United States Department of Labor

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

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M.L., Appellant

and

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, OFFICE OF 

WORKERS’ COMPENSATION PROGRAMS, 

Dallas, TX, Employer

__________________________________________

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Docket No. 22-1276

Issued: January 18, 2023

Appearances: Case Submitted on the Record

Appellant, pro se

Office of Solicitor, for the Director

ORDER REMANDING CASE

Before:

ALEC J. KOROMILAS, Chief Judge

PATRICIA H. FITZGERALD, Deputy Chief Judge

VALERIE D. EVANS-HARRELL, Alternate Judge

On August 29, 2022 appellant filed a timely appeal from an April 4, 2022 merit decision 

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

docketed the appeal as No. 22-1276.

On December 30, 2021 appellant, then a 57-year-old general claims examiner, filed an 

occupational disease claim (Form CA-2) alleging that she sustained bilateral upper extremity 

conditions causally related to repetitive duties of her federal employment. She noted that she first

became aware of her condition and realized its relation to her federal employment on 

September 2, 2020. OWCP assigned the claim OWCP File No. xxxxxx222. 

By decision dated April 4, 2022, OWCP denied appellant’s occupational disease claim. It 

noted that she had previously filed an occupational disease claim on May 24, 2016 alleging that 

she sustained bilateral upper extremity conditions causally related to or aggravated by factors of 

her federal employment, assigned OWCP File No. xxxxxx211. OWCP referenced evidence from 

OWCP File No. xxxxxx211 in finding that appellant had not established a medical condition 

causally related to the accepted employment factors. 
2

OWCP’s procedures provide that cases should be administratively combined when proper 

adjudication of the issues depends on frequent cross-referencing between case files.1 For example, 

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

condition or the same part of the body, doubling is required.2 

As noted above, appellant has a prior claim under OWCP File No. xxxxxx211 for bilateral 

upper extremity conditions, the same region of the body at issue in the claim presently before the 

Board. However, the evidence from this file is not part of the case record available to the Board 

for review. Therefore, for a full and fair adjudication, the case shall be remanded to OWCP to 

administratively combine the current case record, OWCP File No. xxxxxx222, with OWCP File 

No. xxxxxx211.3 Following this and other such further development as deemed necessary, OWCP 

shall issue a de novo decision regarding appellant’s occupational disease claim. Accordingly,

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT the April 4, 2022 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 18, 2023

Washington, DC

Alec J. Koromilas, Chief Judge

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

Patricia H. Fitzgerald, Deputy Chief Judge

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

Valerie D. Evans-Harrell, Alternate Judge

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

1 Federal (FECA) Procedure Manual, Part 2 -- Claims, File Maintenance and Management, Chapter 2.400.8(c)(1) 

(February 2000); V.G., Docket No. 19-0670 (issued April 30, 2020); L.P., Docket Nos. 18-1558, 18-1568 (issued 

June 21, 2019); W.S., Docket No. 15-0969 (issued October 5, 2015); C.C., Docket No. 14-1576 (issued 

March 9, 2015).

2

Id.; M.B., Docket No. 20-1175 (issued December 31, 2020); L.M., Docket No. 19-1490 (issued January29, 2020).

3

See R.L., Docket No. 22-0603 (issued September 16, 2022); A.D., Order Remanding Case, Docket No. 22-0147 

(issued July 1, 2022).