PART 501—RULES OF PROCEDURE Authority: Federal Employees' Compensation Act (FECA), 5 U.S.C. 8101 et seq. Source: 73 FR 62193, Oct. 20, 2008, unless otherwise noted. § 501.1 Definitions. (a) FECA et seq. (b) The Board (c) Chief Judge and Chairman of the Board (d) Judge or Alternate Judge (e) OWCP (f) Director (g) Appellant (h) Representative (i) Decision, (j) Clerk or Office of the Clerk § 501.2 Scope and applicability of rules; composition and jurisdiction of the Board. (a) The regulations in this part establish the Rules of Practice and Procedure governing the operation of the Employees' Compensation Appeals Board. (b) The Board consists of three permanent judges, one of whom is designated as Chief Judge and Chairman of the Board, and such alternate judges as are appointed by the Secretary of Labor. The Chief Judge is the administrative officer of the Board. The functions of the Board are quasi-judicial. For organizational purposes, the Board is placed in the Office of the Secretary of Labor and sits in Washington, DC. (c) The Board has jurisdiction to consider and decide appeals from final decisions of OWCP in any case arising under the FECA. The Board may review all relevant questions of law, fact and exercises of discretion (or failure to exercise discretion) in such cases. (1) 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. (2) There will be no appeal with respect to any interlocutory matter decided (or not decided) by OWCP during the pendency of a case. (3) The Board and OWCP may not exercise simultaneous jurisdiction over the same issue in a case on appeal. Following the docketing of an appeal before the Board, OWCP does not retain jurisdiction to render a further decision regarding the issue on appeal until after the Board relinquishes jurisdiction. § 501.3 Notice of Appeal. (a) Who may file. (b) How to file. (2) Attorneys and lay representatives may request an exemption (pursuant to § 501.4(d)) for good cause shown. Such a request must include a detailed explanation why e-filing or acceptance of e-service should not be required. (3) Self-represented parties may either file appeals electronically through the Board's case management system or file appeals by mail or other method of delivery to the Clerk of the Appellate Boards at 200 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20210. (c) Content of notice of appeal. (1) Date of Appeal. (2) Full name, address, email address, and telephone number of the Appellant and the full name of any deceased employee on whose behalf an appeal is taken. In addition, the Appellant must provide a signed authorization identifying the full name, address, email address, and telephone number of his or her representative, if applicable. (3) Employing establishment, and the date, description and place of injury. (4) Date and Case File Number assigned by OWCP concerning the decision being appealed to the Board. (5) A statement explaining Appellant's disagreement with OWCP's decision and stating the factual and/or legal argument in favor of the appeal. (6) Signature: An Appellant must sign the notice of appeal. A filing made electronically through the Board's case management system by a registered user containing the Appellant's name in an appropriate signature block constitutes the Appellant's signature. (d) Substitution of appellant: (e) Time limitations for filing. (f) Date of filing. (1) If the notice of appeal is sent via the U.S. Postal Service or commercial carrier and use of the date of delivery as the date of filing would result in a loss of appeal rights, the appeal will be considered to have been filed as of the date of the postmark or other carriers' date markings. The date appearing on the U.S. Postal Service postmark or other carriers' date markings (when available and legible) shall be prima facie evidence of the date of mailing. If there is no such postmark or date marking, or it is illegible, then other evidence including, but not limited to, certified mail receipts, certificate of service, and affidavits, may be used to establish the mailing date. If a notice of appeal is delivered or sent by means other than the U.S. Postal Service or commercial carrier, including e-filing, personal delivery, or fax, the notice is deemed to be filed when received by the Clerk of the Appellate Boards. (2) For electronic filings made through the Board's case management system, a document is deemed filed as of the date and time the Board's electronic case management system records its receipt, even if transmitted after the close of business. To be considered timely, an e-filed document or pleading must be filed by 11:59:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the due date. (3) In computing the date of filing, the 180-day time period for filing an appeal begins to run on the day following the date of the OWCP decision. The last day of the period so computed shall be included, unless it is a Saturday, Sunday or Federal holiday, in which event the period runs to the close of the next business day. (g) Failure to timely file a notice of appeal. (h) Incomplete notice of appeal. [73 FR 62193, Oct. 20, 2008, as amended at 86 FR 1771, Jan. 11, 2021] § 501.4 Case record; inspection; submission of pleadings and motions. (a) Service on OWCP and transmission of OWCP case record. (b) Inspection of record. (1) Upon written application to the Clerk, an Appellant may request inspection of the OWCP case record. At the discretion of the Board, the OWCP case record may either be made available in the Office of the Clerk of the Appellate Boards for inspection by the Appellant, or the request may be forwarded to the Director so that OWCP may make a copy of the OWCP case record and forward this copy to the Appellant. Inspection of the papers and documents included in the OWCP case record of any appeal pending before the Board will be permitted or denied in accordance with 5 CFR 10.10 to 10.13. The Chief Judge (or his or her designee) shall serve as the disclosure officer for purposes of Appendix A to 29 CFR Parts 70 and 71. (2) Copies of the documents generated in the course of the appeal before the Board will be provided to the Appellant and Appellant's Representative by the Clerk. If the Appellant needs additional copies of such documents while the appeal is pending, the Appellant may obtain this information by contacting the Clerk. Pleadings and motions filed during the appeal in proceedings before the Board will be made part of the official case record of the OWCP. (c) Pleadings. (1) The Clerk will distribute copies of any pleading received by the Clerk to ensure that the Appellant, his or her Representative and the Director receive all pleadings. Any pleading should be submitted within 60 days of the filing of an appeal. The Board may, in its discretion, extend the time period for the submittal of any pleading. (2) Proceedings before the Board are informal and there is no requirement that any pleading be filed. Failure to submit a pleading or to timely submit a pleading does not prejudice the rights of either the Appellant or the Director. (3) Upon receipt of a pleading, the Appellant and the Director will have the opportunity to submit a response to the Board. (d) Motions. [73 FR 62193, Oct. 20, 2008, as amended at 86 FR 1771, Jan. 11, 2021] § 501.5 Oral argument. (a) Oral argument. (b) Request. (c) Notice of argument. (d) Time allowed. (e) Appearances. (f) Location. (g) Continuance. (h) Nonappearance. [73 FR 62193, Oct. 20, 2008, as amended at 86 FR 1771, Jan. 11, 2021] § 501.6 Decisions and orders. (a) Decisions. (b) Panels. (c) Issuance. (d) Finality. (e) Dispositive orders. (f) Service. § 501.7 Petition for reconsideration. (a) Time for filing. (b) Where to File. (c) Content of petition. (d) Panel. (e) Answer. (f) Oral argument and decision on reconsideration. § 501.8 Clerk of the Office of the Appellate Boards; docket of proceedings; records. (a) Location and business hours. (b) Docket. (c) Publication of decisions. § 501.9 Representation; appearances and fees. (a) Representation. (1) Counsel. (2) Lay representative. (3) Former members of the Board and other employees of the Department of Labor. (b) Appearance. (c) Change of address. (d) Debarment of Counsel or Representative. (e) Fees for attorney, Representative, or other services. de minimis (1) Usefulness of the Representative's services; (2) The nature and complexity of the appeal; (3) The capacity in which the Representative has appeared; (4) The actual time spent in connection with the Board appeal; and (5) Customary local charges for similar services.