United States Department of Labor

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

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J.V., Appellant

and

U.S. POSTAL SERVICE, GENOA POST 

OFFICE, Genoa, NE, Employer

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Docket No. 21-0638

Issued: September 21, 2021

Appearances: Case Submitted on the Record

Alan J. Shapiro, Esq., for the appellant1

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 March 16, 2021 appellant, through counsel, filed a timely appeal from a February 10, 

2021 merit decision of the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP). The Clerk of 

the Appellate Boards docketed the appeal as No. 21-0638.

On September 13, 2014 appellant, then a 57-year-old rural mail carrier, filed a traumatic 

injury claim (Form CA-1) alleging that on September 10, 2014 she injured her knees and left 

foot/ankle when she lost her footing on sunken concrete as she was delivering a parcel while in 

 

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

the performance of duty.2 She stopped work on the date of injury.3 OWCP initially accepted 

appellant’s claim for contusion of the right lower leg, and later expanded the acceptance of the 

claim to include crushing injury of the right knee and lower leg, left ankle sprain, right prepatellar 

bursitis, and right knee other tear of the lateral meniscus. Appellant underwent OWCP-authorized 

right knee arthroscopy with partial lateral meniscectomy on November 9, 2015. 

On March 15, 2018 appellant filed a claim for compensation (Form CA-7) for a schedule 

award.

By decision dated May 21, 2020, OWCP granted appellant a schedule award for two 

percent permanent impairment of the right leg. The period of the award ran for 5.76 weeks from 

August 3 to September 12, 2018. On May 27, 2020 appellant, through counsel, requested a 

telephonic hearing before a representative of OWCP’s Branch of Hearings and Review.

By decision dated August 4, 2020, an OWCP hearing representative, following a 

preliminary review, set aside the May 21, 2020 decision and remanded the case for further 

development of the medical evidence regarding the extent of appellant’s bilateral lower extremity 

permanent impairment. The hearing representative also directed OWCP to administrative ly 

combine appellant’s prior claims for lower extremity injuries under OWCP File Nos. xxxxxx421, 

xxxxxx417, and xxxxxx960 in accordance with OWCP’s procedures.

Following further development of the medical evidence, OWCP, in a September 8, 2020

decision, denied appellant’s schedule award claim, finding that the evidence of record was 

insufficient to establish permanent impairment of a scheduled member or function of the body. 

On September 16, 2020 appellant, through counsel, requested a telephonic hearing before a 

representative of OWCP’s Branch of Hearings and Review, which was held on January 5, 2021.

In a February 10, 2021 decision, a second OWCP hearing representative affirmed the 

September 8, 2020 decision.

The Board has duly considered the matter and finds that this case is not in posture for 

decision. OWCP’s procedures provide that cases should be administratively combined where

correct adjudication depends on cross-referencing between files and where two or more injuries 

occur to the same part of the body.4 The evidence of record indicates that appellant had prior 

accepted injuries to her bilateral lower extremities in OWCP File Nos. xxxxxx421, xxxxxx417, 

and xxxxxx960. Although directed by OWCP’s hearing representative to combine the files, the 

electronic case record as transmitted to the Board, however, indicates that they had not been 

 

2 Appellant has prior claims, including a December 1, 2005 occupational disease claim under OWCP File No. 

xxxxxx421 that was accepted for left plantar fasciitis, December 24, 2009 traumatic injury claim under OWCP File 

No. xxxxxx417 that was accepted for bilateral foot strains and left biceps strain, and June 25, 2013 traumatic injury 

claim under OWCP File No. xxxxxx960 that was accepted for left ankle sprain. Appellant’s prior claims have not 

been administratively combined with the present claim. 

3 Appellant retired on disability from the employing establishment, effective October 23, 2017. 

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

(February 2000).
3

combined. Due to appellant’s accepted traumatic injury claim for bilateral lower extremity injuries

currently before the Board and her prior accepted claims for bilateral lower extremity injuries, for 

a full and fair adjudication, the case shall be remanded to OWCP to administratively combine the 

current case record, OWCP File No. xxxxxx081, with OWCP File Nos. xxxxxx421, xxxxxx417, 

and xxxxxx960 and any other files with lower extremity injuries. This will allow OWCP to 

consider all relevant claim files in developing appellant’s schedule award claim.5 Following this 

and other such development as deemed necessary, OWCP shall issue a de novo decision on 

appellant’s schedule award claim.

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT the February 10, 2021 decision of the Office of

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

proceedings consistent with this order of the Board.

Issued: September 21, 2021

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

 

5

Id.