8 Benefits of FECA Coverage for USPS Workers

Postal worker delivering mail on a residential route

By Dr. Matt Gianforte, DC · Federal Injury Centers of Kansas City · Updated October 2026

Carrying mail, sorting at a plant or driving a route is physical work. Slips on icy porches, dog bites, lifting injuries and wear and tear on shoulders, knees and wrists are part of the job’s risk.

If you work for the U.S. Postal Service, your work injuries are covered by the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act (FECA), not Kansas or Missouri workers’ comp. Here are eight real benefits FECA gives postal employees, including the rules that apply only to USPS.

1. Medical care for your work injury

FECA pays for the medical services, supplies and appliances that a qualified physician recommends and that OWCP considers necessary to treat your work injury. You don’t have to be off work to get treatment.

You don’t pay premiums for this coverage. It also includes reasonable travel to get authorized care, claimed on Form OWCP-957A for mileage or OWCP-957B for other travel expenses. See our mileage reimbursement guide.

For a traumatic injury, your Postal Service supervisor or injury compensation office should issue a Form CA-16 authorizing your exam and treatment. The regulations say it should be issued within 4 hours of the claimed injury.

2. Continuation of pay, with a USPS twist

Continuation of pay (COP) keeps your regular pay coming for up to 45 calendar days while you’re disabled by a traumatic injury. To qualify, you must file a written CA-1 within 30 days of the injury. COP doesn’t apply to occupational disease (CA-2) claims.

Here’s the rule that applies only to postal employees. USPS employees don’t get COP for the first 3 days of temporary disability, called the waiting period.

During those days you can use sick leave, annual leave or leave without pay. If the disability lasts more than 14 days, or is followed by permanent disability, that leave can be restored.

You can claim compensation for the waiting period on Form CA-7. The waiting period doesn’t apply to medical care, and days you miss only for treatment don’t count toward it.

3. COP isn’t up to your supervisor

Some people believe a supervisor decides whether to “approve” COP. That’s not how the regulations work.

For an eligible traumatic injury, the employer must continue your pay, outside the USPS waiting period, and can’t make you use your own leave instead. The employer can stop COP only for specific reasons listed in the regulations, such as the injury not being traumatic or the CA-1 not being filed within 30 days.

The employer can controvert, meaning formally dispute, your COP claim. But it generally keeps paying while it does, and OWCP, not the employer, makes the final decision on COP.

One caution. If OWCP later finds you weren’t entitled to COP, that time is charged to your leave or treated as an overpayment, at your choice.

4. Wage loss compensation

If you can’t work, or you can only earn less because of the injury, you can claim wage loss compensation on Form CA-7 once COP ends or if COP doesn’t apply.

  • Total disability: 66 2/3% of your pay rate, or 75% if you have at least one dependent.
  • Partial disability: the same percentages of the difference between your pay rate and what OWCP finds you’re able to earn.

And I say this with zero judgment, because a lot of carriers rely on it: overtime pay isn’t included in the pay rate. It’s better to know that up front so you can plan.

5. You choose your doctor

You pick your first treating physician. OWCP doesn’t assign one, and you don’t have to choose from a list. Any qualified physician who hasn’t been excluded from the program can treat you.

Changing doctors later needs a written request to OWCP, unless your doctor refers you to a specialist. Your supervisor can’t approve or block a change of physician.

A plain note on chiropractic care. Under FECA, chiropractors are covered only for manual manipulation of the spine to correct a subluxation shown by x-ray, plus the related exam and x-rays. See our post on choosing an OWCP doctor.

6. Help getting back to work

FECA’s goal is to get you back to work as soon as you’re medically able. When USPS has a limited duty job available, it should tell you in writing what the duties and physical requirements are, so you and your doctor can compare them with your restrictions.

If you can’t return to the job you had when you were hurt, OWCP may provide vocational rehabilitation, including testing, training and job placement.

This works both ways. Injured employees are expected to do the work they’re able to do, and refusing suitable work can end compensation. