Press Releases

Today, Education and Workforce Committee Chairman Tim Walberg (R-MI) and Workforce Protections Subcommittee Chairman Ryan Mackenzie (R-PA) sent a letter to Comptroller General Gene L. Dodaro requesting the Government Accountability Office (GAO) examine how Congress can improve the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act (FECA) to better serve injured federal workers while cutting waste, fraud, and abuse.

In the letter, the Members write: “Enacted in 1916, FECA provides workers’ compensation benefits to federal employees who become injured or ill through work-related activity. However, for more than 50 years, the law has not been meaningfully updated. The existing program has long been criticized for being susceptible to waste, fraud, and abuse and for being overly generous, as many beneficiaries remain on the program well into retirement.”

The letter continues: “While the last major revisions to the FECA program enacted by Congress were in 1974, various proposed revisions have been considered over the past decade. In 2012 and 2020, GAO issued reports that analyzed FECA compensation levels under existing and proposed revisions to the program. … Other types of revisions to FECA have also been considered in the past to improve program efficiency and integrity. For example, proposals aimed at reducing costs and improving efficiencies have suggested that FECA allow injured federal workers to receive care from state-licensed physician assistants and nurse practitioners.”

The letter concludes: “GAO has also examined program integrity issues related to improper payments in the FECA program and found examples of claimants receiving overlapping FECA, unemployment, and disability insurance benefits, as well as examples of claimants underreporting employment wages used to determine FECA benefits. DOL’s OIG [Office of Inspector General] recently testified to Congress that since FY 2015, the OIG has opened more than 320 criminal investigations involving the FECA program, resulting in the indictment and conviction of 322 individuals and recovering more than $1.7 billion.”

Read the full letter here.

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