FedupFeds Press Release TO: Federal Times, Congressional committees, federal unions, and
major media.
http://fedupfeds.org
9/10/98
MYTHS OF COMPENSATION: "gravy train"-- or national disgrace?
The Federal Times, Sept 14 print issue carried the headline
"WORKERS' COMP CAN BEAT SALARIES". This headline is likely to stir up more
resentment against federal workers, and give ammunition to congressmen who tried to cut
comp in committee. But the headline is shown to be misleading when we read the fine print,
the GAO report it's based on, & the Labor Department caveats. Rep. Greenwood would
hear a very different story from Rep. Horn's hearing in Long Beach, and from our own
members' written testimonies.
The talk of "incentives" to return to work implies that
people can stay out on paid comp when they want to, which never squares with the
regulations or real life. Company doctors and private doctors abuse their rights, and
return people to work wrongly under intimidation from OWCP, as Mr. Joseph Perez pointed
out in Long Beach.
In the fine print, GAO says low paid workers make less on comp -- the
vast majority ARE in the lower pay brackets, not the top. It turns out the only people
making more on comp are high paid managers without a working spouse, due to tax
considerations. But Greenwood uses this to attack benefits for the vast majority who are
lower paid and make much less on comp. He then urges cuts in benefits, as does the USPS
and other agencies. It's bad enough that Rep. Greenwood misinterprets the data, but the
GAO report itself admits several arbitrary assumptions in its methodology, along with
incomplete and unverified data. The report itself did not pass judgment on the
"fairness, adequacy, or equity of the benefits provided..."(as per their mutual
agreement not to go into those questions), but Greenwood jumps to his own conclusions
anyway. The report relies wholly on industry sources such as The Workers Compensation
Institute and the Labor Department, but nowhere shows any input from the primary clients,
the injured workers themselves! No one surveys or samples the injured, or asks whether
they were able to deal with the system and get the protections the FECA intended.
Who in that article is allowed to speak for the injured? Was it to be a
balanced report, giving both sides? At FedupFeds, we have collected extensive, written
anecdotal evidence from the injured in many agencies. On behalf of all injured federal
workers, we demand equal time. Our findings dispute the claims of Rep. Greenwood. The
other side is not told, when no one reports OWCP officials' admission in Long Beach, that
people give up on half their claims on appeal, and we know that thousands more are afraid
to even file in the first place. Our own members' reports document this, as well as the
dismal fact that when they manage to win, they often do so at great cost to themselves and
their families.
We heard OWCP officials testify in the Long Beach hearing that only a
handful of employee fraud cases are ever found to prosecute, yet agency fraud and
falsification has never been prosecuted. It wasn't supposed to be an adversarial system,
as Mr. Perez argued, where you have to have a lawyer just to get what you were already
entitled to under law. You can't sue for pain and suffering or wrongful discharge, can't
even pay a lawyer--if any will take the case. Our members' written reports document our
argument, that it's too complicated, that between agency management and OWCP, many
serious, long term injuries destroy their lives and their families. We say, no one
should have to learn the ridiculous OWCP system and act as their own attorney. Once the
facts are known, then all protections should be automatic and guaranteed.
We propose specific legislative reforms to make it so.
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End of Press Release
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