In this respect, the great majority of injuries involving permanent disability do not prevent the employee from returning to some kind of work. The FECA recognizes this and provides for reduced compensation benefits when the medical evidence shows that an employee is no longer totally disabled-but has a permanent partial disability. The FECA also prescribes the method for determining a partially disabled employee's earning capacity-essentially involving OWCP's selecting a job that best represents the employee's earning capacity in his or her partially disabled condition. Reduced benefits are then paid on the basis of this OWCP determined earning capacity. COP is not applicable in occupational disease cases or when notice of traumatic injury on Form CA-1 is not filed within 30 days.
Employees are, however, entitled to claim applicable compensation benefits in such situations.
Specific provisions for offering limited duty are contained in 546.141 of the Postal Service's Employee and Labor Relations Manual. See also NALC compensation Department articles in the May through August 1997 issues of the Postal Record. For full listing of scheduled members, organs and functions, plus a discussion on schedule awards, see articles in the February and March 1995 issues of the Postal Record. For a full discussion on earning capacity determinations see articles in the October 1991 through January 1992 issues of the Postal Record.