United States Department of Labor

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

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M.E., Appellant

and

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, 

FEDERAL BUREAU OF PRISONS, 

El Reno, OK, Employer

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Docket No. 22-0996

Issued: December 29, 2022

Appearances: Case Submitted on the Record

Appellant, pro se

Office of Solicitor, for the Director

ORDER DISMISSING APPEAL

Before:

ALEC J. KOROMILAS, Chief Judge

JANICE B. ASKIN, Judge

JAMES D. MCGINLEY, Alternate Judge

On June 8, 20221 appellant filed an appeal from a December 9, 2021 merit decision of the 

Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP).2 The Clerk of the Appellate Boards 

assigned Docket No. 22-0996.

1 Under the Board’s Rules of Procedure, anappealmust be filed within 180 daysfrom the date of the last OWCP 

decision. An appealis considered filed upon receipt by the Clerk of the Appellate Boards. See20 C.F.R. § 501.3(e)(f). 

One hundred and eighty days from December 9, 2021, the date of OWCP’s last decision, was June 7, 2022. Since 

using June 13, 2022, the date the appealwas received by the Clerk of the Appellate Boards, would result in the loss 

of appealrights, the date of thepostmark is considered the date of filing. See 20 C.F.R. § 501.3(f)(1). 

2 The Board notes that appellant submitted additional evidence on appeal. 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

The Board, having duly considered the matter, notes that the Board has jurisdiction to 

review final adverse decisions of OWCP issued under the Federal Employees’Compensation Act.3 

The Board’s Rules of Procedure provide that “Any notice of appeal must be filed within 180 days 

from the date of issuance of a decision of OWCP.”

4

 The 180th day following the most recent 

OWCP decision, which was dated December 9, 2021, was June 7, 2022. As appellant’s appeal

request was postmarked June 8, 2022, the appeal docketed as No. 22-0996 is untimely filed. The 

Board is, therefore, without jurisdiction to review the appeal. Appellant has not offered a reason 

to explain her failure to timely file an appeal with supporting documentation sufficient to establish 

compelling circumstances. As there is no final adverse decision issued by OWCP within 180 days 

of the filing of this appeal over which the Board may properly exercise jurisdiction, the Board 

concludes that the appeal docketed as No. 22-0996 must be dismissed. Accordingly, 

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT the appeal docketed as No. 22-0996 is dismissed.

Issued: December 29, 2022

Washington, DC

Alec J. Koromilas, Chief Judge

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

Janice B. Askin, Judge

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

James D. McGinley, Alternate Judge

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

3

5 U.S.C. § 8101 et seq.; 20 C.F.R. §§ 501.2(c) and 501.3(a).

4

Id. at § 501.3(e).