The federal workers compensation system is spread out through the entire nation and even serves civil servants over seas. While it does not cover the armed forces, it does include people who work on military installation around the globe as civilians.
The federal workers comp laws are governed by FECA, the Federal Employees Compensation Act, and is administered by the OWCP (Office of Workers Compensation Programs). The OWCP has a number of regional office across the country that divide the federal population. (Click here for a list of District Offices)
More than 2.5 million people are covered under FECA, which adjudicates all workers compensation injuries for federal employees. Filing a claim after a work injury is the start of a process that may last only a few short days or for the rest of your life. Hopefully, none of you are injured severely.
Unfortunately, the nature of work requires us to perform services and duties and in the course of performing such work, injuries, sometimes serious, will occur.
The federal workers compensation provides benefits to those injured on the job. Whether it is simply medical care, lost wage reimbursement, or payment for permanent damage to the employee, FECA is the exclusive remedy for employer liability.
We at FedDoctor.com are focused on helping injured feds find local physicians that can provide quality care and understand the extra work and requirements that the federal government asks of treating doctors.
Most private sector companies have to purchase workers compensation insurance in case an at work accident or exposure injures one of their employees. The Federal Government decided to self-insure. They created the laws and the administration under the Department of Labor to handle the cases and payments for their own claimants internally.
Hence, the OWCP was born.
However, the OWCP decided to use a very large human resource company called ACS (Affiliated Computer Services, Inc.) to handle the medical payouts to the claimants doctor and treatment facilities. They actually work hand-in-hand to process medical fees and payments when the OWCP has determined that the injury is indeed related to the claimant’s employment with the federal government.
To be Continued…