United States Department of Labor

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

__________________________________________

J.W., Appellant

and

U.S. POSTAL SERVICE, POST OFFICE, 

Richford, VT, Employer

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Docket No. 23-0685

Issued: December 18, 2023

Appearances: Case Submitted on the Record

Appellant, pro se

Office of Solicitor, for the Director

DECISION AND ORDER

Before:

ALEC J. KOROMILAS, Chief Judge

PATRICIA H. FITZGERALD, Deputy Chief Judge

JAMES D. McGINLEY, Alternate Judge

JURISDICTION

On April 20, 2023 appellant filed a timely appeal from a March 15, 2023 merit decision of 

the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP).1 Pursuant to the Federal Employees’

Compensation Act2(FECA) and 20 C.F.R. §§ 501.2(c) and 501.3, the Board has jurisdiction over 

the merits of this case.

ISSUE

The issue is whether appellant has met her burden of proof to establish entitlement to 

continuation of pay (COP).

1 The Board notes that following the March 15, 2023 decision, OWCP received additional evidence. 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.

2

5 U.S.C. § 8101 et seq.
2

FACTUAL HISTORY

On March 3, 2023 appellant, then a 53-year-old clerk stenographer, filed a traumatic injury 

claim (Form CA-1) alleging that on January 19, 2023 she tripped over a stool fracturing her 

foot/ankle while in the performance of duty. She stopped work on February 27, 2023. OWCP 

accepted the claim for displaced fracture of the neck of the right talus.

By decision dated March 15, 2023, OWCP denied appellant’s claim for COP, finding that 

she had not reported her injury on an OWCP-approved form within 30 days of her accepted 

January 19, 2023 employment injury. It noted that the denial of COP did not preclude her from 

filing a claim for disability due to the effects of her accepted injury.

LEGAL PRECEDENT

Section 8118(a) of FECA authorizes COP, not to exceed 45 days, to an employee who has 

filed a claim for a period of wage loss due to a traumatic injury with his or her immediate superior 

on a form approved by the Secretary of Labor within the time specified in section 8122(a)(2) of 

this title.3 This latter section provides that written notice of injury shall be given within 30 days. 4 

The context of section 8122 makes clear that this means within 30 days of the injury. 5

OWCP’s regulations provide, in pertinent part, that to be eligible for COP, an employee 

must: (1) have a traumatic injury which is job related and the cause of the disability and/or the 

cause of lost time due to the need for medical examination and treatment; (2) file Form CA-1 

within 30 days of the date of the injury; and (3) begin losing time from work due to the traumatic 

injury within 45 days of the injury.6

ANALYSIS

The Board finds that appellant has not met her burden of proof to establish entitlement to 

COP.

Appellant filed her Form CA-1 on March 3, 2023. As this was more than 30 days after the 

claimed employment injury, the Board finds that it untimely, pursuant to sections 8118(a) and 

3

Id. at § 8118(a).

4

Id. at § 8122(a)(2).

5 T.S., Docket No. 22-1117 (issued March 30, 2023); E.M., Docket No. 20-0837 (issued January 27, 2021); J.S.,

Docket No. 18-1086 (issued January17, 2019); RobertM. Kimzey, 40 ECAB 762-64 (1989); Myra Lenburg, 36 ECAB 

487, 489 (1985).

6

20 C.F.R. § 10.205(a)(1-3); see also T.S., id.;X.M.,Docket No. 22-0271 (issued February 28, 2023); G.L., Docket 

No. 22-0490 (issued August 2, 2022); T.S., Docket No. 19-1228 (issued December 9, 2019); J.M., Docket No. 09-

1563 (issued February 26, 2010); Dodge Osborne, 44 ECAB 849 (1993); WilliamE. Ostertag, 33 ECAB 1925(1982).
3

8122(a)(2) of FECA.7 As such, appellant has not met her burden of proof to establish entitlement 

to COP.

CONCLUSION

The Board finds that appellant has not met her burden of proof to establish entitlement to 

COP.

ORDER

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT the March 15, 2023 decision of the Office of 

Workers’ Compensation Programs is affirmed.

Issued: December 18, 2023

Washington, DC

Alec J. Koromilas, Chief Judge

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

Patricia H. Fitzgerald, Deputy Chief Judge

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

James D. McGinley, Alternate Judge

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

7

Supra notes 3 and 4.