WHAT TO DO IF YOUR CLAIM IS DENIED: HEARING, APPEALS
BOARD OR RECONSIDERATION

The filing of CA-1 or CA-2 will normally result in a formal OWCP decision. You have 30 days from the days from the date of an OWCP District Office denial to request an oral hearing from OWCP District Office denial to request an oral hearing from OWCP’s Branch of Hearings and Review in Washington, DC, or you may request instead that they perform a review of the written record with no oral testimony.

You have 90 days from the date of any formal OWCP merit decision to appeal to the Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board (ECAB), extended to one year for good reason.

You may also, within one year of any OWCP or Appeals Board decision made after June 1, 1987, request reconsideration (review) from the OWCP District Office. In order to secure District Office reconsideration, new and detailed relevant evidence (usually medical) must be submitted.

You cannot have a Branch of Hearing and Review oral hearing or review of the written record
if you have already received an OWCP reconsideration decision.

• OWCP’s policy is to provide a decision on a request for reconsideration within 90 days.

• It is the policy of the Branch of Hearings and Review to provide a decision regarding a
review of the written record within 120 days. However, it may take six months to a year
or longer after your request for an oral hearing to get a decision. The length of the delay
depends primarily on how soon a hearing representative from Washington, DC is available
to be assigned to your geographic area to hold hearings.

• If your appeal is to ECAB it could be approximately one and one-half years or longer before
you get a decision. This is due to the large number of cases backlogged at the Appeal Board.