EEOC voids all Postal Service denials of individual damage claims in NRP class action
In an order dated 11/07/2018, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ordered the U. S. Postal Service to vacate (void) all its premature orders denying damage claims filed by thousands of Postal employees in the National Reassessment Process (NRP) class…
WILG continues meeting with USDOL and OPM decision-makers
In mid-April, my partner Dan Goodkin and I, as members of the FECA [Federal Employees’ Compensation Act] Section of WILG [Workers’ Injury Law & Advocacy Group] traveled to Washington, DC for what are now our annual meetings with top officials…
U. S. Postal Service National Reassessment Process (“NRP”) is found to be discriminatory, and damage claims can be filed now.
More than ten years ago, the Postal Service started a program in which it “reassessed” the duties of its employees and sent many of those with disabilities home without pay, claiming there was “no work available” for them. This practice,…
WILG FECA Section members meet with Western Region OWCP leaders
As mentioned in previous newsletters, it is one thing to know the law and quite another to watch how it is administered. This is particularly true in the area of FECA workers’ compensation claims for federal employees under the Federal…
Unpredictability of OWCP decisions in FECA claims creates uncertainty that hurts productivity and employee morale.
In our practice representing federal employees, we find it is one thing to know the law and quite another to watch how it is administered. This is particularly true in the area of FECA – workers’ compensation claims for federal…
ECAB continues to issue inscrutable decisions in FECA claims
ECAB continues to issue inscrutable decisions in FECA claims that mask due process constitutional problems. It is frustrating, to say the least, for attorneys to get administrative decisions that seem to make no sense, logically or legally, when those decisions…
OWCP clarifies schedule award procedures
OWCP clarifies schedule award procedures, including how pre-existing or nonindustrial medical conditions affect these important permanent disability awards. There have been persistent problems in Federal Employees’ Compensation Act (FECA – workers’ compensation for federal employees) cases in the amount of awards…
A string of positive ECAB decisions may signal a trend toward more fair appeals rulings in FECA cases.
Over the past few months we have received about a half dozen positive decisions from the Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board in Washington in cases filed under the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act (FECA). A quick summary of some of them can give an idea…
How the Social Security Administration paid $30,000 for a $75 space heater for one of its employees
This is a story of how bureaucratic intransigence and, one could say, stupidity resulted in prolonged hardship for a federal employee and unnecessary expense to the U. S. taxpayer. An employee of the Social Security Administration (SSA) – an administrative judge who renders…
FECA practitioners merge into one unified bar group
At the annual convention of WILG (Workers’ Injury Lw and Advocacy Group) in Arizona last month, the country’s two groups of attorneys who represent FECA (Federal Employees’ Compensation Act) claimants completed their merger and became one group – the FECA Section of WILG. WILG is…
Another small step in the right direction at ECAB
We recently received a decision issued by the Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board (ECAB) that might signal its willingness to look more carefully and critically at how the Office of Workers’ Compen-sation Programs (OWCP) makes decisions in Federal Employees’ Compensation Act (FECA) cases. The…
Here’s just one more horrible decision
Here’s just one more horrible decision (they keep coming) issued by the U. S. Department of Labor (USDOL) in its Federal Employees’ Compensation Act (FECA) program These decisions keep happening – you can’t make this stuff up! No wonder OWCP is…
Here’s still another “headscratcher” decision issued by the U. S. Department of Labor (USDOL) in its Federal Employees’ Compensation Act (FECA) program
A client just came into our office with this one. Back in December the Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board (ECAB) issued a decision agreeing with an OWCP decision that found a clerical job suitable for this permanently injured federal worker. The…
Yet another “headscratcher” decision is issued by the U. S. Department of Labor (USDOL) in its Federal Employees’ Compensation Act (FECA) program.
Yet another “headscratcher” decision is issued by the U. S. Department of Labor (USDOL) in its Federal Employees’ Compensation Act (FECA) program. You may recall one of our earlier newsletters in which I discussed a strange decision by USDOL/OWCP that…
The “exception that proves the rule” – How one OWCP claims examiner got it right in a FECA claim.
Sometimes we have so many problems dealing with USDOL’s Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP) in Federal Employees’ Compensation Act (FECA) claims that we forget it is within their power to do right by these injured workers. The following case provides…
Without telling anyone, USDOL institutes an unjustified rule that disadvantages injured workers covered by the FECA program
We have discovered a highly questionable policy change by USDOL’s Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP) regarding the way it calculates certain permanent disability benefits under FECA (workers’ compensation for federal employees). This discovery came about because last September a doctor treating one…
ECAB continues to issue outrageous decisions rejecting medical reports as “not rationalized” in FECA claims.
In FECA (federal workers’ compensation) claims, the highest legal authority for claims decisions is the Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board (ECAB). Yet that Board in the last few years has made a practice of upholding improper claim denials by the U.…
Common misconceptions about federal disability retirement under FERS
Common misconceptions about federal disability retirement under FERS Common misconceptions about federal disability retirement under FERS There are many reasons why injured federal employees do not believe they are eligible for disability retirement under FERS. Most federal employees who have…
Practitioners Explain Strong Objections to Using AMA Guides 6th Edition in FECA claims
Practitioners Explain Strong Objections to Using Guides 6th Edition By Elizabeth A. Morrow, Esq., cyber FEDS® Special Projects Editor ASK THE EXPERT: Schedule award compensation — that is, compensation for the permanent impairment of a scheduled member or function due…
FECA Legislative Update
FECA UPDATE This is a summary of recent legislative and practice developments regarding the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act (FECA) for injured federal workers, FECA attorneys and others who have interest in OWCP claims. 1. Legislative proposals update No new legislation…
