Multiple Problems With the 1974 Amendments to the Federal Employees' Compensation Act

The number of lost-time injury claims filed by federal workers increased sharply following legislative changes in 1974 which allowed employees' pay to continue uninterrupted for 45 days after a traumatic injury and gave them free choice of a physician.

Removal of a previously required waiting period has encouraged employees to file claims for minor and frivolous injuries and for injuries of short duration. A random selection of 410 continuation-of-pay (COP) claims showed that, based on the duration of the injuries and on other available factors, as many as 46 percent of all claims might have been eliminated by a 3-day waiting period. Lacking agency controls, the free-choice-of-physician provision has contributed to COP abuse. The Department of Labor has not provided employing agencies with sufficient authority to carry out their responsibility for managing injury claims; and the degree of management varies widely among agencies. A large backlog of claims in Labor's district offices has hindered the COP program; while short-cuts taken to try to control the volume of claims has allowed erroneous and unsupported claims to get through the system.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

Director: Morton E. Henig Team: General Accounting Office: Human Resources Division Phone: (202) 275-5365