United States Department of Labor

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

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C.H., Appellant

and

U.S. POSTAL SERVICE, POST OFFICE, 

Harrisburg, PA, Employer

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Docket No. 21-1333

Issued: June 23, 2022

Appearances: Case Submitted on the Record

Russell T. Uliase, Esq., for the appellant1

Office of Solicitor, for the Director

ORDER GRANTING REMAND

Before:

ALEC J. KOROMILAS, Chief Judge

VALERIE D. EVANS-HARRELL, Alternate Judge

JAMES D. MCGINLEY, Alternate Judge

On September 3, 2021 appellant, through counsel, filed a timely appeal from a March 29, 

2021 merit decision of the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP).2 The Clerk of 

the Appellate Boards assigned Docket No. 21-1333. 

On June 10, 2020 appellant, then a 57-year-old rural carrier, filed an occupational disease 

claim (Form CA-2) alleging that she developed right shoulder pain due to factors of her federal 

employment including performing repetitive motions with her right arm at work over a 22 -year 

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 Board notes that, following the March 29, 2021 decision, appellant submitted additional evidence to OWCP. 

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.
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period. She noted that she first became aware of her condition and realized its relation to her 

federal employment on May 25, 2020. Appellant stopped work on June 3, 2020.

By decision dated October 22, 2020, OWCP denied appellant’s occupational disease claim, 

finding that the medical evidence of record was insufficient to establish that her right shoulder 

condition was causally related to the accepted factors of her federal employment.

By decision dated March 29, 2021, OWCP denied appellant’s claim that she developed a 

right shoulder condition causally related to the accepted factors of her federal employment.

On February 23, 2022 the Director of OWCP filed a motion to remand. The Director noted 

that appellant submitted substantial evidence in support of her claim to raise an uncontroverted 

inference of causal relationship between her diagnosed rotator cuff injury of the right shoulder and 

the repetitive movements involved in her job as a mail carrier. The Director requested that the 

Board set aside the March 29, 2021 decision and remand the case to OWCP for further 

development of the medical evidence. 

The Clerk of the Appellate Boards served appellant and counsel with a copy of the 

Director’s motion to remand on March 1, 2022. On March 9, 2022, counsel for appellant, filed a 

response concurring in the Director’s motion to remand.

The Board, having duly considered this matter, concludes that for the reasons espoused in 

the Director’s motion, the motion should be granted. On remand OWCP shall conduct any 

necessary further development to be followed by a de novo decision on the issue of whether 

appellant has met her burden of proof to establish a right shoulder condition causally related to the 

accepted factors of her federal employment. Accordingly,
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IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT the motion to remand filed by the Director of the 

Office of Workers’Compensation Programs is granted. The March 29, 2021 decision of the Office 

of Workers’Compensation Programsis set aside, and the case is remanded for further proceedings 

consistent with this order of the Board.

Issued: June 23, 2022

Washington, DC

Alec J. Koromilas, Chief Judge

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

Valerie D. Evans-Harrell, Alternate Judge

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

James D. McGinley, Alternate Judge

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board