About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

GAO-03-158R 1 (2002-12-20)

handle is hein.gao/gaocrptapcf0001 and id is 1 raw text is: S=GAO Accountability * Integrity * Reliability United States General Accounting Office Washington, DC 20548 December 20, 2002 The Honorable Stephen Horn Chairman, Subcommittee on Government Efficiency, Financial Management, and Intergovernmental Relations Committee on Government Reform House of Representatives Subject: Postal Service Employee Workers' Compensation Claims Not Always Processed Timely, but Problems Hamper Complete Measurement Dear Mr. Chairman: In fiscal year 2000, U. S. Postal Service employees accounted for about one-third of both the federal civilian workforce and the $2.1 billion cost of the Federal Workers' Compensation Program (WCP). During that same year, Postal Service employees submitted about 85,000 claims, or about one-half of all claims for new work-related injuries, to the Department of Labor's (DOL) Office of Workers' Compensation Program (OWCP), which is charged with administering the program. Because of complaints the subcommittee received from injured federal employees about the untimely receipt of WCP benefits and because Postal Service employees account for such a large portion of the WCP, you asked us to determine specifically whether Postal Service employees were receiving WCP benefits in a timely manner. We provided an initial response to your request on December 21, 2001,' and testified on the matter during a hearing before the subcommittee on May 9, 2002.2 Among other things, we reported that during the period July 1, 1996, through June 30, 2000, about 7 percent of the Postal Service's approximately 901,000 total employee workforce filed an average of about 82,600 WCP claims each year. Of these claims, about 88 percent were approved and about 12 percent were denied each year. We also reported that OWCP's automated file records indicated a wide variance in the time between the date of an employee's injury and (1) the date of OWCP's decision regarding the claimant's entitlement to benefits3 and (2) the date 'U.S. General Accounting Office, Administration of the Workers' Compensation Program by the Postal Service and Department of Labor (DOL), (Washington, D.C.: Dec. 21, 2001). 2U.S. General Accounting Office, U.S. Postal Service: Workers' Compensation Benefits for Postal Employees, (_ AO042-7219T (Washington, D.C.: May 9, 2002). 3WCP provides for payment of several types of benefits, including compensation for wage loss, schedule awards, medical and related benefits, and vocational rehabilitation services for conditions resulting from injuries sustained or occupational disease or illness contracted in performance of duty while in the service of the United States. WCP also provides for payment of monetary compensation to specified survivors of an employee whose death results from work-related injury or disease and for payment of certain burial expenses. GAO-03-158R Postal Service Workers' Compensation Claims

What Is HeinOnline?

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.



Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most