What is federal workers' compensation?

Federal workers' compensation is the benefits program for federal civilian employees injured on the job or who develop an occupational disease from federal employment. It is established by the Federal Employees' Compensation Act (FECA) and administered by the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Workers' Compensation Programs (OWCP), Division of Federal Employees' Compensation. It provides medical care, Continuation of Pay, wage-loss compensation, schedule awards for permanent impairment, vocational rehabilitation and survivor benefits. It is separate from — and replaces — state workers' compensation for federal employees.

Who is covered by federal workers' compensation (FECA)?

All civilian employees of the United States government, including U.S. Postal Service employees, are covered by FECA regardless of the agency they work for or how long they have been employed. Coverage also extends to certain other groups such as Peace Corps and Job Corps participants. Active-duty military members are not covered by FECA (they have separate systems), and most federal contractors are covered by their employer's state workers' compensation or the Defense Base Act rather than FECA. District of Columbia government employees are covered by DC's own program, not FECA.

How is federal workers' comp different from Maryland, Virginia or DC workers' comp?

Federal workers' compensation is a single national program administered by OWCP under FECA. State workers' compensation in Maryland, Virginia and DC is administered by each jurisdiction's commission and funded through employer insurance. The differences matter: FECA has its own forms (CA-1, CA-2, CA-7, CA-16, CA-17, CA-20), its own provider enrollment, its own physician-choice rules, Continuation of Pay for the first 45 days, compensation at 66⅔% or 75% of pay with no dollar cap tied to a state average wage, and a schedule award system for permanent impairment. There are no lawsuits against the government for a covered injury and no state commission hearings; disputes go through OWCP reconsideration, a hearing with OWCP's Branch of Hearings and Review, or appeal to the Employees' Compensation Appeals Board (ECAB).

What benefits does federal workers' compensation pay?

Medical treatment for the accepted condition with no copays or deductibles; Continuation of Pay (your regular salary from your agency for up to 45 calendar days after a traumatic injury); wage-loss compensation from OWCP at 66⅔% of your pay rate, or 75% if you have at least one eligible dependent, tax-free; a schedule award — a fixed number of weeks of compensation for permanent impairment of a limb, hand, foot, eye or hearing; vocational rehabilitation if you cannot return to your job; and death benefits for survivors. Compensation for wage loss continues as long as the disability continues and is supported by medical evidence.

What is a schedule award and how is it calculated?

A schedule award compensates a federal employee for permanent loss, or loss of use, of certain body parts after reaching maximum medical improvement (MMI). FECA assigns a fixed number of weeks to each member — for example 312 weeks for an arm, 288 for a leg, 244 for a hand, 205 for a foot and 160 for an eye — and a physician rates the percentage of impairment using the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment. A 10% impairment of an arm, for instance, is 31.2 weeks of compensation. The award is paid at the 66⅔% or 75% compensation rate and is payable even if you have returned to full duty. The spine is not a scheduled member, but impairment of the arms or legs caused by a spinal injury can be rated. Your treating physician's impairment rating is the starting point; OWCP may obtain a second-opinion rating.

Do I have to use the doctor my agency sends me to?

No. Under FECA you have the right to choose your own treating physician — a private DOL doctor who is independent of your agency, rather than the agency health unit or a "company doctor" your supervisor suggests. Your agency may send you to an agency health unit or a designated physician for initial examination, but you are then free to select any qualified physician for treatment. Once selected, changing physicians later generally requires OWCP's prior approval, so choose an OWCP-enrolled doctor experienced with federal claims from the start.

How long do I have to report a federal work injury?

Report it to your supervisor immediately and file the CA-1 (traumatic injury) or CA-2 (occupational disease) as soon as possible. A CA-1 must be filed within 30 days to be eligible for Continuation of Pay. The statutory deadline for any FECA claim is three years from the date of injury, or for occupational disease, from the date you became aware — or reasonably should have become aware — that the condition was related to your federal employment. Timely written notice to a supervisor can preserve a claim even when the form is filed later.

What does OWCP need from my doctor to accept my claim?

