United States Department of Labor

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

__________________________________________

S.B., Appellant

and

U.S. POSTAL SERVICE, POST OFFICE, 

INDEPENDENCE ANNEX, Charlotte, NC, 

Employer

__________________________________________

)

)

)

)

)

)

)

)

)

Docket No. 19-1937

Issued: December 15, 2020

Appearances: Case Submitted on the Record

Appellant, pro se

Office of Solicitor, for the Director

ORDER REMANDING CASE 

Before:

JANICE B. ASKIN, Judge

PATRICIA H. FITZGERALD, Alternate Judge

VALERIE D. EVANS-HARRELL, Alternate Judge

On September 21, 2019 appellant filed a timely appeal from a September 11, 2019 merit 

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

Boards docketed the appeal as No. 19-1937.1

On April 17, 2018 appellant, then a 40-year-old city carrier assistant filed an occupational 

disease claim (Form CA-2) for an emotional condition and other stress-related conditions. She

noted that she first became aware of her condition on February 8, 2018. OWCP assigned File No. 

xxxxxx341. By decision dated September 11, 2019, it denied appellant’s emotional condition 

claim, finding that the evidence of record was insufficient to establish a compensable employment 

factor.

The Board, having duly considered this matter, finds this case not in posture for decision. 

 

1 The Board notes that following the September 11, 2019 decision, OWCP received additional evidence. 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

Appellant has several other claims involving emotional conditions. Under OWCP File No. 

xxxxxxx368, OWCP accepted that, on August 12, 2017, she, then a 38-year-old city carrier 

assistant, sustained a right ankle sprain and sprain of right rotator cuff capsule as a result of an 

employment-related fall in the performance of duty. Appellant subsequently requested that her 

accepted claim be expanded to include additional conditions including depression. Under OWCP 

File Nos. xxxxxx435, xxxxxxx066 and xxxxxx767, she attributed emotional conditions to either a 

consequence of her accepted August 12, 2017 employment-related injury and/or factors of her 

federal employment.

OWCP’s procedures provide that cases should be administratively combined when correct 

adjudication of the issues depends on frequent cross-referencing between case files.2 For example, 

if a new injury case is reported for an employee who previously filed an injury claim for a similar 

condition or the same part of the body, doubling is required.3 

As OWCP File Nos. xxxxxxx368, xxxxxx341, xxxxxx435, xxxxxx066 and xxxxxx767, all 

involve claims for an emotional condition, for a full and fair adjudication, they must be

administratively combined. Consolidation of the case files prior to the final decision would allow 

OWCP to consider all relevant claim files and accompanying evidence in developing appellant’s 

current occupational disease claim. 

Accordingly, the Board will remand the case to OWCP to ensure that the previously cited 

OWCP files have been administratively combined. Following this and other such further 

development as deemed necessary, OWCP shall issue a de novo decision regarding appellant’s 

emotional condition claim in File No. xxxxxx341 based upon a review of the evidence from all of 

the consolidated OWCP files.

 

2 K.R., Docket No. 20-0911 (issued October 30, 2020); R.R., Docket No. 19-0368 (issued November 26, 2019); 

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

(February 2000).

3

Id.
3

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the September 11, 2019 decision of the Office of 

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

consistent with this order of the Board. 

Issued: December 15, 2020

Washington, DC

Janice B. Askin, Judge

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

Patricia H. Fitzgerald, Alternate Judge

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

Valerie D. Evans-Harrell, Alternate Judge

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board