Printing - FECA-PT2 - National Association of Letter Carriers

2-0807-12 Delayed Disability
12. Delayed Disability. An injury which does not immediately disable the employee or require medical
care may later cause disability and/or require medical treatment. In such cases:
a. The employee should complete Form CA-1 in the same manner as if the injury were
immediately disabling and indicate on the form that he or she is continuing to work. The form
should be submitted to the supervisor, who will complete and return the "Receipt of Notice of
Injury."
b. The supervisor will complete the employing agency's portion of Form CA-1 except items
which concern work stoppage, and place the CA-1 in the employee's personnel folder. If disability
subsequently occurs, the supervisor will retrieve the Form CA-1 and complete items concerning
work stoppage, noting on the form the date these items were completed to clarify the reason for
the delay in submitting the form. The form should be transmitted to OWCP in the usual manner,
and pay should be continued as described above, as long as 45 days have not elapsed from the
date of injury.
2-0807-13 Recurrence of Disability
13. Recurrence of Disability. 20 C.F.R. 10.207. If an employee returns to work following a work
stoppage, without using all 45 days of COP, and then suffers a recurrence of disability within 45 days of
the first return to duty, he or she should submit a completed Form CA-2a, and may elect to use the
remaining days of COP.
Time lost on the day of injury that is charged to administrative leave is considered a work stoppage,
whether the time is used to obtain medical treatment or for disability. If the time away from work is so
minimal that no administrative leave is charged, such as a brief visit to the health unit, this is not
considered a work stoppage for the purpose of tolling time. If the 45-day entitlement has been
exhausted, however, or the recurrence begins more than 45 days after the employee first returned to
work, the employing agency may not pay COP. Rather, the employee should claim compensation for
wage loss on FormCA-7.
For example, an employee is injured on January 1. The employing agency provides several hours
of administrative leave, enabling the employee to obtain medical attention. On January 2, the
employee works a full day. The employee is not disabled due to the injury until February 10, but is
disabled and off work February 10, 11, and 12 and receives COP for those three days. The
employee returns to work on February 13 and does not lose any further time from work due to the
injury until March 17; but on March 17, 18 and 19 he again loses time from work due to the
disability. The 45-day period begins to run when the employee returned to work on January 2
because work stoppage occurred at the time of injury, even though it was covered by
administrative leave. The employee is entitled to COP for the time lost in February, but is not
entitled to COP for time lost in March as it is more than 45 days since the first return to work.
FECA-PT2 Printed: 06/08/2010 286