United States Department of Labor 

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board 

__________________________________________ 

S.J., Appellant 

and 

U.S. POSTAL SERVICE, POST OFFICE, 

Kearny, NJ, Employer 

__________________________________________ 

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Docket No. 16-1682 

Issued: February 1, 2017 

Appearances: Case Submitted on the Record

James D. Muirhead, Esq., for the appellant1

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 August 15, 2016 appellant, through counsel, filed a timely appeal from a June 7, 2016 

nonmerit decision of the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP) denying her 

request for reconsideration as the request was untimely filed and failed to demonstrate clear 

evidence of error. The Clerk of the Board docketed the appeal as No. 16-1682. 

The Board notes that in a March 17, 2015 decision, OWCP denied appellant’s traumatic 

injury claim because the medical evidence was insufficient to establish a medical condition 

causally related to the accepted work event. By decision dated July 8, 2015, OWCP denied 

appellant’s March 23, 2015 reconsideration request without conducting a merit review of the 

claim. In a March 16, 2016 letter, counsel requested reconsideration of the March 17 and July 8, 

2015 decisions and submitted medical evidence. In a June 7, 2016 decision, OWCP denied 

appellant’s request for reconsideration because it was untimely filed and failed to demonstrate 

clear evidence of error. 

 1

 In all cases in which a representative has been authorized in a matter before the Board, no claim for a fee for 

legal or other service performed on appeal before the Board is valid unless approved by the Board. 20 C.F.R. 

§ 501.9(e). No contract for a stipulated fee or on a contingent fee basis will be approved by the Board. Id. An 

attorney or representative’s collection of a fee without the Board’s approval may constitute a misdemeanor, subject 

to fine or imprisonment for up to one year or both. Id.; see also 18 U.S.C. § 292. Demands for payment of fees to a 

representative, prior to approval by the Board, may be reported to appropriate authorities for investigation. 
2

The Board has duly considered the matter and finds that the March 16, 2016 request 

constituted a timely request for reconsideration. OWCP regulations at 20 C.F.R. § 10.607(a), 

provide that an “application for reconsideration must be received within one year of the date of 

OWCP’s decision for which review is sought.” Its procedures establish that a one-year time 

limit for requesting reconsideration, which begins on the next day after the date of the original 

contested OWCP decision.2

 In this case, OWCP issued its last merit decision denying 

appellant’s traumatic injury claim on March 17, 2015. Appellant had one year from the date of 

this decision to make a timely request for reconsideration. Her request for reconsideration was 

received by OWCP on March 16, 2016, within the required one-year time period. As appellant’s 

request for reconsideration was received on March 16, 2016, the Board finds that it was timely 

filed. 

Because appellant filed a timely reconsideration request, OWCP should have reviewed 

her request under the standard for a timely request.3 The clear evidence of error standard utilized 

by OWCP in its June 7, 2016 decision is appropriate only for untimely reconsideration requests.4 

The Board will set aside OWCP’s June 7, 2016 decision and remand the case for an appropriate 

final decision on appellant’s timely request for reconsideration. 

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT the June 7, 2016 decision of the Office of Workers’ 

Compensation Programs is set aside and the case remanded for further action consistent with this 

order of the Board. 

 2

 Federal (FECA) Procedure Manual, Part 2 -- Appeals, Reconsideration, Chapter 2.1602.4 (February 2016); see 

Veletta C. Coleman, 48 ECAB 367 (1997). 

3 See 20 C.F.R. § 10.606(b)(3). 

4 Id. at § 10.607(b). 
3

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