Mr. BUCHANAN. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. GAYDOS. That raised a good question. You suggested, Mr. President, that additional personnel might help in solving the problem with the way claims are being processed. I think that is a reasonable conclusion. Have the Postal Service employees increased in number since our reorganization? Mr. VACCA. Postal employees reduced in number, over 60,000 perhaps. Mr. GAYDOS. 60,000? Are there some explanations that the reduction occurred because of modernization, machinery, mass handling, things like that? Mr. VACCA. Some machinery had something to do with it internally. The letter carrier hasn't been mechanized, as yet, to the extent where he is the robot they tried to make him, but with the adding to routes and the unilaterally adding to letter carrier routes, letter carriers today are working 8, 10 hours a day. They are working overtime a couple of hours a day. Mr. GAYDOS. That is another one of their complaints, isn't it? Mr. VACCA. Yes, it is. That again comes down to the injuries. As you get tired and you work ten hours a day carrying mail it is a pretty hazardous job. Mr. GAYDOS. For use of the committee, could you give us statistics regarding any discrepancy between geographical areas as far as the numbers of claims are concerned? Does the west coast, for instance, have more claims per service areas than employees on the east coast or in the middle Atlantic region, or in Florida? Mr. VACCA. We will be able to give you that. Mr. GAYDOS. Would you please give us that. I think it is most important. No. 1, I want to say this before I forget. I think the letter carriers should feel very secure in the fact they have a good president, and that they are well represented, and that you ask and give no quarter. Mr. VACCA. Thank you. Mr. GAYDOS. I think they should feel quite fortunate. I will be looking with great expectation to the bill of particulars involving your suggested or contemplated court suit and proceedings because I think it is very important that we have that. Second, I want to assure you that this committee's oversight jurisdiction will be more effectively utilized. We are increasing the number of hearings, and we will be looking at some of the problems you are talking about as they pertain to OSHA and its relationship with the Postal Service. We do know the deficiencies of OSHA as they pertain to the Federal Government workplaces. We are going to take a look at that and hopefully as a result of the oversight hearings involving OSHA we will come up with some constructive and meaningful recommendations which we would hope might help you in that particular area. I want you to know that I personally consider it a pleasure to have you coming before our group. Your organization has always been a good right arm of the committee as far as giving us information, and giving us the benefit of your research, which is both costly and time consuming. It does help. To those critics who think that lobbyists, regardless of their affirmative or negative, pro or con approach, are not helpful in the democratic process, I think I can prove your organization is just the opposite. Regardless of whether your position is accepted by the majority of the members of the committee, the materials provided and time taken, and the professionalism exhibited to the committee are most helpful in our processes of considering legislation. I mean that most sincerely. Without that I think the taxpayers would have to be footing a much larger bill than they already do, because we do have a lot of valuable, documented information from your organization. Mr. Buchanan, do you have anything else? Mr. BUCHANAN. No, other than to join you in thanking Mr. Vacca for his effective testimony, and I will assure you we will look into it. Mr. GAYDOS. Thank you for your time and appearance. Mr. VACCA. Mr. Chairman, I am very impressed with the sincerity of this committee, and I am very thankful for it because we need a lot of help, no question about it. Mr. GAYDOS. I hope what we are going to accomplish will give some semblance of authenticity to your organization, that we can put some really positive or affirmative laws into effect. I really believe that. Thank you. Mr. VACCA. By the way, Mr. Chairman, you mentioned that you have immediate family in the Postal Service. It wouldn't be Joe Gaydos out in Cleveland, Ohio, would it? I carried mail with him. Mr. GAYDOS. I hope he was more pleasant with you than I was. Mr. VACCA. He is a great guy. Mr. GAYDOS. Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. VACCA. He is on disability, by the way. Mr. GAYDOS. I hope he didn't learn about it from his relatives. Mr. VACCA. Thank you. Mr. GAYDOS. Our next witness is Mr. Irving Geller, General Counsel of the National Federation of Federal Employees. STATEMENT OF IRVING GELLER, GENERAL COUNSEL, NATIONAL FEDERATION OF FEDERAL EMPLOYEES Mr. GAYDOS. Welcome to the committee. You have a prepared statement. Without objection it will be made a permanent part of the record. [The statement referred to follows:] STATEMENT OF JAMES M. PEIRCE, PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL We appreciate the opportunity of appearing and testifying before this Subcommittee since hearings of this nature are important to the direction and administration of the Compensation Program and to assure that Federal employees are properly protected under the Federal Employees Compensation Act. We are concerned about the 1974 amendments to the Act as well as the overall administration of the Program. Our experience over the past two years indicates that the amendments have helped employees injured on the job, during the early stage of their injury. However, the administration of the program has not worked well or with reasonable dispatch as it affects those who suffer permanent injuries or death. It is an oversimplification of the problem to conclude that the fault lies solely with the division of Federal Employees Compensation, Employment Standard Administration, Department of Labor, although they are the people with whom injured employees and our representatives deal with. We believe that the agency is well motivated. However, the small staff and inadequate procedures lead inevitably to monumental delays, confusion, and inadequate responses, and much too frequently, no answer at all. All who are familiar with individual case problems know of the delays in the adjudicatory and appeal process. Further, when the award is finally made there is frequently a delay of several months before payment is made. One area for which this organization of the Department of Labor is not responsible is the safety and health aspects of Federal employees. It is in this vital area where the Office of Safety and Health Administration of the Department should be more active as well as other agencies of the government in the prevention of accidents and illnesses that beset Federal employees. It appears that little analysis is made of the type of injury and illness suffered by Federal employees and few programs have been devised to accentuate the preventive program. It is estimated that the current yearly number of claims under the Federal Employees Compensation Program is approximately 200, 000 and that there are less than 500 employees in the District Offices who are involved in the adjudication and administrative activities involved in processing the claims. The District Office services Federal employees in several states and in some instances overseas employees. Managing a program of this magnitude requires a substantial increase in staff and a simplification of the procedures utilized in the control over correspondence, inquiries and case files. There simply are too few people engaged in the processing activity. Secondly, the program requires simplification of its procedures and systematic and periodic control of the case files to assure that correspondence and information are acknowledged and provided in a timely fashion. Each active file should be automatically reviewed on a bi-weekly basis to determine whether information requested for adjudication of the case has been received and to provide for prompt follow up when such information is not furnished. We are aware that there are different types of complaints of the Compensation Program; of alleged fraud and abuse, which have been reported in the media. The National Federation of Federal Employees is unequivocally against abuses of the program and believes that such charges, if true, represent exaggerations when contrasted with the overwhelming number of proven legitimate claims. In a program of this size, there is bound to be some isolated instances of error and abuse. The enlargement of the staff and the improvement of controls and procedures can limit or eliminate any such abuse. Finally, reviewing all aspects of the processing of claims is needed to improve and clarify the language of the forms; the step by step procedures followed by the claimant, the agency supervisor and compensation specialist, the Division of Federal Employees Compensation, and the physician. When an employee or the employee's supervisor is made aware of an on-the-job injury or illness, an explicit procedure should be made available to them. Similarly, the physician should receive express requests for information and advised as to the importance of the response to be furnished. In sum, federal employees compensation programs for on-thejob injuries and related illnesses require considerable improvement in administration to accomplish the following desirable goals: |