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U. S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

 

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

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In the Matter of JACQUELINE S. HARRIS and U.S. POSTAL SERVICE,

POST OFFICE, Dallas, TX

 

Docket No. 02-203; Submitted on the Record;

Issued October 4, 2002

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DECISION and ORDER

 

Before   COLLEEN DUFFY KIKO, MICHAEL E. GROOM,

A. PETER KANJORSKI

 

 

            The issue is whether appellant has established a permanent impairment entitling her to a schedule award under 5 U.S.C. § 8107.

            The Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs accepted that on July 29, 1995 appellant, then a 32-year-old distribution clerk sustained a low back strain, left ankle strain, cervical strain and left leg reflex sympathetic dystrophy when a container that jumped a tow-line struck her from behind at work.[1]

            On July 14, 2000 appellant filed a claim for a schedule award related to the July 29, 1995 injury.  By decision dated October 18, 2000, the Office issued a schedule award for a 36 percent permanent impairment of the left lower extremity.

            Appellant disagreed with the schedule award and requested an oral hearing on January 23, 2001.[2]  A hearing was set for June 26, 2001.  In a subsequent letter dated May 31, 2001, appellant requested that the hearing be cancelled and that the Office alternatively respond to her request for a schedule award of 50 percent impairment based on her mental condition.  She argued that the Office had authorized treatment of her mental behavior disorder since September 1995 and payment for her prescription of Zoloft, an antidepressant medication for over five years.

            In a letter dated June 5, 2001, an Office hearing representative advised appellant that the May 31, 2001 hearing had been cancelled.  The Office hearing representative further responded that the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act does not provide for the issuance of impairment ratings for emotional conditions.

            In a letter to the Office dated July 5, 2001, appellant requested an appeal of the finding regarding schedule awards for emotional conditions in the June 5, 2001 Office letter.  The Office thereafter determined that the case was not in posture for decision because the Office hearing representative’s June 5, 2001 letter did not include appeal rights.  The Office conducted a formal review of the written record consistent with appellant’s May 31, 2001 request for review.

            By decision dated September 24, 2001, an Office hearing representative denied appellant’s request for a schedule award.  The Office acknowledged that it had authorized payment for the antidepressant medication Zoloft, which the hearing representative indicated, implied an emotional condition component to the physical injury accepted by the Office.  The Office hearing representative determined, however, that the Act does not provide for a schedule award for emotional conditions and consequently denied appellant’s request.

            The Board finds that appellant is not entitled to receive a schedule award.

            Section 8107 of the Act[3] provides that, if there is a permanent disability involving the loss or loss of use, of a member or function of the body, the claimant is entitled to a schedule award for the permanent impairment of the scheduled member or function.[4]  However, the Act does not specify the manner in which the percentage of loss shall be determined.  For consistent results and to ensure equal justice under the law to all claimants, good administrative practice necessitates the use of a single set of tables so that there may be uniform standards applicable to all claimants.  The American Medical Association, Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment has been adopted by the implementing regulation as the appropriate standard for evaluating scheduled losses.[5]

            As noted above, the schedule award provisions under the Act are limited to specific members or functions of the body enumerated under 5 U.S.C. § 8107 and its implementing regulation.  A schedule award is not payable for loss or loss of use, of any member of the body not specifically enumerated,[6] nor is it payable for the body as a whole.[7]  In this case, appellant argued that she should be entitled to a schedule award for her mental behavior disorder.  The Board notes that although the Office has not accepted that appellant has developed an emotional condition related to the July 29, 1995 employment injury, medical reports of record discuss treatment for an emotional condition and the Office has approved an antidepressant medication related to the accepted condition.  Notwithstanding, the Act does not provide for a schedule award for emotional conditions.[8]  Appellant therefore, is not entitled to a schedule award for an emotional condition in this case.[9]

            The September 24, 2001 decision of the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs is affirmed.

Dated,  Washington, DC

            October 4, 2002

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                            Colleen Duffy Kiko

                                                                                                            Member

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                            Michael E. Groom

                                                                                                            Alternate Member

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                            A. Peter Kanjorski

                                                                                                            Alternate Member