Mr. HARRIS. Federalizing workers compensation would require extensive consideration. I would not recommend it here this morning.

Mr. GAYDOS. Are there any other questions from any member? Mr. HARRIS. Mr. Chairman, I would like to note what a really prestigious subcommittee this is. I didn't realize just how much muscle you had on the subcommittee. I just feel like my problem is going to be solved.

Mr. GAYDOS. On behalf of the committee and my colleagues, we welcome Mrs. Darlene R. Snider, Mrs. Susan D. Patton, and Mr. Clarence S. Evans, if they would be so kind as to come up to the witness table.

I have stated for the record that we are going to take good care of you here. We appreciate your appearance before the committee. I will do everything I can to keep that commitment. I admonish my fellow committee members that that is the commitment the witnesses have.

We have a letter addressed to myself. I think all the members received a copy of this letter from the Secretary of Labor, Ray Marshall.

I ask unanimous consent that this letter become a part of the record.

[The letter referred to follows:]

As you know, the Department of Labor has experienced a number of difficult problems in administrating the Federal Employees' Compensation Act (FECA). I would like to provide some information on these problems and bring to your attention the actions that the Department has initiated to resolve them.

By way of background, the number of new Federal employee injuries reported rose from 109,578 in Fiscal Year 1972 to 191,172 in Fiscal Year 1976, an increase of 75 percent during this period; long-term disability cases on the periodic roll increased approximately 54 percent. However, the staff handling this increased volume of work remained essentially the same until last year when the Congress added 35 positions to the program, bringing the total staff to 503 positions. This substantial increase in workload for a limited staff has resulted in large inventories of pending work with attendant delays in processing claims and answering inquiries.

Recognizing that these problems developed over a period of years, a comprehensive effort was undertaken to improve these operations, including the appointment of a task force last June to conduct a major study of the FECA program. The task force completed its report in December 1976 and implementation of its 33 recommendations has begun. The recommendations cover nine major areas of concern and touch upon all aspects of program administration. Included

are proposals to place greater emphasis on vocational rehabilitation of injured employees, to facilitate the adjudication of claims, and improve quality controls in the claims process. We are also designing and installing an automated data-processing system that will appreciably improve our management information, case handling controls, and ability to respond more promptly to inquiries. And, as you know, Congress recently approved the Department's request for additional resources for this program, including 123 new permanent positions.

With the implementation of the task force recommendations, and the additional resources authorized by Congress, I look forward to major improvements in the FECA program over the coming months. I sincerely regret difficulties your constituents may have experienced with their compensation claims. You may be assured that I am very cognizant of the needs of injured Federal employees and will continue to make every effort to provide faster and more efficient service on their

cases.

Sincerely,

SIGNED RAY MARSHALL

Secretary of Labor

Mr. GAYDOS. I think the foregoing letter properly sets forth what we are looking for.

If there are no further questions from the members of the committee, we will proceed with the witnesses.

Who would like to be first?

Mr. HARRIS. Mrs. Darlene Snider who lives in Alexandria, 2900 Old Dominion Boulevard.

Mr. GAYDOS. Mrs. Snider, thank you for appearing again. Use your own language. You are here as a friend of this committee, I am sure, and we're here to hear you.

Tell us exactly how you feel and what has been your experience. Mrs. SNIDER. When I was hurt, I evidently was not given rules to go by. I went to my own doctor. I had to pay him. I couldn't wait for them to pay. They would not do it that way.

I took the receipts and brought them back to the office. They were sent to the Labor Department. They said they would pay me. They said they would send me a check since I had receipts showing I had already paid.

Six months went by and nothing happened. About eight more months went by and nothing happened. I then went to my supervisor and he told me to go up to the Labor Department up there across from Woodies. I forget the number, but it is on the fourth floor. I took the papers up there. I Xeroxed them all again and hand-carried them in a folder. When I got off the elevator in the front there was no one in the office. I waited for a long time and nobody came. I finally walked down the hall and asked if anyone

worked in that office, that that is where I was told to go. They said, "Well, she must have stepped out."

Some man came up the hall and said, "What can I do for you?" I said, "I brought the folder up here with my receipts."

He said, "Well, she is not in right now. You just have a seat and wait."

Finally she came in and I gave her the papers. She said, "Well, you will hear from us and we will send you a check."

