An audit has recommended tightening controls over Federal Employees Compensation Act benefits at the IRS–which pays about $40 million a year in those benefits–saying the program “remains vulnerable to fraud.”
“Given the substantial cost of this program, it is important for the IRS to accurately initiate and consistently monitor claims to ensure that taxpayer funds are spent properly,” an IG report said. It found that more than 1,400 recipients have been getting benefits for six or more years, more than 100 for more than 30 years and almost 50 for more than 40 years.
Such duration has led to proposals over the years to require that FECA recipients be switched to disability retirement benefits when it becomes clear they will never return to work, rather than continuing as compensationers–whose benefits are charged back to their former work unit. That is especially an issue at agencies with high claims rates because of the physically demanding nature of much of their work, such as USPS.
In a sample, auditors found that 9 percent of claims were not initiated properly–for example, physicians did not indicate in medical documentation whether the claimants’ injuries were attributable to IRS work activities. Just one of those cases has resulted in total compensation costs above $1 million, it added.
It also estimated that two-thirds of claims were not monitored properly; specialists in charge of monitoring cases frequently “did not timely follow up or did not follow up at all.” This included one case where it could find no evidence that the IRS requested updated medical documentation as required.
