A few highlights of claimant responsibilities covered in the FECA Practice Guide. See also The First 10 Days for a checklist of urgent action items. Citations refer to sections of Chapter 20 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR).
- An employee must provide medical evidence of the disability within ten days of the date of injury in order to continue COP. 20 C.F.R.§ 10.222
- Always file a new injury claim for a new injury to the same body part. Form CA 1.
- If the employee experiences a new injury to the same body part within a single work shift or an 8-hour workday after returning to work after recovering from an accepted injury, the employee must file a new Form CA 1, even if the injury is to the same body part.
- Federal law states “… A notice of recurrence should not be filed when a new injury, new occupational disease, or new event contributing to an already existing occupational disease has occurred. In these instances, the employee should file Form CA–1 or CA–2”. 20 C.F.R. §10.104
- Filing a recurrence claim, Form CA 2a, for an injury requires the employee to demonstrate a material worsening of the injury, a far heavier burden of proof than proving the new injury occurred to the same body part.
- Furthermore, if the injured employee exhausted the 45 available days of COP for the original traumatic injury, the employee that files a recurrence claim would not be eligible for COP immediately for an additional 45 calendar days of COP. If your injury will last twelve months or more file a Claim for disability compensation with the Office of Personnel Management’s Federal Employees Retirement System (OPM/FERS) for disability compensation at the same time. Go to OPM.GOV Standard Forms. Download SF 3107, SF 3112 and SF 2818.
Federal Workers Comp - DIY 