OWCP LEAVE BUY BACK PROGRAM

OWCP LEAVE BUY BACK PROGRAM
INDIANAPOLIS PAYROLL OFFICE Integrity - Service - Innovation

Integrity - Service - Innovation
TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION The Department of Labor administers 4 OWCP programs of which the Division of Federal Employees' Compensation is one. The Division of Federal Employees' Compensation adjudicates: New claims for benefits and manages ongoing cases Pays medical expenses and compensation benefits to injured workers and survivors Helps injured employees return to work when they are medically able to do so There are two types of Workers Compensation Programs for Federal employees we will be discussing: Continuation of Pay (COP) OWCP leave Buy Back Program (LBB) 5/21/2019 Integrity - Service - Innovation

CONTINUATION OF PAY (COP) - DEFINED
Continuation of pay for up to 45 calendar days of wage loss due to disability and/or medical treatment after a traumatic injury. Intent is to avoid interruption of pay while the claim is adjudicated. Subject to usual deductions from pay, such as income tax, retirement, allotments, etc. Decision to use leave over COP is not irrevocable. Employee who uses leave can later elect COP within one year of the leave usage or date the case is accepted by OWCP, whichever is later. 5/21/2019 Integrity - Service - Innovation

CONTINUATION OF PAY (COP) - ELIGIBILITY
Must be a traumatic injury. Must file the CA-1 (or notice of injury) within 30 calendar days of the date of injury. Must begin losing time from work within 45 calendar days of the injury. 5/21/2019 Integrity - Service - Innovation

NINE REASONS FOR CONTROVERTING COP
Agency may controvert (not pay) COP ONLY if one of the following applies: Disability is a result of occupational disease or illness Employee comes within the exclusions of 5 USC 8101 (1) (B) or (E) (volunteers) Employee is neither a citizen nor resident of the USA or Canada Injury occurred off the agency’s premises and the employee was not engaged in official “off premises” duties Employee’s willful misconduct, intentional harm or death, or proximate intoxication Injury not reported within 30 days of injury Work stoppage first occurred more than 45 days after the injury Employee reported injury after employment was terminated Employee is enrolled in Civil Air Patrol, Peace Corps, or other group covered by special legislation 5/21/2019 Integrity - Service - Innovation

CONTROVERTING COP OWCP reviews COP controversion and can overturn it and require that COP be paid. Agency is provided with explanation of basis for decision. Also COP can be terminated after employer has begun to pay COP. Please refer to the DOL website for further information. 5/21/2019 Integrity - Service - Innovation

CALCULATING COP The pay rate for COP purposes is equal to the employee’s regular weekly pay rate. Excludes overtime pay, but includes other applicable extra pay except to the extent prohibited by law. Changes in pay which would have otherwise occurred during the 45 day period are to be reflected (i.e. promotion, demotion, step increases). 5/21/2019 Integrity - Service - Innovation

CONTINUATION OF PAY (COP) - DETERMINING DATES
The first day of COP is the day following the date of injury (DOI) where there is immediate time loss. If there is immediate time loss on the DOI and if the employee was injured during official work hours, time lost on DOI is charged to Administrative Leave (Type Hour code LU). If disability wasn’t immediate, the timeline begins on the first day that time is lost– so long as that was within 45 calendar days of the DOI. In other words, the 45 days of COP starts with the first day of traumatic leave used after injury date. If continual disability for work begins within 45 calendar days after the first return to work, and all 45 days of COP haven’t been used, COP continues until 45 days of COP have been used. 5/21/2019 Integrity - Service - Innovation

CONTINUATION OF PAY (COP) - COUNTING DAYS
COP looks at calendar days, not just work days. Using any part of a day towards COP makes it a COP day (i.e. using 1 hour of COP to see doctor = 1 day of COP). COP is charged for weekends and holidays if medical evidence shows employee was disabled on those days. LT, LA, LS entered with an injury number will be used to fulfill the daily tour requirement. LU will be allowed with or without hours. If no hours are entered it will indicate that the injury occurred after tour of duty was completed. LT with injury number, number of hours and shift code of 4 (DCPS will default to this code), must be entered for all non-work days (Weekends and RDO) and holidays to prevent a break in traumatic injury. Failure to code for non-work days could cause the COP Not To Exceed (NTE) date to reset. 5/21/2019 Integrity - Service - Innovation

CONTINUATION OF PAY (COP) - CODING DCPS
Type Hour Code – LU Date Of Traumatic Injury Never input injury number with 'LU' (Date of Traumatic Injury) DCPS will populate with the correct injury number Type Hour Code - LT Subsequent days of Traumatic Injury - (COP) Injury number is date of the traumatic injury ‘LU’ Format of injury number is mmdd Type Hour Code 'LT' equals one Full Day of COP, regardless of the number of hours reported, and is counted towards the COP Balance listed on the Master Leave History IV. The 45 days of COP starts with the first day used after injury date (type hour code ‘LU’). Note - If LU has not been reported, the transaction will be invalid. 5/21/2019 Integrity - Service - Innovation

