Administration Urges Rate Changes for US FELA Benefits

Gary Steinberg, Acting Director Office of Workers' Compensation Programs,  U.S. Department of Labor Acting testified before the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections Committee on Education and the Workforce, U.S. House of Representatives,  on July 10, 2013

"Thank you for inviting me to this important hearing today. As you know, the Department of Labor's

Gary Steinberg, 
Acting Director Office of Workers'
Compensation Programs, 
U.S. Department of Labor,

(DOL) Office of Workers' Compensation Programs (OWCP) administers a number of workers' compensation programs, including the Federal Employees' Compensation Act (FECA) program, which covers 2.7 million Federal and Postal workers and is one of the largest self-insured workers' compensation systems in the world.

I appreciate the opportunity to discuss legislative reforms to FECA that would enhance our ability to assist FECA beneficiaries to return to work, provide a more equitable array of FECA benefits, and generally modernize the program and update the statute. Almost 97 years ago, on September 7, 1916, Congress enacted FECA to provide comprehensive Federal workers' compensation coverage to all Federal employees and their survivors for disability or death due to an employment injury or illness.