Workers Compensation
Question: Under the Federal Employees' Compensation Act, what
requirements must a claim for workers' compensation meet?
Answer: The employee must provide medical and factual evidence
to establish five basic elements:
1. The claim was filed within the time limits set by the FECA;
2. The injured or deceased person was an employee within the
meaning of the FECA:
3. The employee actually developed a medical condition (or damaged
a prosthesis) in a particular way;
4. The employee was in the performance of duty when the event(s)
leading to the claim occurred; and
5. The medical condition found resulted from the event(s) leading
to the claim.
Question: How do employees file for workers' compensation if
they work for a private company or state or local government
?
Answer: Individuals injured on the job while employed by private
companies or state or local government should contact their
state workers' compensation board. At http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/owcp/wc.htm
Question: Who is covered under the Federal Employees' Compensation
Act (FECA)?
Answer: All civilian employees of the United States, except
those paid from non-appropriated funds, are covered. Special
legislation provides coverage to Peace Corps and VISTA volunteers;
federal petit or grand jurors; volunteer members of the Civil
Air Patrol; Reserve Officer Training Corps cadets; Job Corps,
Neighborhood Youth Corps, and Youth Conservation Corps enrollees;
and non-federal law enforcement officers under certain circumstances
involving crimes against the United States.
Question: What is the time limit for filing notice of injury
and claim for federal workers' compensation?
Answer: A notice must be filed within three years of the date
of injury. However, if a claim is not filed within three years,
compensation may still be paid if written notice of injury was
given within 30 days, or the employer had actual knowledge of
the injury within 30 days after it occurred.
Question: How does the Office of Workers' Compensation Programs
(OWCP) decide whether a federal employee's worker's compensation
case can be accepted?
Answer: Some very simple cases with medical expenses below a
set threshold are accepted automatically. In most cases, however,
OWCP claims staff consider the factual and medical evidence
sent by the employee and the employer.
OWCP claims staff apply the law, the regulations, and the procedures
to this factual and medical evidence. They also apply decisions
of the Employees' Compensation Appeals Board and administrative
decisions of OWCP as set forth in Federal Employees' Compensation
Act (FECA) Program Memoranda.
Question: What must a federal employee do when injured at work?
Answer:
a. Report the injury to the supervisor right away and obtain
first aid as necessary;
b. Complete a written report (Form CA-1 http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/owcp/ca-1.pdf
or CA-2 http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/owcp/ca-2.pdf)
and give it to the supervisor;
c. If a traumatic injury is involved, and further medical treatment
is needed, obtain authorization (Form CA-16) from the supervisor
for treatment by a physician of the employee's choice. If that
physician is not available, the employee still has the right
to choose a treating physician and should therefore select another;
d. If a traumatic injury is involved, furnish the supervisor
with medical evidence of any disability within 10 calendar days
of claiming continuation of pay.
Question: For purposes of federal workers' compensation,
how is "performance of duty" established?
Answer: Usually, the injury or illness must occur on the employer's
premises during working hours while the employee is performing
assigned duties or engaging in an activity which is reasonably
associated with the employment. Workers who perform assigned
duties away from the employer's premises are also covered.
Question: May someone other than the federal employee fill
out a notice of injury, illness or death to receive compensation?
Answer: Yes. Another person, including the supervisor, may
act on behalf of an injured employee or survivor and fill
out the employee's portion of Form CA-1, CA-2, CA-5, or CA-5b.
The person making the report should complete and sign the
form and then submit it to the employee's supervisor.
Question: What is the Energy Employees Occupational Illness
Compensation Program ?
Answer: The Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation
Program provides benefits authorized by the Energy Employees
Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act. The Program
went into effect on July 31, 2001. The Department of Labor’s
Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs is responsible
for adjudicating and administering claims filed by employees
or former employees or certain qualified survivors under the
Act.
Compensation of $150,000 and payment of medical expenses from
the date a claim is filed is available to:
? Employees of the Department of Energy, its contractors or
subcontractors with radiation-related cancer if:
? the employee developed cancer after working at a facility
of the Department of Energy, its contractors and subcontractors;
and
? the employee’s cancer is determined at least as likely
as not related to that employment in accordance with guidelines
issued by the Department of Health and Human Services, or
? the employee is determined to be a member of the Special
Exposure Cohort (employees who worked at least 250 days before
February 1, 1992, for the Department of Energy or its contractors
or subcontractors at one or more of the three Gaseous Diffusion
Plants located at Oak Ridge, TN, Paducah, KY or Portsmouth,
OH or who were exposed to radiation related to certain underground
nuclear tests at Amchitka, AK) and developed one of certain
listed cancers;
? Employees of the Department of Energy or its contractors
and subcontractors at facilities where they were exposed to
beryllium produced or processed for the Department of Energy
who developed Chronic Beryllium Disease; and
? Employees of the Department of Energy or its contractors
and subcontractors who worked at least 250 days during the
mining of tunnels at underground nuclear weapons test sites
in Nevada or Alaska and who developed Chronic Silicosis.
Compensation of $50,000 and payment of medical expenses from
the date a claim is filed is available for:
? Uranium Employees previously awarded benefits by the Department
of Justice under Section 5 of the Radiation Exposure Compensation
Act.
Employees of the Department of Energy, its contractors and
subcontractors who were exposed to beryllium on the job and
now have beryllium sensitivity will receive medical monitoring
to check for Chronic Beryllium Disease.
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