Continuous Regular Day Off (RDO) and Holidays COP is charged for weekends and holidays if medical evidence shows employee was disabled on those days. Must be coded ‘LT’ and TEM SFT 4 DCPS will default to this TEM SFT 4 Failure to code for non-work days could cause the COP Not To Exceed (NTE) date to reset. 5/21/2019 Integrity - Service - Innovation

DCPS will store a continuation of pay record with a beginning/ending balance equal to 45 days and with a NTE date equal to 45 days from the first date of traumatic leave used. If the employee has a break in ‘LT’ coding and the COP NTE date is less than or equal to the injury date plus 45 days, the program will reset the COP NTE date for an additional 45 days from the date of the break in traumatic injury. Recurrence of Disability - If an employee returns to work and then becomes disabled again and stops work, the PRO may continue COP only if the 45 calendar days of entitlement to COP were not completely used during the initial period of disability. For COP to be continued, the employee must have experienced the recurrence of the disability and stopped working within 45 days of the time the employee first returned to work following the initial period of disability. DCPS will track up to 3 occurrences of Traumatic Injury (COP). 5/21/2019 Integrity - Service - Innovation

Any occurrences in excess of 3 must be tracked manually by the Activity and a code of 'LN' should be input in place of 'LU'. If the employee already has three active COP records, and 'LU' is entered, the leave program in DCPS will convert the 'LU' if reported with hours or back out 'LU' if reported with no hours. Both instances will appear on the conversion of hours report (P6607R01). If the COP balance is ‘zero’ or 'LU' is coded when employee already has 3 existing COP records, DCPS will use standard conversions, converting first to sick leave. 5/21/2019 Integrity - Service - Innovation

Weekend or RDO 5/21/2019 Integrity - Service - Innovation

COP - COUNTING DAYS - EXAMPLE
Worker is injured on 9/21/17 Disability starts on 9/22/17 and employee used continual LT until 10/1/17 Uses 10 ‘LT’ days continuously 9 days used in PPE 9/30/17 and 1 day used PPE 10/14/17 Original NTE: 11/5/17 Begin counting day 1 on 9/22/17, 45th day is 11/5/17 Return to work (RTW) - employee returns to duty on 10/2/17 Remember, if the employee has a break in ‘LT’ coding and the COP NTE date is less than or equal to the injury date plus 45 days, the program will reset the COP NTE date for an additional 45 days from the date of the break in traumatic injury In this case 45 days from 10/3/17 The adjusted NTE date is now 11/16/17 (45 days from break in traumatic injury) So the employee will get an additional 45 days to use the remaining number of COP days. In this case the employee will get 45 additional days to use the remaining 35 days. OWCP 2007 PPT slide citing 5/21/2019 Integrity - Service - Innovation

MASTER LEAVE HISTORY - Original NTE
5/21/2019 Integrity - Service - Innovation

MASTER LEAVE HISTORY - Adjusted NTE

CONTINUATION OF PAY (COP) - COMPUTING DAYS

CONTINUATION OF PAY (COP) - RESOURCES
DFEC Procedure Manual - Chapter – on web at: CA-810 – Chapter 5 CA-550 – Chapter D DOD FMR Vol 8 “CIVILIAN PAY POLICY” Payroll Office (PRO) User Manual 5/21/2019 Integrity - Service - Innovation

CONTINUATION OF PAY (COP)
Questions? - COP Slide Title 5/21/2019 Integrity - Service - Innovation

What is the OWCP Leave Buy Back Program? Employees who elected to use their personal leave due to an on-the-job injury or illness may apply for compensation for the leave used from the Office of Worker’s Compensation Programs, US Department of Labor (OWCP). This leave buy back is only for those days that exceeded the 45 days of paid leave they first received for their injury. If an employee is experiencing an occupational disease, they can also utilize the OWCP LBB program. NO personnel action is required. Do NOT place employee in LWOP status for period of LBB being claimed. Requires changes to an employee’s timesheets (by payroll office). OWCP and the employee pay for a share of the leave to be returned to the employee’s leave balance. 5/21/2019 Integrity - Service - Innovation

Forms needed to process a claim: CA7 – Claim for Compensation CA7a – Time Analysis Form CA7b – Leave Buy Back (LBB) Worksheet/Certification and Election Forms can be found at: 5/21/2019 Integrity - Service - Innovation

All OWCP LBB requests are received by Remedy and/or Imaging. Attach the CA7 forms to the Remedy ticket -OR- Fax them to Imaging at: The Remedy titles for Worker’s Compensation Leave Buy Back are: WORKERS COMP LEAVE BUY BACK - LEAVE BUY BACK PAYMENT 15 business day customer expectation response time. WORKERS COMP LEAVE BUY BACK - LEAVE BUY BACK SUBMISSION 30 business day customer expectation response time. 5/21/2019 Integrity - Service - Innovation

Civilian pay technicians will: Pull data such as the Master Time & Pay Histories for the LBB time claimed. Input data into a spreadsheet which calculates the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act (FECA) estimate. Audit the FECA estimate, audited by the civilian pay lead technician and certified by the first-line supervisor, before sending completed forms back to agency. 5/21/2019 Integrity - Service - Innovation

