CA-7: Claim for Compensation

ATTENTION ALL CARRIERS THAT HAVE FILED A CLAIM TO OWCP. Once you receive a Development Letter, YOU MUST CONTACT ME IMMEDIATELY. Call 631-789-1616 so we can review your claim to determine what you need to do in order to help get your case approved. Failure to contact me could result in your claim being denied.

      Dealing with an on the job injury is bad enough with the pain and trauma associated with an on the job injury, without the added stress of financial problems due to unnecessary delays in payment of wage- loss compensation.

      Such compensation is payable by Office of Workers Compensation Program (OWCP) to employees with an accepted on-the -job- injury who are either totally disabled or partially disabled and the Postal Service does not provide suitable limited duty  work and the injured carrier uses Leave Without Pay (LWOP) instead of using their own sick or annual leave.

     Form CA-7 is the form that must be used and is critical for claiming wage loss compensation. Injured workers must complete the front side of the CA-7 and submit it to the Postal Service. The Postal Service is then required to complete the back side of the form and forward it to the Office of Workers Compensation Program. The Postal Service is legally and contractually required to fill out its portion of the form and forward the completed form to OWCP as soon as possible but no more than 5 working days after receipt from the employee.

     OWCP tracks and publishes statistics showing the timeliness of receipt of the CA-7’s by each federal agency. Those statistics show that, while the Postal Service has been improving; however, they still have improperly delayed processing the forms.  Based on the latest data from OWCP the Postal Service failed to file the claims in a timely manner almost 13% of the time.  These delays in turn result in delays of compensation payments to the injured employees.

     Therefore, injured workers and their representatives should become familiar with the requirements regarding CA-7’s and take steps to ensure that the Postal Service complies with its legal obligation to timely complete and forward CA-7’s. Employees may not submit CA-7’s directly to OWCP; they must submit them to the Postal Service.  OWCP regulations require that, before any wage- loss compensation is paid, the employing agency must certify both 1) the rate of pay that the employee was earning on the date of the injury and the date of first disability, and 2) the pay status of the employee on the dates being claimed (LWOP, AL or SL). The certification is made by completion of the Management side of the CA-7.

     It can be difficult for stewards to determine whether a particular form was transmitted to OWCP by the USPS within the time limits. The solution is for injured workers to specifically request, in writing, a completed copy of each CA-7 at the time they submit the form to management. While there is no regulation that requires management to automatically give an employee a completes copy of the form, employees do have the right to a copy upon request.

     Both the Privacy Act and Handbook AS -353 give employees the right generally to any information filed by the Postal Service under their name or other identifying means. Handbook ASM 353 Section 3-4 states:

…employees may request and obtain information regarding themselves that the Postal Service maintains in a system of records as described in this section.    

     While there are a few limited exceptions to this right, none would normally apply to a request for a CA-7.Employees must make a written request to exercise this right.

      Employees should consider sending the CA-7 via certified mail (in order to prove the date the USPS received it) with a cover letter that includes the following:

Please find enclosed a CA-7 for wage – loss compensation for the period [insert beginning date of period]to[insert ending date of period] concerning my on- the-job injury, claim number [insert claim number].

Please provide me a completed copy of the CA-7 after the Postal Service completes its portion of the form. Please also advise me of the date that the Postal Service forwards the CA-7 to OWCP.

     Upon receipt of the CA-7, the employee can compare the date the completing manager signed the reverse of the form to the date the employee submitted it. If there is more than a five day spread, the employee should request to see his or her steward for initiation of a grievance investigation. The employee should also carefully review any additional information provided by the Postal Service for the accuracy. If there are any inaccuracies, the employee should contact his or her shop steward.

     If management does not provide a copy of the CA-7, as often happens, the employee should request to see his or her steward regarding violation of Handbook ASM -353 and the Privacy Act. Handbook ASM-353 Section 3-4.1b (2) requires USPS to respond to requests within 10 working days. The steward’s ensuing investigation should include a request for a copy of the CA-7.

     It’s a good idea generally for employees to submit one CA-7 corresponding to each two-week USPS Pay Period. If there is medical evidence supporting the absence into a definite date in the future, the CA-7’s should be submitted in the future, the CA-7’s should be submitted in advance. Moreover, employees should submit CA-7’s even if the claim has not yet been adjudicated by OWCP.

     CA-7’s are important. Employees are well – served by learning the regulations regarding them, complying with those regulations, and then requiring management to comply with them. The only exception is long –term disability where OWCP has placed the injured employee on the periodic rolls.