As a Federal civil service employee, you have extensive protections to cover you during both short-term and long-term disability. You do not pay extra for disability protection. Your protection is incorporated within the very liberal Federal civil service leave, compensation, health benefits, and retirement programs.

Your Short-term Disability Protection

You have extensive income protections to cover you during short-term disability. Unlike most private sector plans which provide a maximum of 60 percent of your salary, you continue to receive 100 percent of your pay and benefits during the period covered by your accrued, advanced or donated leave.

It is not unusual for mid-career employees to have sufficient leave accumulated to continue to receive full pay and benefits for periods in excess of a year.

You may refer to Your NASA Employee Benefits Statement to determine the amount of time that you currently could be absent from work with a disability and continue to receive full pay and benefits.

To protect your income and employment status during disability, you may use a combination of your :

Healthcare Coverage During Disability

If you are enrolled in the Federal Employees Health Benefit (FEHB) Plan, you continue to receive health insurance coverage. During the annual open season beginning in mid November, you may enroll or change health plans without any special restrictions -- including pre-existing medical conditions.

Your Long Term Disability Protection

If it becomes apparent that you will be unable to work because of a disability, you may be eligible for disability retirement. To be eligible you must have:

Your retirement annuity will be based upon your years of service and "high-3" average salary. For an estimate of your current coverage you may refer to Your NASA Employee Benefits Statement.

For a detailed explanation of disability retirement, you may refer to the section in this handbook on your retirement plan -- either FERS or CSRS.

Disability Protection under Social Security

FERS employees may also be covered for disability under Social Security. A personal statement of your individual Social Security disability benefits is available from Social Security. To obtain your estimate, you should submit form SSA-7004 to Social Security. Forms are available in your Human Resources Office or through Social Security (800) 772-1213.

Disability Caused by Injury on the Job--Workers’ Compensation

The Federal Employees' Compensation Act (FECA) provides compensation and medical care for employees for disability due to personal injuries sustained while in the performance of duty. These benefits are called worker's compensation. The term 'injury' includes, in addition to injury by accident, a disease proximately caused by the employment. The law also provides for the payment of funeral and burial expenses and compensation for the dependents if the injury or disease causes the employee's death. The FECA is administered by the Office of Workers' Compensation Programs (OWCP) in the U.S. Department of Labor.

Definitions

Traumatic Injury
Wound or other condition of the body caused by external force, including stress or strain, identifiable by time and place of occurrence and member or function of the body affected, and caused by a specific event or incident or series of events or incidents within a single day or work shift.

Occupational Disease or Illness
Abnormal condition produced by systemic infection, continued or repeated stress or strain, exposure to toxins, radiation, high noise levels, etc., or other continued and repeated exposure to conditions of the work environment over a period longer than 1 day or work shift.

Disability
Loss of ability to perform work. Such disability may be partial or total in extent and temporary or permanent in duration.

Job-Related Cause
Events which occur on site during duty hours and also those which the employee encounters while performing official duties off-premises or while on official travel. Under OWCP policy, injuries which result from reasonable recreational activities and occur on NASA premises during the lunch break or other authorized periods of the working day may be considered to be job-related.

Workmen’s Comp Benefits

Federal employees are eligible for four basic types of benefits under the provisions of the FECA program: medical benefits, disability compensation, vocational rehabilitation, and death benefits, which include funeral expenses and survivor compensation. The program applies to any disability (temporary or permanent, partial or total) incurred as a result of an employment-related disease or condition, as well as an on-the-job injury.

Medical Benefits
The FECA provides payment for the cost of all medical services, appliances, drugs, and supplies furnished by or on the order of physicians or hospitals, including transportation expenses and necessary incidental expenses incurred by medical care. The employee may use the services of the hospital or physician of his or her choice in the first instance; however, once this choice is exercised, any change must be approved by the OWCP.

Disability Benefits
If you suffer a disability which is causally related to employment, you are eligible for one or more of several types of wage loss compensation. Disability benefits for wage loss are paid either for total or partial disability for gainful employment..

Temporary or Total Disability
The FECA provides a variety of benefits if you are temporarily or totally disabled as the result of an illness or injury causally related to employment.

If you suffer a job-related 'traumatic' injury, you may have a continuation of regular pay for a maximum of 45 calendar days of disability. If the disability extends beyond 45 calendar days, and following a 3-day waiting period during which you must have been in a non pay status, you will become entitled to monthly disability compensation from OWCP.

In cases where the disability extends beyond 14 days from the end of the 45 days of pay continuation, the 3 day waiting period is waived. The basic amount of the monthly compensation payments will be equal to 66 2/3 percent of your regular pay if you have no dependents. In cases where there are one or more dependents, your compensation will increase to 75 percent of your regular pay. Normally, your salary rate in effect at the time of injury or at the time the disability occurred will be used for computation of benefits.