What type of leave can be included in a Leave Buy Back? Accrued leave such as: Annual Sick Advance Annual Advanced Sick Include Holiday Leave if the annual or sick leave is purchased on the days before and after the Holiday Leave. The Holiday leave is not restored to the employee but the funds are refunded to the agency. 5/21/2019 Integrity - Service - Innovation

DOL CA7 - CLAIM FOR COMPENSATION PAGE 1

DOL CA7 - CLAIM FOR COMPENSATION PAGE 2

DOL CA7A - TIME ANALYSIS SHEET

OWCP LEAVE BUY BACK PROGRAM - ACCRUAL LOSS

DOL CA7B - LEAVE BUY BACK WORKSHEET - PAGE 1

DOL CA7B - LEAVE BUY BACK WORKSHEET - PAGE 2
DFAS Cleveland ATTN: J3DCBB/555 1240 E. 9th Street Cleveland, OH 44199 5/21/2019 Integrity - Service - Innovation

DFAS Civilian pay technicians will review the request and all compensation forms and calculate the FECA estimate. In the event that the hourly rate or the hours are not validated in DCPS, the forms will be annotated to indicate the discrepancies and returned for further action. Once completed, all CA7a and CA7b forms will be returned via Remedy. The agency will then submit the CA7 FECA forms and other documentation to the Department of Labor for review. 5/21/2019 Integrity - Service - Innovation

OWCP LEAVE BUY BACK PROGRAM CONT.
Note: The agency should NOT collect payments from the employee until: DOL pays their portion -AND- A letter is sent to the employee from DFAS specifying the employee portion. There is a HIGH potential that if the employee pays before DOL pays, that the employee will overpay and would need to be refunded. 5/21/2019 Integrity - Service - Innovation

OWCP LEAVE BUY BACK PROGRAM - GROSS TO NET WORKSHEET

OWCP LEAVE BUY BACK PROGRAM – BENEFITS STATEMENT EXAMPLE
Added Benefits Statement 5/21/2019 Integrity - Service - Innovation

OWCP LEAVE BUY BACK PROGRAM - EMPLOYEE LETTER
Check on letter address 5/21/2019 Integrity - Service - Innovation

OWCP LEAVE BUY BACK PROGRAM - PAYMENTS
Both the Department of Labor and the employee payments will be mailed to: DFAS Cleveland ATTN: J3DCBB/555 1240 E. 9th Street Cleveland, OH 44199 The payments are posted to a database so the PRO can take appropriate action. Check on letter address 5/21/2019 Integrity - Service - Innovation

OWCP LEAVE BUY BACK PROGRAM - EMPLOYEE PAYMENT PLAN
Check on letter address 5/21/2019 Integrity - Service - Innovation

OWCP LEAVE BUY BACK PROGRAM - LEAVE ADJUSTMENTS
Once the employee portion has been paid in full, the timesheets are changed and/or the offline leave hours are restored to their current leave balances. Leave is changed from LA/LS to KD. KD does not affect the employee’s WIGI whereas KA will. Accruals will be reduced on the prorated amount for the pay period(s) changed. A Civilian pay lead technician has access to update the timesheets which will create the indebtedness in DCPS. The Civilian pay lead technician will submit an internal ticket to the Debt team to have the lump sum payments posted to the debt. The agency should NOT change online or offline timecards for LBB’s. The payroll office will make all necessary timecard adjustments. 5/21/2019 Integrity - Service - Innovation

OWCP LEAVE BUY BACK PROGRAM - REFUNDS DUE
Refunds are due to the employee when: An employee pays for their portion before the DOL payment has been received The debt had created, the payments had not been posted, and payroll deductions were taken from their current pay Refunds will be processed by the PRO when the payment is submitted to DFAS-Cleveland. Refunds due from a payroll deduction will need to be requested via Remedy using title ‘Debt Refund’. 5/21/2019 Integrity - Service - Innovation

OWCP LEAVE BUY BACK PROGRAM - TAXES
If both payments are received in the current tax year, the employee will receive retirement and income tax credits. If the payments are received in a prior tax year, they do not receive income tax credits, only retirement tax credits. A corrected W2 will be issued if the payments were received after the W2 has been issued and before December 31st of that tax year. A tax certificate will be issued for a prior year LBB in the following tax year. IRS Publication 17, Your Federal Income Tax (For Individuals) Worker’s Compensation 5/21/2019 Integrity - Service - Innovation

OWCP LEAVE BUY BACK PROGRAM - RESOURCES
USC (a) Wages (2) (A) Department of Labor 20 C.F.R. Part 10 DoD Leave Buy Back Process Summary 5/21/2019 Integrity - Service - Innovation

Questions? - LBB Need Title 5/21/2019 Integrity - Service - Innovation

Change Slide Title to Disability Retirement 5/21/2019 Integrity - Service - Innovation

OWCP LEAVE BUY BACK PROGRAM

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