Schedule Award

When an injured worker has permanent loss of use of certain body parts or organs, he/she may request a schedule award by submitting a CA-7 Claim for Schedule Award and an impairment rating completed by his/her treating physician. 20 C.F.R. §§ 10.103, 10.404. The impairment rating can only be completed after maximum medical improvement (MMI) has been reached and must be in accordance with the 6th Edition of the American Medical Association Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, referencing the appropriate tables, and citing the date of maximum medical improvement. Impairment ratings may be done in a narrative format. There is not a form for the physician to complete for the impairment rating unless the Claims Examiner (CE) has provided one in response to incomplete medical documentation previously submitted.

You may file the form on the ECOMP site. Your agency will complete their portion and forward the CA-7 to OWCP.

How are Schedule Awards processed?

Once the completed CA-7 and the impairment rating have been received, reviewed, and determined to appear complete by the Claims Examiner, he/she forwards it to the District Medical Advisor (DMA) for review. In some situations, the Claims Examiner must develop the claim by contacting the claimant, employer, or rating physician for additional information. In some cases, the claimant must be referred to a second opinion medical examination to obtain a complete impairment rating.

Schedule awards are payable concurrent with wages or retirement benefits.

Schedule awards are generally not payable concurrent with OWCP wage-loss compensation benefits. However, if an employee has a job-related injury that causes impairment in one body part (that entitles him or her to a schedule award) and at the same time has a different job related injury to a different body-part that is disabling, both wage-loss compensation and a schedule award may be paid concurrently.

Schedule awards paid by OWCP do not constitute a settlement or final payout.

Receiving a schedule award does not end the right to continue receiving other OWCP benefits, such as payment for medical bills, reimbursement of transportation expenses for travel to medical appointments, wage-loss compensation benefits, etc.

Schedule Awards and Social Security Disability

There is also an important, and dangerous, limitation that arises when employees are entitled to Social Security disability benefits. Employees covered under the Federal Employees’ Retirement System (FERS) are required to apply for Social Security disability benefits in order to obtain FERS disability retirement. Social Security regulations provide for dollar-for-dollar offset of Social Security disability benefits if an employee receives workers’ compensation disability benefits.

Social Security considers OWCP Schedule Awards as disability benefits and will deduct the full amount from any Social Security disability benefits due. Moreover, Social Security will report the full amount of the deduction to the IRS as taxable income, even though it never was paid to the injured worker.

As a result, NALC members covered by FERS who may be entitled to a schedule award and concurrently entitled to disability retirement should seek advice from their branch OWCP specialist or National Business Agent’s office.

Schedule awards and VA disability ratings

Under FECA, an injured letter carrier whose claim is accepted is entitled to medical benefits and wage loss compensation. For letter carriers with DVA disability ratings, applying for some FECA benefits may require an election between the DVA benefits and FECA benefits.

An injured worker with a DVA disability rating for the same injury will often receive more from an increase of their DVA disability rating than from a schedule award. Injured workers with DVA disability ratings should contact their National Business Agent’s office for guidance.

Method of Payment

Schedule awards are paid for a certain number of weeks, calculated by multiplying the percentage of impairment of a body part (determined by the rating physician) times the number of weeks set out in the schedule in the FECA for that body part. Each week of the schedule award is paid at the employee’s compensation rate, which is weekly salary times 2/3 or 3/4, depending on whether the employee is single with no dependents (2/3) or married or otherwise has one or more dependents (3/4).

5 USC 8107 provides for compensation a list of scheduled members and organs.