Printing - FECA-PT2 - National Association of Letter Carriers

. Anticipated Whole-Year Employment--Section 5 U.S.C. 8114(d)(2). An affirmative
answer to section 9b. on Form CA-7 or item 20 on Form CA-6 is sufficient to show that the
employee's position would have afforded employment for substantially a whole year had it not
been for the injury. A negative, absent, or ambiguous answer to this question should prompt the
CE to release Form CA-1030 to the Federal employer.
Although the FECA calls for determination of the average annual earnings of an employee working
the preceding year in the same or similar employment in the same or neighboring place, this step
is not necessary in practice, since the earnings of an employee of the same grade and step will
equal those of the injured employee. The average annual earnings are determined as described in
paragraph 4.a. above. The discussion of concurrent employment in paragraph 4.a.(3) above also
applies to these cases.
c. Part-Year Employment--Section 5 U.S.C. 8114(d)(3). To determine earnings under this
section of the FECA, the CE will usually need to explore the claimant's employment history for the
year before the injury. This may be accomplished by sending Form CA-1029 to the employee and
sending Form CA-1027 to each private employer identified.
(1) Where a part-time or short-term employee has demonstrated the ability to work full
time, the pay rate of an employee working full time in the job held by the injured employee
should be used to compute compensation. In Irwin E. Goldman, 23 ECAB 6, the ECAB
found that full-time work performed in another job during the year prior to an injury
demonstrated an ability to perform full-time work in the job in which the injury occurred.
Therefore, a claimant who can establish that he or she worked for substantially the entire
year prior to the injury is entitled to receive compensation on the same basis as a regular
employee working in the same type of job. It does not matter what type of work the
claimant performed during that year (though attending school is not considered
employment). The fact that he or she had been employed demonstrates the ability to
perform the job held at the time of injury for the entire year.
(2) Any situation not involving regular employment, a demonstrated ability to work
full-time, or career seasonal employment is considered irregular employment. This category
includes intermittent, seasonal, on-call, and discontinuous work, as well as employment
where average annual earnings cannot be established under Section 5 U.S.C. 8114(d)(1) or
(2).
Section 5 U.S.C. 8114(d)(3) is to be used only where sections 8114(d)(1) and (2) cannot be
applied. For instance, the pay rate of a part-time flexible employee of the Postal Service
who works substantially the entire year prior to injury would be computed under section
8114(d)(1)(B), not section 8114(d)(3), even if the earnings fluctuated considerably from
week to week, because an annual rate of pay can be established.
Among other situations, irregular employment may include:
(a) Postal Service employees hired for the holiday season;
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