Home| Postal News | Your Rights | PostalMall | Editorials |  Resources |  Links |  About  |   Search| Letters to Editor | Postalblog

Postal Workers Injured on Duty Information

* Postal Workers Injured on Duty Forum

USPS EL 505

Scheduled Awards

Articles by Dan Sullivan on USPS National Reassessment Program

New PS Form 2499, Offer of Modified Assignment (Limited Duty)

New PS Form 2499, Offer of Modified Assignment (Limited Duty), is effective October 1, 2007. The purpose of this form is to do the following:

• Promote the timely offer of available limited duty job assignments to injured employees.
• Facilitate service-wide standardization of the method of documenting limited duty job offers.
• Promote and document regulatory compliance with the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act (FECA) requirement of timely issuance of limited duty job offers.
• Clarify the precise nature of the limited duty work being offered to an injured employee, including a description of the duties to be performed, specific physical requirements, and special demands of the workload or unusual working conditions.
• Identify the organization offering the position and the location of the job.
• Document the date on which the job will be available.

        source: Postal Bulletin

USPS Unveils Prescription Drug Card for Workplace Injuries - The USPS has announced a voluntary prescription drug card program for employees who suffer workplace injuries or illnesses. According to the Postal Service, employees who choose to participate in the program will submit their drug card and prescriptions to the pharmacy of their choice, and the prescriptions will be filled at no cost to the employee. source: APWU (5/16/06)

 U.S. Postal Service ‘Outsourcing' Program  of Injured on Duty Employees Program’ Goes Nationwide - The Postal Service aggressively monitors limited-duty and rehabilitation assignments, and in May 2005 notified the APWU that the USPS would begin a reassessment of rehabilitation jobs and limited duty assignments. The “reassessments” will be implemented nationwide, by District. San Diego has become the initial site, and is set to begin late this summer. A pilot program was initiated in April 2004 in the Long Island (NY) District. The Postal Service contends that the program is necessary because there are a declining number of jobs available for injured employees who have substantial medical limitations. If there is no medically-suitable job available for such an employee, the Postal Service will refer the employee to OWCP for placement in OWCP’s vocational rehabilitation program and eventual re-employment in the private sector.

• a. The employee may not be able to perform the essential functions of his or her position, or
• b. The employee may pose a direct threat to the health or safety of him/herself or others due to that medical condition.

In making this determination, management must consider the essential functions of the employee's job, the nature of the medical condition or procedure involved, guidance from the occupational health nurse administrator, occupational health nurse, and/or the Postal Service's physician regarding the condition or procedure involved, and any other reliable and objective information to make an individualized assessment whether there is a reason to require the return- to-work documentation.

In cases of occupational illness or injury, the employee will be returned to work upon certification from the treating physician, and the medical report will be reviewed by a medical officer or contract physician as soon as possible thereafter

Avoiding CA-16 Pitfalls:

The following information may be helpful.

• Section A (Items 1 to 13) is completed by the Postal Service; Section B (Items 14 to 38) is completed by the doctor.
   
• The employee’s choice of treating physician should appear on the form, not the USPS contract physician or the medical facility.
  
  In emergency situations, if the form is issued naming the employee’s choice of hospital, it shouldn’t be a matter of great concern: OWCP advises that it will recognize an employee’s physician following the emergency treatment.
  
  Be sure that the complete mailing address of the OWCP District Office is provided in Item 12 (including the street address, city, state, and zip code). This helps ensure that your doctor sends the CA-16 to OWCP, which permits ACS to pay medical bills, without waiting for claim adjudication and medical authorization. (OWCP contracted with a single company, ACS, to handle its medical authorization and bill payment processes.)
  
  Employees are strongly encouraged to keep a copy of the CA-16 form. The USPS is not permitted to issue a second form to the employee to provide to other physicians they are referred to. If the CA-16 is improperly issued, most often by fax directly to the hospital or medical facility, the employee should not leave without retaining a copy for their records.

Being armed with this information and knowing your rights keeps your doctor happy, gets out-of-pocket expenses reimbursed, prevents bad credit ratings, and avoids a lot of potential frustration. Members with questions are encouraged to contact their local or state APWU representative.

[back to top]

Your Injury: Your Choice -If you are injured at work, you have the right to choose the physician or facility that you want to treat your injury. You may select any qualified physician or hospital within 25 miles of your home or workplace.

