United States Department of Labor

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

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P.B., Appellant

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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY,

TRANSPORTATION SECURITY

ADMINISTRATION, DALLAS/FORT WORTH 

INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, TX, Employer

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Docket No. 20-0148

Issued: July 23, 2020

Appearances: Case Submitted on the Record

Appellant, pro se

Office of Solicitor, for the Director

DECISION AND ORDER

Before:

CHRISTOPHER J. GODFREY, Deputy Chief Judge

PATRICIA H. FITZGERALD, Alternate Judge

VALERIE D. EVANS-HARRELL, Alternate Judge

JURISDICTION

On October 24, 2019 appellant filed a timely appeal from an October 11, 2019 merit 

decision of the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP). Pursuant to the Federal 

Employees’ Compensation Act1(FECA) and 20 C.F.R. §§ 501.2(c) and 501.3, the Board has 

jurisdiction over the merits of this case.2

 

1 5 U.S.C. § 8101 et seq.

2 The Board notes that, following the October 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

ISSUE

The issue is whether OWCP properly suspended appellant’s wage-loss compensation 

benefits, effective October 12, 2019, for failure to complete an EN1032 form as requested.

FACTUAL HISTORY

On April 19, 2004 appellant, then a 47-year-old transportation security screener, filed an 

occupational disease claim (Form CA-2) alleging that she sustained a bulging L5-S1 disc as a 

result of factors of her federal employment including twisting her waist when moving the 

belongings of passengers from a table to a conveyer belt. OWCP initially accepted her claim for 

lumbar strain/sprain and dislocation of the lumbar vertebra, and later expanded acceptance of the 

claim to include right hip and thigh sprain, chronic pain syndrome, degeneration of the lumbar or 

lumbosacral intervertebral disc, and displacement of the lumbar intervertebral disc without 

myelopathy. It paid appellant wage-loss compensation on the periodic rolls commencing

October 16, 2016. 

On August 12, 2019 OWCP provided appellant a Form EN1032 and informed her that 

federal regulations required her to report any improvement in her medical condition, any 

employment, any change in the status of claimed dependents, any third-party settlement, and any 

income or change in income from federally-assisted disability or benefit programs. It notified her 

that she was required to fully answer all questions on the EN1032 form and return it within 30 

days or her benefits would be suspended. The letter was mailed to appellant’s last known address. 

However, OWCP received no response.

By decision dated October 11, 2019, OWCP suspended appellant’s compensation benefits, 

effective October 12, 2019, for failing to complete the EN1032 form as requested. It noted that, if 

she completed and returned an enclosed copy of the form, her compensation benefits would be 

restored retroactively to the date they were suspended. 

LEGAL PRECEDENT

Section 8106(b) of FECA authorizes the Secretary of Labor to require a partially disabled 

employee to report his or her earnings from employment or self-employment, by affidavit or 

otherwise, in the manner and at the times the Secretary specifies.3

Under section 10.528 of OWCP’s implementing federal regulations, an employee in receipt 

of compensation benefits must complete an affidavit as to any work or activity indicating an ability 

to work, which the employee has performed for the prior 15 months.4 If an employee who is 

required to file such a report fails to do so within 30 days of the date of the request, his or her right 

to compensation for wage loss is suspended until OWCP receives the requested report. At that 

 

3 5 U.S.C. § 8106(b).

4 20 C.F.R. § 10.528. See also H.B., Docket No. 19-0405 (issued June 26, 2019); M.S., Docket No. 18-1107 (issued 

December 28, 2018); C.C., Docket No. 17-0043 (issued June 15, 2018); A.H., Docket No. 15-0241 (issued 

April 3, 2015).
3

time, OWCP will reinstate compensation retroactive to the date of suspension if the employee 

remains entitled to compensation.5

ANALYSIS

The Board finds that OWCP properly suspended appellant’s wage-loss compensation 

benefits, effective October 12, 2019, for failure to complete an EN1032 form as requested.

On August 12, 2019 OWCP provided appellant with an EN1032 form. It properly advised 

her that, if she did not completely answer all of the questions and return the statement within 30 

days, her benefits would be suspended. The record reflects that OWCP’s letter was properly sent 

to appellant’s last known address and there is no indication that it was returned as undeliverable.6 

Under the mailbox rule, a document mailed in the ordinary course of the sender’s business 

practices to the addressee’s last known address is presumed to be received by the addressee.7

The record indicates that appellant failed to timely submit the EN1032 form within 30 days 

of OWCP’s request. Appellant was receiving wage-loss compensation and she was therefore 

required to complete the EN1032 form. Her failure to file an EN1032 form within 30 days resulted 

in the suspension of compensation. Thus, the Board finds that OWCP properly suspended 

appellant’s compensation benefits, effective October 12, 2019, pursuant to 20 C.F.R. § 10.528.

CONCLUSION

The Board finds that OWCP properly suspended appellant’s wage-loss compensation 

benefits, effective October 12, 2019, for failure to complete an EN1032 form as requested.

 

5

Id.

6 See H.B., supra note 4; J.J., Docket No. 13-1067 (issued September 20, 2013); Kenneth E. Harris, 54 ECAB 502, 

505 (2003).

7

Id.
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ORDER

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT the October 11, 2019 decision of the Office of 

Workers’ Compensation Programs is affirmed.

Issued: July 23, 2020

Washington, DC

Christopher J. Godfrey, Deputy Chief Judge

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

Patricia H. Fitzgerald, Alternate Judge

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

Valerie D. Evans-Harrell, Alternate Judge

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board