, 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 

 1

 Federal (FECA) Procedure Manual, Part 2 -- Claims, Doubling Case Files, Chapter 2.400.8(c)(1) 

(February 2000).