United States Department of Labor

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

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L.T., Appellant

and

U.S. POSTAL SERVICE, PROCESSING & 

DISTRIBUTION CENTER, Indianapolis, IN, 

Employer

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Docket No. 19-1215

Issued: February 20, 2020

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

JANICE B. ASKIN, Judge

On May 6, 2019 appellant filed a timely appeal from a February 27, 2019 decision of the 

Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP). The Clerk of the Appellate Boards 

docketed the appeal as No. 19-1215.

1

On May 18, 2017 appellant, then a 66-year-old mail handler equipment operator, filed an 

occupational disease claim (Form CA-2) alleging that he sustained an occupational disease due to

factors of his federal employment including repetitive pushing, pulling, and lifting hooks to stage 

and dispatch mail. He indicated that he first became aware of his condition and related it to his 

federal employment on May 2, 2017. Appellant stopped work on May 17, 2017 and returned on 

May 18, 2017.

 

1 The Board notes that appellant submitted additional evidence on appeal. However, the Board’s Rules of Procedure

provides: The Board’s review of a case is limited to the evidence in the case record that was before OWCP at the time 

of its final decision. Evidence not before OWCP will not be considered by the Board for the first time on appeal. 20 

C.F.R. § 501.2(c)(1). Thus, the Board is precluded from reviewing this additional evidence for the first time on appeal. 

Id.
2

By decision dated September 28, 2017, OWCP denied appellant’s occupational disease 

claim finding that the medical evidence of record was insufficient to establish a diagnosed medical 

condition causally related to the accepted factors of his federal employment.

On November 1, 2017 appellant requested a review of the written record before a 

representative of OWCP’s Branch of Hearings and Review. By decision dated February 16, 2018, 

an OWCP hearing representative affirmed the September 28, 2017 decision.

On December 14, 2018 appellant requested reconsideration and subsequently provided 

additional evidence.

By decision dated February 27, 2019, OWCP denied appellant’s December 14, 2018

request for reconsideration, finding that it was untimely filed and failed to demonstrate clear 

evidence of error.

The Board has duly considered the matter and notes that appellant’s December 14, 2018 

request constitutes a timely request for reconsideration. Section 10.607(a) of OWCP’s 

implementing regulations provides that a request for reconsideration must be received by OWCP 

within one year of the date of the decision for which review is sought.2 Because appellant’s request 

was received on December 14, 2018, which was within one year of OWCP’s February 16, 2018

hearing decision, the Board finds that it was timely filed. The clear evidence of error standard 

utilized by OWCP in its February 27, 2019 decision is appropriate only for untimely 

reconsideration requests.3 Therefore, the Board will set aside OWCP’s February 27, 2019 decision 

and remand the case for an appropriate final decision on appellant’s timely request for 

reconsideration.

 

2 20 C.F.R. § 10.607(a). The one-year period begins on the next day after the date of the original contested decision.

For merit decisions issued on or after August 29, 2011, a request for reconsideration must be received by OWCP 

within one year of OWCP’s decision for which review is sought. Federal (FECA) Procedure Manual, Part 2 -- Claims, 

Reconsiderations, Chapter 2.1602.4 (February 2016).

3 See 20 C.F.R. § 10.607(b).
3

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT the February 27, 2019 decision of the Office of 

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

consistent with this order of the Board.

Issued: February 20, 2020

Washington, DC

Christopher J. Godfrey, Chief Judge

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

Patricia H. Fitzgerald, Deputy Chief Judge

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

Janice B. Askin, Judge

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board