United States Department of Labor

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

__________________________________________

G.R., Appellant

and

DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY, NORFOLK 

NAVAL SHIPYARD, Portsmouth, VA, Employer

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Docket No. 21-0338

Issued: June 29, 2021

Appearances: Case Submitted on the Record

Margaret Marshall, for the appellant1

Office of Solicitor, for the Director

ORDER REMANDING CASE

Before:

ALEC J. KOROMILAS, Chief Judge

JANICE B. ASKIN, Judge

PATRICIA H. FITZGERALD, Alternate Judge

On January 12, 2021 appellant, through counsel, filed a timely appeal from an August 28, 

2020 merit decision of the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP). The Clerk of 

the Appellate Boards docketed the appeal as No. 21-0338. 

On May 14, 2020 appellant, then a 62-year-old electrician, filed an occupational disease 

claim (Form CA-2) alleging that he sustained increased hearing loss due to factors of his federal 

employment. OWCP assigned the claim OWCP File No. xxxxxx885.2

 

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 OWCP previously accepted a January 1, 2012 occupational disease claim for bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus 

under OWCP File No. xxxxxx268. 
2

OWCP received an undated statement wherein appellant detailed his prior federal and 

nonfederal employment. Appellant indicated that he had previously filed a schedule award claim 

in 2014 for which he had received a schedule award for 22 percent binaural hearing loss.

Appellant submitted an audiogram dated March 4, 2020. 

In a development letter dated May 21, 2020, OWCP advised appellant that additional 

factual and medical evidence was necessary to establish his claim. Specifically, it stated that there 

was no diagnosis of any condition resulting from employment, nor a physician’s opinion as to how 

appellant’s employment activities caused or contributed to his diagnosed condition. OWCP

requested that appellant submit copies of all audiograms taken while employed with the employing 

establishment. It afforded appellant 30 days to submit the necessary evidence. 

In a letter dated June 25, 2020, counsel stated that reproduction and digitalization services 

were suspended until further notice due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and thus, appellant’s

audiogram records could not be obtained.

In a letter dated July 7, 2020, OWCP granted appellant an additional 30 days to submit the 

requested medical evidence.

In letters dated July 22 and August 14, 2020, counsel stated that the audiogram records 

were still not able to be retrieved. 

By decision dated August 28, 2020, OWCP denied appellant’s occupational disease claim 

in File No. xxxxxx885 as appellant had not submitted medical evidence containing a diagnosis

causally related to the accepted employment factors. It concluded, therefore, that the requirements 

had not been met to establish an injury as defined by FECA. 

The Board, having duly considered this matter, finds that this case is not in posture for 

decision. 

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

adjudication of the issues depends on frequent cross-referencing between case files.3 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.4 In the present claim, appellant 

alleged hearing loss. OWCP had previously accepted his claim for bilateral hearing loss under 

OWCP File No. xxxxxx268. However, evidence pertaining to that file is not part of the case record 

presented before the Board. For a full and fair adjudication, the case must be remanded to OWCP 

to administratively combine the current case record, OWCP File No. xxxxxx885, with OWCP File 

No. xxxxxx268, so it can consider all relevant claim files and accompanying evidence in 

adjudicating appellant’s current occupational disease claim. The Board will remand the case to 

 

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

(February 2000); T.D., Docket No. 20-1119 (issued January 29, 2021); R.R., Docket No. 19-0368 (issued 

November 26, 2019).

4

Id.; M.B., Docket No. 20-1175 (issued December 31, 2020); L.M., Docket No. 19-1490 (issued January 29, 2020). 
3

OWCP. Following this and other such further development as deemed necessary, OWCP shall 

issue a de novo decision. Accordingly,

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT the August 28, 2020 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: June 29, 2021

Washington, DC

Alec J. Koromilas, Chief Judge

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

Janice B. Askin, Judge

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

Patricia H. Fitzgerald, Alternate Judge

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board