United States Department of Labor

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

__________________________________________

J.M., Appellant

and

U.S. POSTAL SERVICE, POST OFFICE, 

Pendleton, OR, Employer

__________________________________________

)

)

)

)

)

)

)

)

Docket No. 22-0333

Issued: July 1, 2022

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

VALERIE D. EVANS-HARRELL, Alternate Judge

JAMES D. McGINLEY, Alternate Judge

On January 22, 2021 appellant, through counsel, filed a timely appeal from a December 8, 

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

the Appellate Boards docketed the appeal as Docket No. 22-0333.

On December 4, 2020 appellant, then a 48-year-old rural delivery specialist, filed an 

occupational disease claim (Form CA-2) alleging that he developed stiffness, pain, and limited 

mobility in his neck due to factors of his employment. He reported that he first became aware of 

his condition on November 13, 2019 and first realized that his condition was caused or aggravated 

by his federal employment on November 4, 2020. Appellant stopped work on October 31, 2020. 

OWCP assigned the claim File No. xxxxxx583.

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

In an accompanying narrative statement, appellant described his work duties and noted that 

he had previously sustained an accepted right shoulder injury on December 23, 2016 which 

resulted in authorized surgery.2

In a December 11, 2020 development letter, OWCP informed appellant of the deficiencies 

of his claim. It advised him of the type of medical and factual evidence necessary to establish his 

claim and provided a questionnaire for his completion. In a separate development letter dated 

December 10, 2020, OWCP also requested additional information from the employing 

establishment. It afforded both parties 30 days to submit the necessary information.

By decision dated January 29, 2021, OWCP denied appellant’s occupational disease claim 

finding that he provided insufficient medical evidence to establish a diagnosed medical condition

causally related to the accepted factors of his federal employment. It concluded, therefore that the 

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

On February 26, 2021 appellant, through counsel, requested an oral hearing before a 

representative of OWCP’s Branch of Hearings and Review. The oral hearing took place on 

May 27, 2021.

Dr. Patricia Ann Waring, a Board-certified family practitioner, completed a June 24, 2021 

note and described appellant’s work duties. She noted that he experienced left-sided neck pain 

beginning in November 2019 and received facet injections on June 3, 2021. Dr. Waring diagnosed 

cervical facet arthritis. She noted that the etiology of appellant’s arthritis and degenerative changes 

was difficult to establish as “being solely related to his employment.”

By decision dated August 3, 2021, OWCP’s hearing representative affirmed, as modified,

OWCP’s January 29, 2021 decision finding that the medical evidence was insufficient to establish 

causal relationship between the diagnosed medical condition and the accepted factors of 

appellant’s federal employment.

On October 28, 2021 appellant, through counsel, requested reconsideration. In support of 

this request, he provided an August 9, 2021 note from Dr. Andrea Yolanda Carrasco, a Boardcertified family practitioner. Dr. Carrasco diagnosed arthropathy of the right shoulder region and 

cervical facet syndrome. She attributed appellant’s left-sided neck pain to compensating for his 

accepted right shoulder injury under OWCP File No. xxxxxx733.

By decision dated December 8, 2021, OWCP denied modification of its prior decisions.

The Board, having duly considered the 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 files.3 For 

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

2 The record reflects that appellant has a previously accepted December 23, 2016 traumatic injury claim (Form CA1) for right shoulder suprascapular neuropathy and right rotator cuff tear with authorized surgery on June 19, 2017 

under OWCPFile No. xxxxxx733.

3 K.K.,Docket No. 20-0581 (issued September 14, 2020); see Federal (FECA) Procedure Manual, Part 2 --Claims, 

File Maintenance and Management, Chapter 2.400.8c (February 2000).
3

a similar condition or the same part of the body, doubling is required. 4 Regarding alleged 

consequential injuries, in discussing the range of compensable consequences, once the primary 

injury is causally connected with the employment, the question is whether compensability should 

be extended to a subsequent injury or aggravation related in some way to the primary injury. The 

basic rule is that a subsequent injury, whether an aggravation of the original injury or a new and 

distinct injury, is compensable if it is the direct and natural result of a compensable primary injury. 5 

Herein, Dr. Carrasco noted appellant’s previously accepted right shoulder suprascapular 

neuropathy and right rotator cuff tear under OWCP File No. xxxxxx733 and indicated that these 

employment injuries and the subsequent surgery procedure caused his diagnosed conditions in the 

present claim. 

The Board finds that for a full and fair adjudication of appellant’s claim, the case shall be 

remanded to OWCP to administratively combine OWCP File Nos. xxxxxx583 and xxxxxx733.

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

de novo decision.

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT the December 8, 2021 decision of the Office of 

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

with this order of the Board.

Issued: July 1, 2022

Washington, DC

Janice B. Askin, Judge

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

Valerie D. Evans-Harrell, Alternate Judge

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

James D. McGinley, Alternate Judge

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

4

Id.; D.C., Docket No. 19-0100 (issued June3, 2019); N.M., Docket No. 18-0833 (issued April18, 2019); K.T.,

Docket No. 17-0432 (issued August17, 2018).

5

See C.H., Docket No. 20-0228 (issued October 7, 2020); see also K.S., Docket No. 17-1583 (issued 

May 10, 2018).