United States Department of Labor

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

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L.F., Appellant

and

U.S. POSTAL SERVICE, POST OFFICE, 

Indianapolis, IN, Employer

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Docket No. 17-1206

Issued: April 18, 2019

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

ALEC J. KOROMILAS, Alternate Judge

On May11, 2017 appellant filed a timely appeal from a March 27, 2017 nonmerit decision 

of the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP), which denied reconsideration. The 

Board assigned Docket No. 17-1206. 

OWCP accepted that appellant sustained bilateral carpal and cubital tunnel syndromes 

while in the performance of duty. It paid wage-loss compensation for intermittent work absences 

from November 20, 2002 to November 30, 2012. On August 24, 2016 appellant filed a recurrence 

of disability claim (Form CA-2a) commencing September 14, 2016 due to new left shoulder and 

left knee injuries which she asserted were consequential. By decision dated October 13, 2016, 

OWCP denied her claims for recurrence of disability and consequential injuries.

In an appeal request form received by OWCP on October 31, 2016, appellant requested 

reconsideration of the denial of her claims for recurrence of disability and consequential injury. 

She submitted additional evidence in support of reconsideration. By nonmerit decision dated 

March 27, 2017, OWCP denied appellant’s request for reconsideration, finding that she did not 

submit new, pertinent and relevant evidence or legal argument sufficient to warrant reopening the 

merits of her claim.

OWCP did not issue its nonmerit decision on appellant’s October 31, 2016 request for 

reconsideration until March 27, 2017, approximately 4 months and 27 days after the request was 
2

made. As a claimant has only 180 days to appeal final adverse OWCP decisions to the Board, 

appellant was left with just over two weeks, or until April 11, 2017, to appeal the October 13, 2016 

merit decision to the Board.1 OWCP’s procedures provide:

“When a reconsideration decision is delayed beyond 90 days, and the delay 

jeopardizes the claimant’s right to review of the merits of the case by the Board, 

OWCP should conduct a merit review. That is, the basis of the original decision 

and any new evidence should be considered and, if there is no basis to change the 

original decision, an order denying modification (rather than denying the 

application for review) should be prepared. There is no obligation to conduct a 

merit review on insufficient evidence if the maximum 180-day time limit for 

requesting review by the Board will have expired within the 90-day period 

following OWCP’s receipt of the claimant’s reconsideration request.”

2

The Board, having duly considered the matter, finds that OWCP’s delay in issuing a 

decision on appellant’s reconsideration request substantially jeopardized her from appealing 

OWCP’s most recent merit decision to the Board.3

Accordingly, the case will be remanded to OWCP to issue an appropriate decision on the 

merits of the claim in order to preserve appellant’s appeal rights.

 

1 See 20 C.F.R. §§ 501.2(c) and 501.3. For final adverse OWCP decisions issued on or after November 19, 2008, 

a claimant has 180 days to file an appeal with the Board. See 20 C.F.R. § 501.3(e). The 180th day following the 

October 13, 2016 merit decision was April 11, 2017.

2 Federal (FECA) Procedure Manual, Part 2 -- Claims, Reconsiderations, Chapter 2.1602.7(a) (October 2011).

3 See K.A., Docket No. 16-1392 (issued November 7, 2016) (OWCP substantially jeopardized appellant’s appeal 

rights when OWCP’s delay in issuing a decision on the reconsideration request left appellant with only 70 days to 

appeal from the last merit decision).
3

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT the March 27, 2017 nonmerit decision of the Office 

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

consistent with the above opinion.

Issued: April 18, 2019

Washington, DC

Christopher J. Godfrey, Chief Judge

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

Patricia H. Fitzgerald, Deputy Chief Judge

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

Alec J. Koromilas, Alternate Judge

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board