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Federal workers' comp under scrutiny

Federal workers' compensation may be too generous for some

Date published: 6/20/2004

THE Federal Employees' Compensation Act provides comprehensive workers' compensation benefits to 3 million federal and postal employees. Its purpose is to provide medical benefits, income replacement and other support services to federal employees with work-related injuries and, in the case of death, survivor benefits to family members.

As with any federal program, FECA was recently the subject of an oversight hearing before the House Committee on Education's Workforce Protections Subcommittee. Georgia Congressman Charlie Norwood, the subcommittee's chairman, called this hearing, the first since 2000, to gauge FECA's overall effectiveness in meeting the needs of injured workers.

Shelby Hallmark, director of the Labor Department's workers' compensation programs, testified that FECA is by far the largest compensation program within his domain, paying more than $2.3 billion in benefits to almost 300,000 individuals in 2003. He noted that FECA has provided critical assistance to victims of the September 11 and anthrax attacks, the bombing of embassies in Africa, the Oklahoma City tragedy and more recently to civilian workers injured or killed in Iraq.

Hallmark highlighted administrative changes made in the last year to consolidate the medical authorization and bill payment processes. He is also hopeful that the president's new Safety, Health and Return-to-Employment Initiative with the Occupation Safety and Health Administration will greatly improve workplace safety and reduce days lost from work due to injury and illness.

Hallmark also focused on FECA's structural features, which create incentives for workers to remain on long-term disability rather than return to work. FECA benefits frequently exceed the injured employee's pre-injury take-home pay.

Since FECA beneficiaries are not required to retire at any age and can remain in the program for life, Labor's Inspector General Gordon S. Heddell is recommending establishing a "suitable retirement age" for FECA beneficiaries. Though an exact age was not suggested, once that barrier was reached FECA benefits would be reduced but medical benefits would still be provided.

Even though there is no legislation currently on the table, it is likely that this suggested change to FECA will receive serious attention as Congress and the administration work to reduce the federal red ink. I'll keep you posted.

One more short item from the Congressional scene: The Senate has approved legislation to allow federal workers to make changes to their Thrift Savings Accounts without an open season. The House of Representatives endorsed this earlier in the year at the urging of Fredericksburg-area Rep. Jo Ann Davis, who chairs the Civil Service subcommittee. With the Senate now on board, it appears that TSP's awkward open seasons will soon be history.

KEVIN WILKINSON of Spotsylvania County is a veteran federal employee. Write him c/o Federal Feedback, The Free Lance-Star, 616 Amelia St., Fredericksburg, Va. 22401, or e-mail kwlknsn@yahoo.com.

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Date published: 6/20/2004