Injury Comp Reforms Would Apply Government-wide

One provision of the revised postal reform bill that would apply government-wide would tighten policies for injury compensation benefits under the Federal Employees Compensation Act program. USPS has advocated reforms of that program for many years, since by the nature of its work it is one of the agencies whose employees suffer relatively high rates of injuries. The bill would switch beneficiaries to regular disability retirement—typically, less generous than FECA payments—on hitting the Social Security full retirement age (currently 66); there would be exceptions for those already above that age and the most severely injured. The bill further would eliminate the special allowance for beneficiaries with dependents, require further medical assessments of disabilities, require that beneficiaries report any outside income, and strengthen programs designed to return injured persons to work. Employee organizations oppose most of those provisions, particularly those regarding the dependents’ allowance and the switch to disability retirement, and that part of the bill may be subject to further amendment.