Prepared statements, letters, supplemental materials, et cetera-Con. Conway, James V. P., Senior Assistant Postmaster General, Employee and Emily, Elmo E., chief, health resource development staff, Tennessee Valley Injury compensation claim data, fiscal years 1961-76 (table 4)................ 276 264 Summary report, pilot rehabilitation project, Tennessee Valley Au- Etchison, Frank L., Jr., Commander, Norfolk Naval Shipyard, letter to Hackler, Larry P., safety director, Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, 284 379 63 Marshall, Ray, Secretary of Labor, U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Secretary, letter to Chairman Gaydos, dated May 25, 1977 McCart, John A., executive director, Public Employee Department, Tennessee Valley Authority, list of compensation cases............................ Patton, Susan D., Alexandria, Va., information submitted by........... Peirce, James M., president of the National Federation of Federal Employees, prepared statement of Shimamura, Amy, assistant counsel, Office of the Navy Comptroller, memorandum for Capt. T. F. Hairston, director, legislation, Office of Legislative Affairs, with enclosures, dated August 5, 1977 Smith, James L., director, Industrial Relations, Charleston Naval Ship- Processing time for injury compensation claims, dated January 1 to Vacca, J. Joseph, president, National Association of Letter Carriers, Whitehurst, Hon. G. William, a Representative in Congress from the State of Virginia, letter to Chairman Gaydos, enclosing information, dated OVERSIGHT HEARINGS ON THE FEDERAL Part 1 THURSDAY, MAY 26, 1977 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON COMPENSATION, HEALTH AND SAFETY Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:15 a.m., in Room 2261, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Joseph M. Gaydos (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Members present: Representatives Gaydos, Zeferetti, Miller, Myers, Le Fante, and Sarasin. Staff present: Paul F. Dwyer, counsel to the subcommittee; Charles Sheerin, minority counsel; James M. Stephens, assistant minority counsel for labor; Nancy Barbour, legislative aide; Bernard Mandella, staff director of the subcommittee; Terre Belt, research/writer; and Marsha Gray, staff assistant. Mr. GAYDOS. The Subcommittee on Compensation, Health and Safety will be in order. This morning the Subcommittee on Compensation, Health and Safety commences a series of oversight hearings on the Federal Employees' Compensation Act. This act was passed in 1916 and has been amended several times. The most recent amendments occurred in 1974. The more significant of these amendments were: 1. Workers were given a right to select their own physicians. 2. Workers were authorized to spend the first 45 days of any disability caused by traumatic injury on full pay. 3. Workers were placed in a compensable status immediately rather than undergoing a waiting period as required in every state system. Since that time there has been a substantial increase in federal compensation costs. Also during that period there has been an increasing criticism of the way in which the program operates. The criticisms fall into one of two categories: 1. That there are excessive and inordinate delays in processing of claims. 2. That there is some degree of abuse of the system in that some claimants are receiving compensation for non-meritorious claims. The purpose of these oversight hearings is to undertake a comprehensive review of the operation of this program and inquire into the validity of these criticisms, and if such validity is documented, to examine the possible steps that should be taken to eliminate those impediments to the proper functioning of the Federal Employees Compensation Act. Commencing today and continuing through three additional hearing days on June 7, 8 and 27, 1977, the subcommittee will take testimony from Members of Congress. Following that it is the subcommittee's plan to hear testimony from representatives of the various unions which represent federal employees and representatives of federal agencies responsible for the processing of compensation claims within their agencies. We will also have testimony provided by the General Accounting Office, which is currently involved in a study of the operations of the implementation of the Federal Employees Compensation Act. Finally, the subcommittee will take testimony from representatives of the Labor Department responsible for the operation of the office of Workers' Compensation Programs. The subcommittee is very pleased this morning to have as its first witness my good friend and colleague, the Hon. Herbert E. Harris, II of Virginia. Congressman Harris represents a district including Alexandria and Fairfax County with a substantial concentration of federal employees. I know he is most interested in directing his efforts to making the Federal Employees Compensation Act work in the manner that Congress intended. The subcommittee is indeed honored to have him here before us this morning and we look forward to the expertise that he will offer the subcommittee in evaluating the current operation and implementation of this Act. Mr. Harris, I want to thank you personally, for the record, again, for taking time out of a very busy schedule to appear here with some of your constituents to help the committee move forward in this area. Mr. SARASIN. I join in welcoming our colleague here this morning. I look forward to hearing his testimony. STATEMENT OF HON. HERBERT E. HARRIS, II, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF VIRGINIA, ACCOMPANIED BY DARLENE R. SNIDER, SUSAN D. PATTON, AND CLARENCE S. EVANS Mr. HARRIS. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, thank you very much. I appreciate this committee exercising its oversight on something we think is very important. With the permission of the Chair and the committee, I would like to file my statement for the record and then just make one or two quick points before I introduce three people who have given up their time to come before the committee also, if that is permissible, Mr. Chairman. Mr. GAYDOS. Without objection, Mr. Harris' prepared statement will appear in the record at this point. [The prepared statement of Hon. Herbert E. Harris follows:] STATEMENT OF CONGRESSMAN HERBERT E. HARRIS II BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON COMPENSATION, HEALTH AND SAFETY OF THE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR MAY 26, 1977 Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee, I am pleased to be here today to bring to your attention the urgent need to improve the administration of the Federal Workers' Compensation Program. Federal employees are an important part of my constituency, and I am vitally concerned about the way work-related disability claims are handled. While I am aware that there has been some effort by the Department of Labor to overhaul the program, its many deficiencies are brought to my attention daily by staff assistants who encounter incredible difficulties in their attempts to assist my constituents in obtaining benefits due them under the provisions of the law: --Presently there are about 50 cases pending --Constituents contacted us after struggling --After my involvement, it often takes between Realizing that my experience may represent only a fraction of those who have similar difficulty, my concern is magnified. In two earlier meetings arranged with congressional offices from the Metropolitan area, the Philadelphia Regional Office, and representatives from the District 25 Office which processes the claims of my constituents, many of these problems were outlined, and I will review the common concerns. The most vexing problem at this time is the inability of District 25 personnel to handle the ever-increasing number of claims brought about, in part, by the greater awareness of the program by federal employees. The result is an enormous backlog of unprocessed claims. It is apparent that any attempt to alleviate this situation must include additional personnel who are hired under the Merit System, trained and properly supervised. From my discussions with Members of Congress from other areas of the country, additional staff is needed nationwide, not just in the District 25 office, to handle the work assigned to the OWCP. The situation now exists that even the simplest claims are subject to inordinate delays and mismanagement. There is no evidence of administrative supervision, or any system for tracking claims to see that they are processed through channels in a reasonable length of time. Too frequently the paperwork for a claim is separated or lost. A claimant is then forced to reproduce and resubmit the necessary documents. Often the claimant is not notified that his/her papers were lost or that the need for additional documentation relative to the claim exists until months of patient waiting have elapsed. In many instances it takes numerous contacts with Office personnel to determine that material is missing from the file, or that the entire file is lost. My own staff, in their attemtps to assist claimants, have had this experience first hand. |