OWCP requires five elements for any claim: that it was filed on time, that you are a covered federal employee, that the incident or exposure occurred as described (fact of injury), that it occurred in the performance of duty, and — most often the deciding element — medical evidence establishing a diagnosed condition causally related to the work incident. That medical evidence must come from a physician and should include the history, examination findings, a specific diagnosis and a rationalized opinion explaining how the work activity caused or aggravated the condition. Weak or missing medical rationale is the most common reason federal claims are denied.

What is a second opinion or referee examination?

OWCP may schedule you for a second-opinion examination with a physician of its choosing to evaluate your condition, work capacity or impairment. If that physician's opinion conflicts with your treating physician's, OWCP may schedule a referee (impartial) examination to resolve the conflict, and the referee's opinion is usually given special weight. You must attend these examinations. The best protection is a treating physician whose reports are thorough, objective and well-reasoned — which is exactly what Federal Injury Centers' physician-authored documentation is designed to provide.

Can I get federal workers' comp for an injury that developed over time, like carpal tunnel or a bad back?

Yes. Conditions caused by repetitive work activity or cumulative exposure over more than one shift are occupational diseases under FECA and are filed on Form CA-2. Common examples for federal and postal employees include carpal tunnel syndrome, rotator cuff tendinopathy, lateral epicondylitis, plantar fasciitis, degenerative disc conditions aggravated by repetitive lifting, and hearing loss. These claims depend heavily on a detailed description of your job duties and a physician's rationalized opinion connecting those duties to the diagnosis.

Where can injured federal workers in the DMV get treatment?

Federal Injury Centers treats injured federal and postal employees at nine clinics: Alexandria VA, Baltimore MD, Fairfax (Merrifield) VA, Frederick MD, Greenbelt MD, Laurel MD, Rockville MD, Silver Spring MD and Temple Hills MD. All providers are OWCP-enrolled, physician forms are completed at your visit, and OWCP is billed directly. Call (240) 863-2822 for any location.

FECA · OWCP · Greater Washington DC

Federal Workers' Compensation in Washington DC, Maryland & Virginia: Doctors, Benefits and the Claims Process for Injured Federal Workers

Federal work comp is not state workers' comp. If you are a federal or postal employee injured on the job in the DMV, your claim runs through the Department of Labor's OWCP under FECA — with its own forms, its own rules and its own standard of medical evidence. Federal Injury Centers is an independent private practice — private DOL doctors you choose, not your agency's — providing the OWCP-enrolled physicians and physician-authored documentation that standard demands, at nine clinics.

Call (240) 863-2822 Request an Appointment

Private practice — not agency-employed
Federal & postal claims only
MD Medical Director
$0 out-of-pocket on accepted claims
Schedule award impairment ratings

Federal workers' compensation is the program that pays medical care, lost wages and permanent-impairment benefits to federal civilian and U.S. Postal Service employees injured on the job or made ill by their work. It is created by the Federal Employees' Compensation Act (FECA) and administered by the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Workers' Compensation Programs (OWCP) — not by Maryland, Virginia or DC state workers' compensation. Injured federal workers in the greater Washington DC area have the right to choose their own treating physician; Federal Injury Centers is an independent practice providing private, OWCP-enrolled DOL doctors who treat the injury, complete the CA-16, CA-17 and CA-20, and bill OWCP directly at nine DMV locations.

Federal vs. state

Why Federal Work Comp Is Different — and Why Your Doctor Has to Know It

Every year thousands of federal employees in the Washington region are hurt at work: letter carriers and mail handlers, VA nurses and technicians, TSA officers, correctional officers, DoD and NIH civilians, FAA technicians, Smithsonian trades staff. Their claims do not go to the Maryland Workers' Compensation Commission, the Virginia Workers' Compensation Commission or the DC Office of Workers' Compensation. They go to OWCP's Division of Federal Employees' Compensation, under a federal statute with its own vocabulary.

A clinic that mostly treats auto accidents and state comp cases will not know what a CA-16 is, why the CA-17 has to be updated, or that OWCP accepts specific diagnosed conditions rather than "back injury." Federal Injury Centers treats federal and postal claims exclusively, under the medical direction of Dr. Yasmin Ahmed, MD, so the medicine and the documentation are built for FECA from the first visit.

