HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.
![handle is hein.gao/gaobabadn0001 and id is 1 raw text is: 'RELEASED gsTiciro - mott o be released ONO.. he Okenerr -i IS I
AccountIng Offlce ex-epi o n1 4o , e-I' pecific approval
I1)ReOflc. of Congressional Relations.
UNITED STATES GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20548
HUMAN RMOURCES
01VISION
JANUARY 21, 1980
B-197407
The Honorable Tom Steed
House of Representatives
Dear Mr. Steed:
Subject: C'earinc Loss Claims Processing Delays Under
the Federal Employees' Compensation Act]
(HRD-80-19)
On February 9, 1979, you requested assistance in finding
ways to expedite the processing of hearing loss claims under
the Federal Employees' Compensation Act (5 U.S.C. 8101). As
stated more fully in our conclusions and recommendations,
which start on paqe 8, we believe such claims can be pro-
cessed faster by centralizing the processing function and
by making greater use of full-time rather than temporary
examiners.
The Federal Employees' Compensation program is adminis-
fL
tered by the Office of Workers' Compensation Programs (OWCP)
in the Department of Labor's Employment Standards Adminis-
tration. OWCP has a Division of Federal Employees' Compen-
sation at the national office and 15 district offices. In
1976, to reduce the claims backlog at the district offices,
Labor established a special Hearing Loss Task Force in the
Branch of Special Claims in the Division of Federal Employees'
Compensation at the national office.
Your office gave us information on 15 hearinq loss cases
that have been pending with Labor for about 1 to 5 years. We
examined Labor's files for 9 of the 15 cases. Files for these
cases were maintained by the Hearinq Loss Task Force. Files
for the. other six cases were not readily available because
they were being processed at a district office or at OWCP's
Branch of Hearings and Review. We discussed the nine avail-
able cases with task force officials and obtained information
on the (1) growth of hearing loss cases, (2) establishment
of the task force, and (3) procedures and practices for
processing hearing loss cases.
(201630)
111351](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.gao/gaobabadn0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)