Covered occupations can include, in addition to firefighting, positions such as paramedic, emergency medical technician, rescue worker, ambulance personnel, or hazardous material worker. Image: Bureau of Land Management photo.
By: FEDweek StaffThe Labor Department has clarified eligibility rules under a late-2022 change in law to provide that heart disease, lung disease, and specified cancers are presumed to be caused by employment for purposes of Federal Employees Compensation Act benefits for federal employees who worked in fire protection and related activities.
The policy applies to those who worked in certain occupations for at least five years and who are diagnosed with the disease within 10 years of employment. Covered occupations can include, in addition to firefighting, positions such as paramedic, emergency medical technician, rescue worker, ambulance personnel, or hazardous material worker.
In a benefits policy determination, the Labor Department’s Office of Workers Compensation Policy, which administers FECA, said that the law left it uncertain whether those five years must be all in federal employment or whether employment elsewhere should count toward that time.
“Federal employees who have not performed at least five years of fire protection activities in federal employment but have performed a combined total of at least five years of federal and non-federal fire protection activities, may also have increased risk of cancer from which their federal employment contributed,” it said.
It said that the OWCP “is adopting the position that a combination of federal and non-federal employment can satisfy the five-year requirement.”
The notice further describes standards for establishing a claim and lists the covered conditions, adding that the OWCP “will consider making additions to the list of conditions as supported by the best available scientific evidence.”
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