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By: FEDweek StaffThe GAO has pushed the Social Security Administration to better coordinate with the Labor Department to assure that those eligible for disability benefits from the former are not also drawing them under the Federal Employees Compensation Act program run by the latter.
All but a few percent of current federal employees would potentially fall under the Social Security disability insurance program if disabled; those benefits are coordinated with FERS disability retirement benefits.
The Social Security and FECA programs share some similar entitlement rules for federal employees, with the notable difference that the disability must be work-related to be eligible under FECA. Those eligible for both must choose one or the other, with the exception that disability retirees still may receive “schedule award” payments from FECA for the loss of bodily parts or functions.
In a letter stressing high-priority recommendations to the agency that have not been carried out, the GAO said that the SSA “should strengthen internal controls designed to prevent DI overpayments due to the concurrent receipt of FECA benefits by implementing the alternative that provides the greatest net benefits.”
The GAO noted that the agency agreed when that recommendation was made initially in 2015. In that report, GAO examined a three-year period ending in June 2014 and found that SSA successfully detected FECA payments for about 52 percent of the approximately 7,860 individuals who received concurrent FECA and DI payments during that period.
SSA did not detect it for about 13 percent—more than 1,000 individuals who received some $48 million in DI benefits during the period—and GAO was unable to determine whether SSA detected concurrent FECA benefits for the rest.
The GAO’s new letter to the SSA noted that earlier this year it “stated that it continues to work with DoL to establish a FECA data exchange. SSA plans to use FECA benefit data to improve efficiencies in its ability to offset or reduce DI benefits when an individual is concurrently receiving FECA benefits.”
“To fully implement this recommendation, SSA needs to complete these plans, which could help improve the financial status of the DI program and ensure that SSA does not continue overpaying beneficiaries who may have difficulty repaying debt incurred by overpayments,” the GAO said.
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See also,
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Retiring from a Federal Job: Make Sure Your Agency Gets it Right
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