	Introduction

The Federal Employees' Compensation Act (FECA) is the workers' compensation system for federal employees. The FECA program is administered by the Department of Labor (DOL), Office of Workers' Compensation Programs (OWCP). Benefits are paid for the duration of the disability or the life of the beneficiary. The list of scheduled benefits is provided in the Appendix A to this report and for each type of permanent partial disability, an employee receives the standard FECA benefits for the number of weeks indicated. Death

If an employee dies in the course of employment or from a latent condition caused by his or her employment, the employee's survivors are eligible for the following compensation benefits:
if the employee had a spouse and no children, then the spouse is eligible for a monthly benefit equal to 50% of the employee's monthly wage at the time of death or if the employee had a spouse and one or more children, then the spouse is eligible for a monthly benefit equal to 45% of the employee's monthly wage at the time of death and each child is eligible for a monthly benefit equal to 15% of the employee's monthly wage at the time of death, up to a maximum family benefit of 75% of the employee's monthly wage at the time of death. Vocational Rehabilitation

The Secretary of Labor may direct any FECA beneficiary to participate in vocational rehabilitation, the costs of which are paid by the federal government. FECA and the U.S. Postal Service

The USPS and its employees make up the largest component of the FECA program, and postal workers are injured on the job at rates disproportionate to the rest of the federal government. The provision of FECA compensation benefits to workers after retirement age has changed during the history of the FECA program. Although FECA benefits have always been paid for the duration of disability, between 1949 and 1974, the administrator of the FECA program was required to review the amount of benefits paid to each beneficiary at the age of 70 and was authorized to reduce the amount of such benefits if it was determined that the beneficiary's wage-earning capacity had been reduced by his or her age, independent of his or her disability. The FECA basic benefit rate for total disability is two-thirds of the worker's pre-disability wage. If one assumes that the types of injuries faced by federal employees and workers in the private and non-federal public sectors are not significantly different and that medical costs are also similar, this difference can be attributed to the higher level of FECA disability benefits, especially for higher-wage workers, compared with those offered by state workers' compensation systems. In FY2015, total costs for compounded medications ($214 million) surpassed costs for all other medications ($199 million) provided by the FECA program. The survivors of an employee killed on the job were entitled to cash benefits based on the worker's wage and were also entitled to a benefit to help offset funeral costs. These three changes remain key elements of the program today. Continuation of Pay
The 1974 amendments provided for up to 45 days of continuation of pay from a worker's employing agency in cases of traumatic injuries covered by FECA.
The Federal Employees' Compensation Act (FECA) is the workers' compensation program for federal employees. Like all workers' compensation programs, FECA pays disability, survivors, and medical benefits, without fault, to employees who are injured or become ill in the course of their federal employment and the survivors of employees killed on the job. The FECA program is administered by the Department of Labor (DOL) and the costs of benefits are paid by each employee's host agency. U.S. Postal Service (USPS) employees currently comprise the largest group of FECA beneficiaries and are responsible for the largest share of FECA benefits.
Elements of the FECA program include
basic disability benefits equal to two-thirds of an injured worker's pre-disability wage, which rises to 75% of the pre-disability wage if the worker has any dependents; disability benefits that continue for the duration of disability or the life of the beneficiary and in cases of traumatic injuries, beneficiaries can receive a continuation of their full pay for the first 45 days; disability benefits for persons with specific permanent partial disabilities, such as the loss of a limb, for a set number of weeks provided by schedules set by statute and regulation; all medical costs associated with covered conditions without any copayments, cost-sharing, or use of private insurance by the beneficiaries; cash benefits for the survivors of employees killed on the job based on the worker's wages and a modest benefit for funeral costs; and vocational rehabilitation services to assist beneficiaries in returning to work.
This report also focuses on several key policy issues facing the program, including the disproportionate share of claims and program costs attributed to postal workers, the payment of FECA benefits after retirement age, the overall level of FECA disability benefits as compared with those offered by the states, the administration of the FECA program, and the costs associated with prescriptions for compounded medications.
The modern FECA program can trace its roots to 1916 but has not been significantly amended since 1974. A legislative history of the FECA program is provided in Appendix B.