I waited another couple of months and nothing happened. Finally I went back. This was in December I went back with more receipts. In December I went up. There still was no one in the office. I sat there and waited until she came in. She said, "You know, we can't accept this."

I said, "What do you mean, you can't accept it?"

She said, "Because you have to have an itemized list."

I said, "Why didn't you tell me that when I was up here in the first place?"

By that time it was late December. I had to go and get Xeroxed copies again.

I said, "May I see my file?"

She said, "Oh, yes. Let me see if I can find it."

She went some place, I don't know where. She said, "What is your number?"

I gave her that.

She came back with only one or two papers. I said, "What happened to all the papers?"

She said, "I don't know. Doesn't your agency have them?"

I said, "They were sent up here and I brought them myself." She said, "Well, you will just have to go back to all your doctors. We can't pay you like this because we have to have a statement from each doctor."

That meant I had to take two days' annual leave to go do that. One doctor was in Washington, one was all the way back in Alexandria.

When I brought those things to her with an itemized list, then hospitalization-I had put some of this on my Blue Shield/Blue Cross-said they had found out I was hurt on the job so they refused to pay it, so they requested the money back that I had given to the hospital and my doctor, because I used my Blue Shield/Blue Cross to get treatment from the hospital and from this one particular doctor.

He had to pay the money back. They wrote me a letter and said I would have to pay the money myself, so I had to write my doctor a check before I could get all these statements because it wouldn't be paid up.

They in turn sent a check in the amount of $85 to somebody, I don't know who; they said they sent it to my doctor and after that they said they sent it out, but who they sent it to, I don't know because when they did send me a check, I had to go to Congressman Harris to get that. Otherwise I wouldn't have gotten it. They said they paid the hospital but the hospital sent me a notice of what I owed them, so I never did get that.

94-539 78-2

Mr. HARRIS. What month and year did the injury occur?
Mrs. SNIDER. April 23rd.

Mr. HARRIS. April 23rd of what year?

Mrs. SNIDER. 1975. In December, 1975, I was still getting receipts to give to them. You see, I had the receipts at first, where I had paid, but they wouldn't accept that.

Mr. HARRIS. When did you finally get the check, after you came to me and so forth?

Mr. SNIDER. That was four, five or six months later they sent me one check and then a couple of months later they sent me another one. We never knew what they were for. They never did jibe with the papers that I had.

Mr. HARRIS. The check you actually received was almost a year after the claim?

Mrs. SNIDER. It was over a year.

Mr. GAYDOS. Mrs. Snider, how much work did you miss because of that injury?

Mrs. SNIDER. I was off 45 days and then I had to take leave in order to go around again and get up all these papers because I was back at work. After about nine months, they told me the receipts wouldn't do any good, I had to have the others.

Mr. GAYDOS. In the 45-day period did you receive your weekly compensation?

Mrs. SNIDER. No. I received my regular pay, yes.

Mr. GAYDOS. Your problem then revolves around your advancing money, as far as payment for medical bills and getting reimbursement?

Mrs. SNIDER. I didn't get that until I came to Mr. Harris. When they sent those, instead of sending them in a lump sum, they sent a small check and then they sent another small one and then I would get a bill from the hospital where they said they had paid it, but evidently they didn't pay it because if they had they wouldn't have sent me a bill for the difference between the Blue Shield, what they paid and what I had to pay.

Mr. ZEFERETTI. You say "they," Mrs. Snider. Who is "they?" The Personnel Department where you are employed, or is it the compensation agency?

Mrs. SNIDER. The Labor Department. Where I had to go to get my reimbursement.

Mr. HARRIS. This is District 25 of the Labor Department that handles these claims. This is where she went. It is on the fourth floor in the building at 666 11th St., NW.

Mr. ZEFERETTI. Did you go before a referee to obtain an award for that claim? Was there anyone who reviewed your case as a referee to determine whether or not your claim was valid and investigated the time you lost and the injuries? Was that done in the same offie? Mrs. SNIDER. Yes, they approved it. After they approved it, it took forever to get the money. They had no alternative. They had to approve it because it was right there in the office where it happened.

Mr. GAYDOS. Mrs. Snider, for which government agency do you work?

Mrs. SNIDER. Internal Revenue.