Other findings in the report included that COVID-related claims accounted for about 30,000 of the nearly 75,000 new claims in 2022. Image: Polina MB/Shutterstock.com
The Postal Service’s costs workplace injury and illness benefits have been three-tenths to four-tenths higher than benchmark private sector companies over the last five years but it would take a change in law for the USPS to take the same types of cost-saving steps those companies have taken, an inspector general report has said.
It said that in 2022 for example, postal employees accounted for about 40 percent of the nearly $3 billion in benefit payments across the federal government under the Federal Employees Compensation Act, as well as about the same share of new claims in that year. Of the total spending under FECA, it added, more than $2 billion is for wage loss compensation, about $700 million for medical and rehabilitation services and the rest for death benefits to survivors.
The report said that the USPS has taken steps to limit costs—for example by emphasizing reviews of employees to determine whether they could return to other duties—a program and could find some further savings by streamlining some aspects of the program.
However, it noted that FECA does not allow for actions that some companies have taken, including settling claims through lump-sum payouts rather than extended compensation payments, relying on employer-selected physicians, and mandatory use of generic drugs rather than brand-name.
Other findings in the report included that COVID-related claims accounted for about 30,000 of the nearly 75,000 new claims in 2022; and that more than 3,100 beneficiaries are at least age 70, including 85 in their 90s and four age 100 or more.
The latter type of data has led to calls at times to shift beneficiaries to regular disability retirement—which in many cases is less valuable to the recipient that are FECA benefits—when it is clear they never will return to active employment.
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See also,
How Do Age and Years of Service Impact My Federal Retirement
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