Agencies which have employees who cannot perform one or more of the essential elements of one’s job will often encourage him or her to file for Department of Labor, Office of Workers’ Compensation Program benefits (DOL/OWCP), if the injury or medical condition occurred as a result of an on-the-job incident, or can be shown to have an occupational cause.
That is fine, so far as it goes. For, OWCP is set up with the intent of addressing those medical conditions and issues which are work-related. However, when agencies begin to use OWCP as the dumping ground for workers they don’t believe are fully productive, it becomes a problem because OWCP is not intended for long-term compensation, but merely a venue in order to compensate a Federal or Postal employee for a temporary time in order for the worker to recuperate from his or her medical condition or injury, then to return to full duty. It is not meant to be a retirement system.
Further, it only compensates for those injuries which are causally related to the workplace. As a dumping ground, it makes it easier for the Federal agency or Postal Service to deny the ability to accommodate the Federal or Postal Worker, or to reassign the individual, and instead to provide the proper forms to file for Workers’ Compensation benefits. This doesn’t mean, however, that OWCP will accept the claim, either as an original claim or as a recurrence. OWCP is not a retirement system.
On the other hand, OPM Disability Retirement under FERS or CSRS is meant to compensate Federal or Postal employees who have a long-term medical condition. If the agency cannot accommodate the disabled Federal or Postal Worker, that is an option to be considered. If you are “unwanted” — and the agency shows every inclination of that — it may be time to consider the option of Federal Disability Retirement.
Sincerely,
Robert R. McGill, Esquire
Filed under: OPM Disability & OWCP Workers Comp Filings | Tagged: accommodation issues disabled federal employees have to deal with, accommodation of federal employees, attorney representing federal workers for disability throughout the united states, blogs owcp and opm disability issues, choosing between owcp and federal disability, fed disability owcp, federal civilian workers comp disability, federal disability law blog, federal workers compensation us government legal information, fers disability blog, FERS disability retirement, job-related accidents in the postal service, medical compensation for federal and postal workers, occupational medicine and federal employees, Office of Workers' Compensation Programs (OWCP), on-the-job incident in the federal workplace, OPM disability retirement, OWCP benefits for federal workers, owcp disability retirement, postal service disability retirement, Postal Service workers Comp, reasonable accommodation of federal workers, resources for injured federal workers, short- versus long-term owcp benefits, us postal service owcp, us postal service workers comp, USPS disability retirement, USPS Workers Comp, what to do when the postal service denies owcp benefits, when the federal government doesn't accommodate you, work-related accidents and federal employees, workers comp federal employee, working full duty after job-related injury |
OPM Disability Retirement 
I’ve been fighting with this Chicken-#%&! department for a year now. The communication is terrible. My injury is job related. I also supervise (4) four employees and if they are injured on the job, my recommendation is to hire an attorney if they want to persue compensation for their injury. I don’t want their damn money, I just want my annual & sick Leave restored so I can get on with my job. I’m also a Viet Nam Veteran, and I’m sick and tired of this Political Bull #%&!.