OWCP Claims

OWCP, or the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs, is a federal agency responsible for managing workers’ compensation programs for federal employees.

Learn More About CA-1s, CA-2s, Continuation of Pay (COP) & More

What Are the Benefits of Filing an OWCP Claim?

An OWCP claim can provide you with the benefits you need to recover following a workplace injury, including medical care and financial support while you are recovering. Your eligibility for benefits will always depend on your injuries. Benefits may include:

Medical Benefits – You may be eligible for medical treatment(s), therapy, medications, and the cost of devices. As a federal employee, you are entitled to choose your initial doctor, but OWCP must approve any future changes. Vocational Rehabilitation may be provided if your injuries result in your inability to return to your job.

Financial Support – Payments for temporary or permanent loss of income, including supplemental payments if it is determined that you can only return to work part-time. In the case of an injury at your workplace, you may receive a continuation of pay for the first 45 days if you cannot return to work. After 45 days of a disabling job-related injury, you may be eligible to receive 66% of your wages until it is medically deemed that you can return to work. You are entitled to 75% if you have one or more dependents.

Potential Schedule Award – For federal employees suffering from specific job-related permanent partial disabilities, loss of full use of limb or the limb itself, you may be entitled to a schedule award. This benefit is paid out for a specific number of weeks based on your impairment rating on schedules set by federal law.

Death Benefits – If you’re a survivor who is a dependent of an employee killed on the job, you may be eligible for death benefits. Eligible individuals may include the spouse, children and dependent parents, grandparents and grandchildren, and siblings. The amount of the benefits depends on the survivor’s relationship with the deceased employee and whether they had children. A deceased workers’ family can also receive up to $800 in burial expenses.

Disability Retirement – In the case of extreme injuries, you may be eligible for disability retirement benefits.

Most Commonly Used OWCP Forms

  • Form CA-1 – Federal Employee’s Notice of Traumatic Injury and Claim for Continuation of Pay/Compensation. This form starts the process of the claim. It must be filed with the employer within 30 days from the date the injury occurred to be eligible for Continuation of Pay. A traumatic injury takes place “during the course of one shift” as opposed injuries that are based over a period of time. The form is used when you fall at work, step in a hole while delivering mail, hurt your knee, shoulder, back, etc while lifting an object, or motor vehicle accident while on duty.
  • Form CA-2 – Federal Employee’s Notice of Occupational Illness and Claim for Compensation. This form covers claims for non–traumatic injury that are not related to a specific event. Occupational disease or illness as a condition produced in the work environment over a period longer than a single workday or work shift by such factors as systemic infection, continued and repeated stress or strain, or exposure to hazardous elements. The claim should be filed within 30 days from the time that you realize or should have realized that the injury or illness was brought about by your regular duties. This form is used for hearing loss, keyboard use (carpal tunnel); certain types of continuous lifting or motion activity that are part of your regular duties; exposure to toxins in the workplace.
  • Form CA-2a – Notice of Recurrence. This form is utilized to initiate a claim for recurrence. Recurrence means an inability to work after you returned to work, caused by a spontaneous change in medical condition which resulted from your previous injury or illness without intervening or new exposure to the work environment that caused the illness. Your pervious condition has been made worse by working your regular duties and may require additional medical care and wage loss benefits.
  • Form CA-7 – Claim for Compensation. Always file a CA-7 when you are injured in the performance of your duties and you lose pay for more than 3 calendar days. You, or someone acting on your behalf, must complete the front page of the form and submit for the supervisor for completion for OWCP. You must submit the CA-7, it is not your agency’s responsibility. In addition to submission of the CA-7, you must also arrange for the medical evidence that supports your claim for lost wages. Form CA-20 is utilized for this purpose. The CA-7 is also utilized to request a schedule award.
  • Form CA-16 – Authorization for Examination And/Or Treatment. This form guarantees payment to the care provider if you require medical treatment because of a work-related traumatic injury for the first 60 days after issuance of the form. Your supervisor should complete page 1 of Form CA-16 and provide it to you for your attending physicians information. You must request the CA-16 within the first 7 days after the traumatic injury. If an employee requires medical treatment for a traumatic injury, the supervisor should complete front of Form CA-16, within four hours of request whenever possible.
  • FORM CA-17 – Duty Status Report. This form is supposed to be filled in by both your supervisor and your doctor, which lets the employer know the extent of your injury so they are not only aware of your limitations. The form outlines information from a doctor forbidding an injured federal employee from carrying out certain activities due to their inherently physically taxing nature. The form can also provide your supervisor and OWCP with interim medical reports containing information as to your ability to return to any type of work.
  • Form CA-20 – Attending Physician’s Report. The form is completed by your doctor for the purpose of providing medical information necessary to support your claim that the injury and the need for treatment are related to and caused by the workplace activity. A medical report is required by OWCP before payment of compensation for loss of wages or permanent disability can be made to the employee. Form CA-20 is usually submitted along with the form CA-7 to support the claimant’s request for wage loss payments.

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