United States Department of Labor

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

__________________________________________

K.G., Appellant

and

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS, 

OMAHA VA MEDICAL CENTER, Omaha, NE, 

Employer

__________________________________________

)

)

)

)

)

)

)

)

)

Docket No. 23-0027

Issued: November 29, 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

VALERIE D. EVANS-HARRELL, Alternate Judge

JAMES D. McGINLEY, Alternate Judge

JURISDICTION

On October 12, 2022 appellant filed a timely appeal from a September 27, 2022 merit 

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

Employees’ Compensation Act1(FECA) and 20 C.F.R. §§ 501.2(c) and 501.3, the Board has 

jurisdiction over the merits of this case.2

1

5 U.S.C. § 8101 et seq.

2 The Board notes that, following the September 27, 2022 decision, appellant submitted additional evidence to 

OWCP. 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

ISSUE

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

continuation of pay (COP).

FACTUAL HISTORY

On August 22, 2022 appellant, then a 47-year-old nurse, filed a traumatic injury claim 

(Form CA-1) alleging that on July 22, 2022 she contracted COVID-19 while in the performance 

duty. On the reverse side of the claim form, her supervisor challenged her claim based on lack of 

medical evidence and controverted COP. Appellant stopped work on the claimed date of injury

and returned to work on August 1, 2022.

3

In support of her claim, appellant submitted timesheets for the period July 17 through 

August 27, 2022.

In a medical report dated July 22, 2022, Dr. Allison A. Bird, an osteopath, indicated that 

appellant would be incapacitated and require treatment from July 22 through August 8, 2022, due 

to severe COVID-19 symptoms following exposure to co-workers with COVID-19.

In a letter dated August 22, 2022, the employing establishment controverted the COP 

claim. It related that appellant had not filed the Form CA-1 within 30 days of the alleged date of 

injury. 

By decision dated September 27, 2022, OWCP accepted appellant’s traumatic injury claim 

for COVID-19. By separate decision of even date, it denied her claim for COP, finding that she 

had not reported her injury on an OWCP-approved form within 30 days of her alleged July 22, 

2022 employment 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 

FECA.

4

 This latter section provides that written notice of injury shall be given within 30 days. 5 

The context of section 8122 makes clear that this means within 30 days of the injury. 6

3 Appellant subsequently filed a September 29, 2022 Form CA-1 for severe COVID-19 complications. OWCP 

assigned OWCP File No. xxxxxx818. Appellant’s claims have been administratively combined by OWCP with the 

current claim, OWCP File No. xxxxxx688, serving as the master file.

4

Supra note 1 at § 8118(a).

5

Id. at § 8122(a)(2).

6 E.M., Docket No. 20-0837 (issued January 27, 2021); J.S.,Docket No. 18-1086 (issued January 17, 2019);

Robert M. Kimzey, 40 ECAB 762-64 (1989); Myra Lenburg, 36 ECAB 487, 489 (1985).
3

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.7

ANALYSIS

The Board finds that appellant has met her burden of proof to establish entitlement to COP.

Appellant filed a Form CA-1 on August 22, 2022 alleging an injury due to exposure to 

COVID-19 on July 22, 2022. With regard to entitlement to COP, the Board has held that if the 

date the 30-day period in which to file notice of injury would have expired was a Saturday or 

Sunday, the time for filing a notice of injury does not expire until the next business day.8 In the 

present case, the 30th day following July 22, 2022 was Sunday, August 21, 2022. As appellant 

filed her claim on Monday, August 22, 2022, her CA-1 claim was timely filed.

The September 27, 2022 decision of the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs is 

reversed.

CONCLUSION

The Board finds that appellant has met her burden of proof to establish entitlement to COP.

7

20 C.F.R. § 10.205(a)(1-3); see also 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).

8 Gwen Cohen-Wise, Docket No. 03-1021 (issued July 23, 2003).
4

ORDER

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT the September 27, 2022 decision of the Office of 

Workers’ Compensation Programs is reversed.

Issued: November 29, 2023

Washington, DC

Alec J. Koromilas, Chief Judge

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

Valerie D. Evans-Harrell, Alternate Judge

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

James D. McGinley, Alternate Judge

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board