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Federal workers' compensation compared with Maryland, Virginia and DC state workers' compensation
	Federal (FECA / OWCP)	State (MD / VA / DC)
Administered by	U.S. Dept. of Labor, OWCP	State commission + employer's insurer
Who is covered	Federal civilian & USPS employees	Private & state/local employees
Claim forms	CA-1, CA-2, CA-7, CA-16, CA-17, CA-20	State-specific forms
Choice of doctor	Employee chooses a private doctor; change needs OWCP approval	Varies — panel or insurer-directed in some states
First 45 days of lost pay	Continuation of Pay (100% salary, from agency)	Waiting period, then partial wage benefit
Wage-loss rate	66⅔% (75% with dependent), tax-free	Typically 66⅔% capped at state max
Permanent impairment	Schedule award (fixed weeks per member)	State schedule / PPD rules
Disputes	OWCP reconsideration, hearing, ECAB appeal	Commission hearing, court appeal

What FECA provides

Federal Workers' Compensation Benefits

Every benefit below depends on medical evidence from your treating physician — which is why the doctor you choose is the most important decision in your claim.

Medical

Medical treatment

$0 out of pocket

All reasonable and necessary care for the accepted condition — physician visits, imaging, physical therapy, chiropractic (within FECA limits), prescriptions, surgery — paid by OWCP directly to enrolled providers. No copays, no deductibles, no personal insurance.

Income · first 45 days

Continuation of Pay (COP)

45 calendar days at full salary

After a traumatic injury, your agency continues your regular pay for up to 45 days of disability. Requires a CA-1 filed within 30 days and medical evidence of disability. Not available for occupational disease (CA-2) claims.

Income · ongoing

Wage-loss compensation

66⅔% or 75% with a dependent

Paid by OWCP, tax-free, for periods of disability after COP ends or when COP does not apply. Claimed on Form CA-7 and supported by your physician's reports for each period. Continues as long as disability continues.

Permanent impairment

Schedule award

Up to 312 weeks (arm)

A fixed number of weeks of compensation for permanent impairment of a scheduled member, rated by a physician under the AMA Guides at maximum medical improvement. Payable even after you return to full duty.

Return to work

Vocational rehabilitation

Retraining & placement

If your accepted condition prevents return to your job, OWCP may provide vocational rehabilitation services, including retraining and job placement assistance, while compensation continues.

Survivors

Death benefits

Up to 75% of pay to survivors

Compensation to a surviving spouse and dependent children when a federal employee dies from a work-related injury or illness, plus funeral expenses.

Schedule awards

Permanent Impairment Under FECA

FECA (5 U.S.C. § 8107) lists the number of weeks of compensation for total loss or loss of use of each scheduled member. Partial impairment is paid proportionally: a physician rates the percentage of impairment using the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, and that percentage is multiplied by the weeks in the schedule. A 15% rating of the leg, for example, is 43.2 weeks.

The back and neck are not scheduled members, but impairment of the arms or legs that results from a spinal injury — radiculopathy, for instance — can be rated. Our physicians provide impairment ratings at maximum medical improvement so your CA-7 schedule award claim starts with a complete, defensible rating rather than a referral to a stranger.

Ask about an impairment rating

FECA schedule award weeks by member
Scheduled member	Weeks of compensation
Arm	312
Leg	288
Hand	244
Foot	205
Eye	160
Thumb	75
First (index) finger	46
Great toe	38
Hearing, both ears	200
Hearing, one ear	52

The claims process

How a Federal Workers' Compensation Claim Works, Start to Finish

Six steps from injury to return to duty. Your DOL doctor is involved in every one after the first.

Report the injury

Tell your supervisor immediately. For a traumatic injury, request a Form CA-16 so treatment is authorized and paid while OWCP decides the claim.

File the claim

File Form CA-1 (traumatic injury, within 30 days for COP) or CA-2 (occupational disease), usually through ECOMP. Your agency adds its section and forwards it to OWCP.

See an OWCP-enrolled doctor

Choose your own physician. Bring the CA-16. Your DOL doctor examines you, starts treatment and completes the CA-16 Part B, CA-17 and CA-20.

