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have no appeal rights attached.
c. Issuance of Decision.
(1) After the claimant has been working for 60 days, the CE will determine whether the
claimant's actual earnings fairly and reasonably represent his or her WEC. If so, a formal
decision should be issued no later than 90 days after the date of return to work. If not, the
CE should proceed with a constructed LWEC by asking the Rehabilitation Specialist (RS) to
identify two suitable jobs and applying the factors set forth under 5 U.S.C. 8115(a) (see
paragraph 8 below). Only one job may ultimately form the basis of a WEC determination.
(2) The CE will determine the claimant's monetary entitlement using the Shadrick
formula (see FECA PM 2-0901.15). As necessary, the CE should confirm the respective pay
rates for each job by telephone and document the file accordingly. The pay rates of the
date of injury job and the new job should be compared as of the time that the formal LWEC
decision is being prepared, unless there are compelling reasons to use a different date. In
cases involving performance-based pay systems (pay banding), where a specific grade and
step were not assigned to the date of injury job, the CE will first need to determine the
claimant’s date of injury pay rate as a percentage of the appropriate band; see FECA PM
2-0901.15.
If the file shows that the claimant has an approved OPM annuity, a new election of benefits
must be obtained and OPM advised of the election.
(3) Since the claimant was not provided with a formal decision concerning his or her
entitlement to compensation based on actual earnings from the date of return to work until
issuance of the formal LWEC decision, the LWEC decision should include language awarding
compensation for this period (e.g., “It is hereby determined that the claimant is entitled to
compensation from DATE to DATE based upon his actual earnings.”). If the claimant was
overpaid compensation based on actual earnings from the date compensation was paid for
partial wage loss to the effective date of the formal LWEC decision, the usual overpayment
procedures should be followed.
4) If the claimant returns to work at a retained pay rate, and therefore incurs no wage
loss, the CE should still issue a formal LWEC decision. Wages lost because step increases
and/or cost-of-living increases were not applied to the retained pay rate do not constitute a
LWEC, and claims based on this premise should be denied (see Joseph D. Musolino, Docket
No. 89-1765, issued March 12, 1991). Such claims may be denied even if no formal LWEC
decision was made at the time of reemployment, but compensation should be terminated
prospectively, not retroactively.
d. Computing Entitlement to Compensation. The following procedures address situations
where the claimant returns to other than full-time year-round work.
(1) For part-time work, compensation should be computed using the Shadrick formula,
which is more advantageous to the claimant than simple deduction of earnings would be.
This rule has no exceptions.
FECA-PT2 Printed: 06/08/2010 441