Dependents include a spouse; a wholly dependent parent; an unmarried child under 18 years of age; an unmarried child over 18 years of age who is incapable of self support; or an unmarried child over 18 who is a student. (A child may be considered a student until age 23 or until completion of 4 years of school beyond high school level.)

Annual compensation is limited to the highest step of a GS-15 Compensation remains the same whether an employee is temporarily or permanently disabled and is payable for the duration of the disability. A permanently disabled employee is entitled to compensation until death unless the employee is medically or vocationally rehabilitated. Compensation may not be paid while an injured employee receives pay for leave.

Partial Disability
If you are an injured employee and are no longer totally disabled for gainful employment, the effect of the injury on your wage-earning capacity is determined. Entitlement to compensation is then based upon three-fourths or two thirds of the loss of wage earning capacity, as appropriate.

Scheduled Award
Predetermined amounts may be paid as compensation for permanent loss or loss of use of certain members, organs, or functions of the body and for serious disfigurement of the face, head, or neck. For scheduled awards to be granted, these losses of bodily functions need not necessarily impair a person's wage earning capacity.

Benefits under these provisions are calculated in the same manner as above, but are paid for a specified period of time which is proportional to the severity of loss. Scheduled awards can be paid even if the employee returns to work. Employees may not, however, receive wage loss compensation and scheduled award benefits concurrently for the same injury.

Vocational Rehabilitation
Vocational rehabilitation, job counseling, and placement assistance may be provided an injured employee who is unable to return to usual employment because of permanent disability due to the injury. In addition to the disability benefit payments, compensation not to exceed $200 per month may be paid if it is considered necessary for maintenance when the employee is pursuing an approved training course. Vocational rehabilitation benefits are supplemental, and recipients are also entitled to collect total disability payments during the period of their rehabilitation.

Death Benefit
The FECA provides a full range of benefits for the survivors of Federal employees who suffer a job-related death. Widows and widowers of deceased employees are eligible for wage loss compensation equal to 50 percent of the deceased employee's regular pay. If the widow or widower has an eligible child, the surviving spouse is eligible for compensation equal to 45 percent of the employee's regular pay, plus an additional 15 percent for each child, up to a maximum which shall not exceed 75 percent of the deceased employee's regular pay.

If there is no surviving widow or widower, the compensation for the first child is 40 percent of the employee's monthly salary; 15 percent is paid for each additional child up to the maximum of 75 percent. The money is to be divided equally between the children (share and share alike).

A child is entitled to compensation until he or she marries or reaches age 18, or, if over 18 and incapable of self-support, becomes capable of self-support. If an unmarried child is a student when reaching 18 years of age, compensation may be continued for as long as the child remains a student or until he or she marries. It may not, however, be continued beyond the end of the semester or enrollment period after the child reaches 23 years of age or has completed 4 years of school beyond the high school level.

Benefits are paid to widows and widowers until death, or remarriage if the beneficiary is under age 55. If a widow or widower under age 55 remarries, a lump-sum payment equal to 24 times the monthly compensation he or she is receiving at the time of remarriage is made.

In addition to the surviving spouse and children, compensation may be paid on behalf of dependent parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, and grandchildren.

Burial Expenses
Up to $800 are payable. If the Veterans Administration (VA) also pays a burial allowance, the VA allowance must be deducted.

Job Protection
You are guaranteed job retention rights if you become disabled due to employment-related injury or disease. Employees are guaranteed the right of being reinstated in the position they held prior to disablement, or its equivalent, provided they have overcome their disability within 1 year of the effective compensation date. If the disability extends beyond 1 year, the employee is entitled to priority consideration in job placement. Government-sponsored benefits, such as time-in-service computation, are also guaranteed upon return to Federal employment, and a disabled employee continues to accrue seniority and retirement credits during the period of disability.

Using Sick Leave, Annual Leave, and Workmen’s Compensation

You may not use your sick leave or your annual leave to satisfy the 3-day waiting period. You must be in a nonpay status. Any day or fractional part of a day in which pay loss occurs can be counted as a waiting day. Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays not falling within a period of leave may also be counted as waiting days.

You may not receive compensation payments while on sick or annual leave. You must be in a leave-without-pay status before compensation is payable for wage loss. If you use sick or annual leave due to an on-the-job injury, there is a method by which the leave can be restored and compensation can be paid instead. This is called the "buy back" procedure. You may make arrangements with the employing agency to convert the period to leave-without-pay for the purpose of receiving compensation. You must refund to the agency the amount of leave paid for the period involved. After this refund is made, the employer will change the leave record to leave-without-pay and you will then be paid appropriate compensation. If you cannot refund the entire amount, the OWCP, upon your authorization, can pay the compensation to the employer. (This is done after the records have been changed by the employer to show leave-without-pay for the period..) You will then only have to refund the difference between the amount paid to you by the employer for the leave and the amount of compensation paid to the employer by the OWCP.