Effective February 2, 2017, the Postal Service™ is revising Handbook EL-505, Injury Compensation, to clarify how to make changes to Forms CA-1, CA-2, CA-7, and CA-2a, when appropriate.

Handbook EL-505, Injury Compensation
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2 Injury Compensation Office Setup
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2-3 Supplying Office Equipment — district HR manager
[Add a new last sub-bullet to read as follows:]

• Date stamping equipment.

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4 Claims Management
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4-3 Processing Documentation — ICCO
[Add a new bullet in the second position to read as follows:]

• Date-stamp all outgoing claim documents sent to OWCP.

4-4 Reviewing CA-1, Federal Employee’s Notice of Traumatic Injury and Claim for Continuation of Pay — ICCO
[Revise the text of 4-4 to read as follows:]

• Review CA-1 for completeness and accuracy. If it is incomplete, contact the employee, the employee’s representative, or the employee’s supervisor for the missing information.
• Any changes made on the Supervisor portion of the CA-1 must be lined out, initialed, and dated by ICCO personnel (or the supervisor) making the revision.
• The Injury Compensation file must contain documentation explaining why changes made by ICCO personnel were necessary.
• If the employee wishes to make a change to the Employee portion of the CA-1, ensure that the employee initials and dates the revision or submits the change in writing on a separate piece of paper that is signed and dated.
• To prevent delays in submission of CA-1 forms to OWCP, if it is not possible to obtain written revisions from the employee of obvious or suspected errors in the Employee portion of the CA-1, such errors may be listed on the Supervisor portion of the CA-1 and initialed and dated by ICCO personnel (or the supervisor) identifying the errors.

* Under no circumstances may ICCO personnel revise any information on the Employee portion of the CA–1, or delay submission of the CA-1 to the OWCP.
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4-8 Responding to Notice of a Potential Occupational Disease or Illness — ICCO
[Add two new bullets at the beginning of this section to read as follows:]

• Date-stamp all claim documents upon receipt in the ICCO.
• Date-stamp all outgoing claim documents sent to OWCP.

4-9 Reviewing CA-2, Notice of Occupation Disease and Claim for Compensation — ICCO
[Revise the text of 4-9 to read as follows:]

• Review the completed CA-2 for completeness and accuracy. If incomplete:
  • Contact the employee, his or her representative, or the supervisor for the missing information.
  • Assist the employee or supervisor in correcting any deficiencies.
• Any changes made on the Supervisor portion of the CA-2 must be lined out and initialed and dated by ICCO personnel (or the supervisor) making the revision.
• The Injury Compensation file must contain documentation explaining why changes made by ICCO personnel were necessary.
• If the employee wishes to make a change to the Employee portion of the CA-2, ensure that the employee initials and dates the revision or submits the change in writing on a separate piece of paper that is signed and dated.
• To prevent delays in submission of CA-2 forms to OWCP, if it is not possible to obtain written revisions from the employee of obvious or suspected errors in the Employee portion of the CA-2, such errors may be listed on the Supervisor portion of the CA-2 and initialed and dated by ICCO personnel (or the supervisor) identifying the errors.

* Under no circumstances may ICCO personnel revise any information on the Employee portion of the CA-2 or delay submission of the CA-2 to the OWCP.

• Insert the appropriate codes on both the front and back of the CA-2 in the following categories:
  • Occupation.
  • Type and source of injury.
  • Agency code.

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4-19 Initiating Compensation for a Totally Disabled Employee — ICCO
[Add two new bullets in the second and third position to read as follows:]

• Date-stamp all claim documents upon receipt in the ICCO.
• Date-stamp all outgoing claim documents sent to OWCP.

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[Under the renumbered fourth bullet, insert four sub-bullets in the second through fifth positions to read as follows:]

• If the employee wishes to make a change to the Employee portion of the CA-7, ensure that the employee initials and dates the revision or submits the change in writing on a separate piece of paper that is signed and dated.
• To prevent delays in submission of CA-7 forms to OWCP, if it is not possible to obtain written revisions from the employee of obvious or suspected errors in the Employee portion of the CA-7, such errors may be listed on the Agency portion of the CA-7 and initialed and dated by ICCO personnel (or the supervisor) identifying the errors.
• Any changes made on the Agency portion of the CA-7 must be lined out and initialed and dated by ICCO personnel (or the supervisor) making the revision.
• The Injury Compensation file must contain documentation explaining why changes made by ICCO personnel were necessary.

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[At the end of 4-19, enter the following:]
* Under no circumstances may ICCO personnel revise any information on the Employee portion of the CA-7 or delay submission of the CA-7 to the OWCP.
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5 Recurrence of Disability
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5-3 Responding to Notice of a Recurrence of Disability — ICCO
[After the “Obligation” section of 5-3, add two new bullets to read as follows:]

• Date-stamp all claim documents upon receipt in the ICCO.
• Date-stamp all outgoing claim documents sent to OWCP.

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[Add the following in the new fourth through seventh bullet positions to read as follows:]

• If the employee wishes to make a change to the Employee portion of the CA-2a, ensure that the employee initials and dates the revision or submits the change in writing on a separate piece of paper that is signed and dated.
• To prevent delays in submission of CA-2a forms to OWCP, if it is not possible to obtain written revisions from the employee of obvious or suspected errors in the Employee portion of the CA-2a, such errors may be listed on the Agency portion of the CA-2a and initialed and dated by ICCO personnel (or the supervisor) identifying the errors.
• Any changes made on the Agency portion of the CA-2a must be lined out and initialed and dated by ICCO personnel (or the supervisor) making the revision.
• The Injury Compensation file must contain documentation explaining why changes made by ICCO personnel were necessary.

* Under no circumstances may ICCO personnel revise any information on the Employee portion of the CA-2a or delay submission of the CA-2a to the OWCP.

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We will incorporate these revisions into the next online update of Handbook EL-505, Injury Compensation.

— Injury Compensation and Medical Services,
Employee Resource Management, 2-2-17

Source: USPS

Related: USPS OIG Report: The Postal Service’s Handling of OWCP Claim Forms (April 2016)