Medical evidence to OWCP

Your physician's narrative report establishes diagnosis, causation and restrictions. OWCP reviews the five elements and accepts specific conditions — or sends a development letter requesting more.

Treatment & compensation

Care continues under OWCP authorization. COP covers 45 days; after that, file CA-7s every two weeks supported by updated medical reports. Submit OWCP-957 for mileage.

Return to duty or MMI

Updated CA-17s guide light or modified duty. At maximum medical improvement, a physician impairment rating supports a schedule award claim on Form CA-7.

Download the OWCP forms & watch tutorials

What OWCP decides on

The Five Elements of Every FECA Claim

OWCP claims examiners evaluate every federal workers' compensation claim against the same five requirements. The first four are usually straightforward for a federal employee hurt at work. The fifth is where claims are won or lost — and it is entirely a question of what your physician writes.

Federal Injury Centers' reports are structured around this element: a specific diagnosis, objective findings, an accurate history of the work incident or exposure, and a rationalized medical opinion explaining how the employment caused or aggravated the condition. That is what turns a treated injury into an accepted claim.

Timely filing. The claim was filed within the time limits (3 years; 30 days for COP).
Civil employee. You are a federal civilian or postal employee covered by FECA.
Fact of injury. The incident or exposure occurred as described, and a medical condition resulted.
Performance of duty. The injury occurred while you were doing your job or something reasonably incidental to it.
Causal relationship. Medical evidence from a physician establishes that the diagnosed condition was caused or aggravated by the work incident or exposure. This is the element most often missing — and the one your DOL doctor controls.

Your doctor's role

What Your Physician Does for Your Federal Comp Claim

Establish the claim

CA-16 Part B, CA-20 and a narrative report with diagnosis, findings and a rationalized causation opinion — completed at the visit, not weeks later. Occupational disease claims get the detailed duty-to-diagnosis explanation OWCP requires.

Support compensation

Updated CA-17 Duty Status Reports as restrictions change, and periodic reports covering every date claimed on a CA-7 — so COP and wage-loss compensation are not interrupted by gaps in medical evidence.

Defend the claim

When OWCP schedules a second-opinion or referee examination, a thorough, objective treating-physician record is your best protection. At MMI, an AMA Guides impairment rating supports your schedule award.

Greater Washington DC

Federal Workers' Comp Care for the Region's Largest Federal Workforce

The DMV has the highest concentration of federal civilian employees in the country. Federal Injury Centers' nine clinics are placed where those employees live and work — Montgomery, Prince George's and Frederick counties, Baltimore, Alexandria and Fairfax — so ongoing treatment, therapy and CA-17 updates don't require a trip across the Beltway.

U.S. Postal ServiceCarriers, clerks, mail handlers and VMF staff from processing centers, stations and branches across DC, Maryland and Northern Virginia.

Veterans AffairsNurses, technicians, police and support staff at VA medical centers and clinics in Washington, Baltimore and the suburbs.

Homeland SecurityTSA officers at DCA, BWI and IAD, CBP, ICE, USCIS and Coast Guard civilian employees.

Department of Defense civiliansCivilian employees at the Pentagon, Fort Belvoir, Fort Meade, Joint Base Andrews, Walter Reed and regional depots.

Health & science agenciesNIH, FDA, CDC, HHS and NIST employees in Bethesda, Silver Spring, Rockville and Gaithersburg.

Every other agencyBureau of Prisons, FAA, Smithsonian, GSA, Treasury, Justice, State and any federal civilian employer covered by FECA.

Federal work comp doctors near you

Federal Workers' Compensation Care at 9 DMV Locations

One number reaches every clinic: (240) 863-2822.

VIRGINIA

Federal Work Comp in Alexandria, VA

4875 Eisenhower Ave, Suite 215
Alexandria, VA 22304

(240) 863-2822

Clinic page DOL Doctors OWCP Forms

MARYLAND

Federal Work Comp in Baltimore, MD

1001 Pine Heights Ave, Suite 304
Baltimore, MD 21229

(240) 863-2822

Clinic page DOL Doctors OWCP Forms

VIRGINIA