United States Department of Labor

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

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W.G., Appellant

and

U.S. POSTAL SERVICE, CAMERON POST 

OFFICE, Cameron, LA, Employer

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Docket No. 20-1389

Issued: June 30, 2021

Appearances: Case Submitted on the Record

Appellant, pro se

Office of Solicitor, for the Director

ORDER REVERSING CASE

Before:

ALEC J. KOROMILAS, Chief Judge

PATRICIA H. FITZGERALD, Alternate Judge

VALERIE D. EVANS-HARRELL, Alternate Judge

On July 16, 2020 appellant filed a timely appeal from a June 15, 2020 merit decision of the 

Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs. The Clerk of the Appellate Boards assigned Docket 

No. 20-1389.1

The issues on appeal before the Board relate to OWCP’s finding of an overpayment of 

wage-loss compensation benefits due to appellant’s alleged concurrent receipt of Federal 

Employees’ Compensation Act2(FECA) wage-loss compensation and Social Security 

Administration (SSA) age-related retirement benefits without an appropriate offset for benefits 

attributable to the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS).

 

1 The Board notes that following the June 15, 2020 decision, OWCP received additional evidence. However, the 

Board’s Rules of Procedure provides: “The Board’s review of a case is limited to the evidence in the case record that 

was before OWCP at the time of its final decision. Evidence not before OWCP will not be considered by the Board 

for the first time on appeal.” 20 C.F.R. § 501.2(c)(1). Thus, the Board is precluded from reviewing this additional 

evidence for the first time on appeal. Id.

2 5 U.S.C. § 8101 et seq.
2

The Board finds that OWCP failed to properly develop the underlying issue of what portion 

of appellant’s SSA age-related retirement benefits were attributable to federal employment.3

OWCP’s procedures provide that an overpayment occurs when FECA compensation is not 

reduced by the FERS/FECA offset amount. Since the SSA will not report an offset amount until 

after SSA benefits are received, an overpayment will almost always occur and will need to be 

calculated for each period in which the offset amount was not withheld from compensation.4 The 

offset provision of 5 U.S.C. § 8116(d)(2) and applicable regulations apply to SSA age-related 

retirement benefits that are attributable to federal service.5 FECA Bulletin No. 97-09 provides that 

FECA benefits have to be adjusted for the FERS portion of SSA age-related retirement benefits 

because the portion of the SSA benefit earned as a federal employee is part of the FERS retirement 

package, and the receipt of FECA benefits and federal retirement concurrently is a prohibited dual 

benefit.6 In identifying the fact and amount of an overpayment of compensation following a

claimant’s receipt of age-related SSA age-related retirement benefits, the Board has observed that 

OWCP uses a FERS Offset Calculation Worksheet.7 This calculation worksheet is sent to SSA 

and the completed form is returned to OWCP setting forth purported SSA calculations as to the 

effective date and rate of SSA benefits without FERS and the effective date and rate of SSA 

benefits with FERS. Following receipt of the purported SSA calculations, a preliminary 

determination of overpayment is issued if a prohibited dual benefit was received.8

The Board has observed, however, that not all federal employees are enrolled in FERS.

Some FECA claimants are enrolled in another retirement program, such as the Civil Service 

Retirement System (CSRS). Other federal employees are not entitled to be enrolled in a federal 

retirement program. Therefore, OWCP’s procedures with regard to requesting offset information 

are not applicable to all recipients of FECA compensation and SSA age-related retirement benefits.

Therefore, the information solicited on the FERS Offset Calculation Worksheet that OWCP sends 

to SSA is not applicable to non-FERS claimants and does not establish either the fact or amount 

of an overpayment.

Herein, the evidence of record does not establish that appellant was enrolled in FERS. The 

case record contains appellant’s statements dated December 7, 2004 and October 29, 2019 that she 

was under CSRS, not FERS. A notification of personnel action Form PS 50 dated February 15, 

2007 indicates that appellant’s service computation date was July 31, 1980 and her retirement plan 

was CSRS offset. In an internal OWCP memorandum dated February 2, 2017, OWCP noted that 

 

3

J.L., Docket No. 19-1806 (issued July 29, 2020).

4 Federal (FECA) Procedure Manual, Part 6 -- Debt Management, Identifying and Calculating an Overpayment, 

Chapter 6.200.1 (h) (September 2018).

5 See 5 U.S.C. § 8116(a), (d); 20 C.F.R. § 10.421(a).

6 FECA Bulletin No. 97-09 (February 3, 1997).

7

Id.

8 Supra note 2. 
3

the employing establishment indicated that appellant was covered under CSRS. The Board 

therefore finds that the June 15, 2020 final overpayment determination must be reversed.

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT the June 15, 2020 decision of the Office of Workers’

Compensation Programs is reversed.

Issued: June 30, 2021

Washington, DC

Alec J. Koromilas, Chief Judge

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

Patricia H. Fitzgerald, Alternate Judge

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

Valerie D. Evans-Harrell, Alternate Judge

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board