United States Department of Labor

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

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M.I., Appellant

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U.S. POSTAL SERVICE, POSTAL SERVICE, 

Detroit, MI, Employer

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Docket No. 21-0518

Issued: January 21, 2022

Appearances: Case Submitted on the Record

Appellant, pro se

Office of Solicitor, for the Director

ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO REMAND

Before:

ALEC J. KOROMILAS, Chief Judge

JANICE B. ASKIN, Judge

PATRICIA H. FITZGERALD, Alternate Judge

On February 17, 2021 appellant filed a timely appeal from a December 16, 2020 merit 

decision of the Office of Workers’Compensation Programs(OWCP).1 The Clerk of the Appellate 

Boards assigned Docket No. 21-0518.

On April 20, 2020 appellant, then a 55-year-old general clerk, filed a traumatic injury claim 

(Form CA-1) alleging that on March 24, 2020 she contracted COVID-19 while in the performance

of duty. She asserted that on that date she directly received gloves from R.B., a coworker, who 

had COVID-19. Appellant indicated that she became ill on March 27, 2020 and was advised on 

April 7, 2020 of a positive result for an April 4, 2020 COVID-19 test. She stopped work on 

March 27, 2020.

Appellant submitted a May 6, 2020 report from Dr. Wael Bazzi, a Board-certified family 

medicine specialist, who indicated that she had recently tested positive for COVID-19. She also 

1 The Board notes that OWCP subsequently issued a March 18, 2021 decision, which vacated the December 16, 

2020 merit decision. However, appellant had already filed the current appeal to the Board on February 17, 2021. 

OWCP may not simultaneously have jurisdiction over the same issue. Consequently, the March 18, 2021 decision is 

set aside as null and void. See 20 C.F.R. § 10.626; see also A.C., Docket No. 18-1730 (issued July 23, 2019); M.C., 

Docket No. 18-1278, n.1 (issued March 7, 2019); Russell E. Lerman, 43 ECAB 770 (1992); Douglas E.Billings, 41 

ECAB 880 (1990)..
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submitted a May 19, 2020 attending physician’s report (Form CA-20) from Dr. Veronica Takov, 

an osteopath and a Board-certified family medicine physician, who diagnosed acute COVID-19 

infection.

In a May 7, 2020 letter, appellant’s direct supervisor acknowledged that appellant had 

contact with R.B., as alleged. In an August 5, 2020 letter, an employing establishment official 

acknowledged that appellant encountered up to 10 members of the public during a typical work 

shift. In a November 9, 2020 statement of accepted facts, OWCP accepted that on March 24, 2020 

appellant had contact with a coworker who later was diagnosed with COVID-19 and that she tested 

positive for COVID-19 on April 4, 2020.

By decision dated December 16, 2020, OWCP denied appellant’s claim that she sustained 

COVID-19 causally related to the accepted employment exposure. It found that she had not 

submitted sufficient medical evidence relating her COVID-19 diagnosis to the accepted workplace 

exposure. 

On August 30, 2021 the Director of OWCP filed a motion to remand with the Clerk of the 

Appellate Boards. The Director noted that OWCP has conceded that appellant is a covered 

employee under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) and that she is entitled to 

appropriate benefits under FECA. The Director requested that the December 16, 2020 decision be 

set aside. The Director further advised that, upon remand, OWCP would reissue its decision on 

appellant’s entitlement to FECA benefits for exposure to COVID-19 while in the performance of 

her federal duties, and authorize the payment of appropriate benefits as claimed by appellant.

The Board, having duly considered this matter, grants the Director’s motion. On remand 

OWCP shall reissue its decision on appellant’s entitlement to FECA benefits for exposure to 

COVID-19 while in the performance of her federal duties, and authorize the payment of 

appropriate benefits as claimed by appellant.
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IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT the motion to remand is granted. The December 16, 

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: January 21, 2022

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