United States Department of Labor

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

__________________________________________

K.P., Appellant

and

U.S. POSTAL SERVICE, POST OFFICE, 

Philadelphia, PA, Employer

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Docket No. 17-0403

Issued: April 20, 2018

Appearances: Case Submitted on the Record

Thomas R. Uliase, 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

VALERIE D. EVANS-HARRELL, Alternate Judge

On December 14, 2016 appellant, through counsel, filed a timely appeal from an 

August 25, 2016 merit decision of the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP)

denying his recurrence of disability on August 21, 2014 due to his accepted March 11, 2014

employment injury. The Board docketed the appeal as No. 17-0403.

On March 11, 2014 appellant filed a traumatic injury claim (Form CA-1) alleging that, on 

that same date, he sustained injury to his back and head when he drove a forklift into a metal 

column. He was working a full-time permanent light-duty assignment as a result of that injury 

on March 11, 2014. OWCP accepted the claim for contusion of face, scalp, and neck, except 

eye, sprain of back lumbar region, and sprain of back thoracic region. On October 27, 2014 

appellant filed a recurrence claim (Form CA-2a) alleging a return/increase of disability 

beginning on August 21, 2014.

 

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 notes that appellant had a prior work-related injury on February 25, 1987 

under OWCP File No. xxxxxx098, which occurred when he fell from a chair. The prior claim 

was accepted by OWCP for cervical and lumbar strains and herniated nucleus pulposus (HNP) at 

L4-5, L5-Sl, with related surgery in mid-1993. 

By decision dated January 25, 2016, OWCP denied appellant’s recurrence claim (Form 

CA-2a), finding that the medical evidence of record failed to establish a recurrence of disability 

commencing August 21, 2014 due to a material change/worsening of his accepted work-related 

condition. 

The Board, having duly considered the matter, concludes that the case is not in posture 

for decision. OWCP’s procedures provide that cases should be combined when correct 

adjudication of the issues depends on frequent cross-referencing between files. In the instant 

case, OWCP has recommended that appellant consider filing a recurrence claim in OWCP File 

No. xxxxxx098. As the record before the Board does not contain the evidence from the prior 

claim, the Board is unable to properly adjudicate the issue of appellant’s recurrence claim. The 

Board finds that the case is not is posture for a decision as the record before the Board is 

incomplete and would not permit an informed adjudication of the case by the Board. The case 

must be remanded to OWCP to combine the files2and for further reconstruction and proper 

assemblage of the case record, to be followed by any necessary further development and a 

de novo decision. Accordingly, 

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT the August 25, 2016 decision of the Office of 

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

consistent with this order of the Board.

 

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

(February 2000).
3

Issued: April 20, 2018

Washington, DC

Christopher J. Godfrey, Chief Judge

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

Patricia H. Fitzgerald, Deputy Chief Judge

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

Valerie D. Evans-Harrell, Alternate Judge

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board