In an emergency situation you also have the right to select the hospital or physician of your choice. Following emergency treatment, you retain the right to select a physician for subsequent medical care.

A supervisor is permitted to accompany you to the doctor’s office or hospital only in an emergency, and only to ensure that you receive prompt medical care. Supervisors should not interfere with medical care, breech your privacy, or be present to advise the doctor about limited-duty accommodations. Ambulances should be used to transport you in emergencies, not USPS or personal vehicles.

(APWU March/April 2005)

The Postal Service is undertaking an internal audit to re-code job functions into productive labor codes. This internal audit affects all letter carriers working in limited duty and permanent modified positions.

According to the Postal Service, the objective of this initiative is "to provide employees injured on the job with a standardized administrative process built on eliminating ambiguous and subjective assumptions by placing employees in assignments that support the employees' recovery plan as well as meet organizational goals. Equally important, management must ensure that existing and new limited duty and rehabilitation assignments comply with all laws and postal policies while, at the same time, provide meaningful work for employees within their medical restrictions."

This initiative begins with the updating of medical information for each employee who is currently assigned to a limited duty or rehabilitation assignment. Each employee should expect to receive a letter requesting this updated medical restriction list from their treating physician. In most cases, the letter contains information concerning who will pay for this updated medical report. The Postal Service is responsible for the cost, if a claim with OWCP has been closed. If the claim is still open and active with OWCP, the doctor visit would be covered by OWCP for billing purposes because updated medical reports and restriction lists are required for the claim. During this initial stage, the supervisor will also be asked to complete a worksheet that clearly delineates the current job functions and duties that the employee is performing, including the amount of time spent performing each duty.

Once this information is gathered, the original job offer, the actual duties being performed and the listed medical restrictions are reviewed. This process will determine if the injured employee still requires alternate work assignments, and ensure that hours are being charged to the proper operation number. Some employees may require medical reassessment and some may be reassigned. The critical element of this initiative, according the Postal Service is to ensure that LDC 68/69 employees are performing work within his or her craft to the maximum extent within their medical limitations.

The team will review whether the employee's assigned duties appear to exceed medical restrictions, whether the employee is being underutilized because the medical restrictions allow for more extensive work assignments, or whether the employee is being assigned duties that are not part of the original job offer. In each of these instances, the appropriate action will be taken and will, in nearly all cases, result in a new written offer being provided. (source: NALC)

USPS Forms 2498x and 2499x

Many of you may have seen the PS 2499x and PS 2498x "Offer of Modified Assignment" forms being used in Postal Service Districts throughout the country. These forms are in draft status and are currently being reformatted by Postal Service Headquarters. Along with the final versions of the forms, the Postal Service will be issuing National Guidelines for its use.These forms are part of the LDC 68/69 Reassessment Initiative and will be useful to injured letter carriers being offered Limited Duty or Permanent Rehabilitation Assignments. The forms will provide a uniformity of job offers that we have been striving toward, for some time. The offers will now include all the required information and will stop the practice of using the phrase "other duties as assigned within medical restrictions".When the final versions of the forms are available, we will publish them in The Postal Record (source: NALC)

The new address for all mail submitted by injured employees nationwide is:

U.S. Department of Labor
Federal Employees' Compensation
PO Box 8300
London, KY 40742-8300

545.4 Implementing Medical Care

545.41 Emergency Treatment
An employee needing emergency treatment must be sent to the nearest available physician or hospital or to a physician or hospital chosen by the employee or the employee’s representative. The physician who provides emergency treatment is not considered the employee’s initial choice of physician.

545.44 Outside Treatment in a Nonemergency Situation
In a nonemergency situation, if an employee does not accept treatment at a Postal Service occupational health services office or contract facility, the employee may select a physician or hospital within approximately 25 miles of his or her home or worksite. The physician’s office should be contacted by telephone by the control office or control point to determine if the physician is available and will accept the employee for treatment under FECA. If not, the employee must select another qualified physician or hospital. A postal supervisor is not authorized to accompany the employee to a medical facility or physician’s office in nonemergency situations

Editor's note: Over the years I have witnessed many employees injured at work and fail to request to see their own physician. The people at medical units and  US Postal Service contract physicians (in my opinion) are not acting in the best interest of the employee but in the interest of the USPS and that is >>>to get injured employees back to work as soon as possible regardless of the well-being of the an employee.