Printing - FECA-PT2 - National Association of Letter Carriers

ehabilitation process.
2-0813-11 Failure to Cooperate in Vocational Rehabilitation Efforts
11. Failure to Cooperate in Vocational Rehabilitation Efforts. A claimant may fail to cooperate with
vocational rehabilitation efforts in various ways. General examples of noncooperation include lack of
response to letters or phone calls from the RS or RC and repeated failure to keep appointments or
interviews arranged by the RC. Specific examples of noncooperation in the various stages of the
vocational rehabilitation process are described below.
The RS will advise the CE of noncooperation which occurs during the initial interview, while the RC will
document in progress reports submitted to the RS any instances where the claimant fails to communicate
or cooperate with the RC or refuses to participate or make a good faith effort. The RS will then provide
the CE with a Form OWCP-3 that details the claimant's non-cooperation or non-participation.
When a claimant refuses or impedes rehabilitation efforts, the CE must intervene. The intervention differs
depending on whether the refusal or impedance occurs during the early stages of the vocational
rehabilitation effort, during training, or during placement efforts. The CE should take the following actions
according to the specific problem, as outlined below and in the flow chart shown as Exhibit 2 (Link to
Image).
a. Refusing or Impeding Early Vocational Rehabilitation Efforts. Specific instances of
non-cooperation include failure to appear for the initial interview, counseling sessions, a functional
capacity evaluation (FCE), other interviews conducted by the RC, vocational testing sessions, and
work evaluations, as well as lack of response or inappropriate response to directions in a testing
session after several attempts at instruction. They also include failure to begin or continue
pre-vocational training such as English lessons for those who lack command of the language, or
classes for a General Equivalency Diploma (GED) for those without a high school education.
(1) If the claimant refuses or impedes the early steps of vocational rehabilitation, the CE
should release Form Letter CA-1657 (or equivalent) to the claimant, advising that failure to
cooperate with the vocational rehabilitation effort will result in a reduction of monetary
compensation benefits to zero, based on the assumption that the vocational rehabilitation
effort would have resulted in a return to work with no LWEC (in the absence of any
evidence to the contrary). The claimant should be instructed to begin or resume a good
faith effort to cooperate with the RS, or show good cause for refusing within 30 days.
FECA-PT2 Printed: 06/08/2010 415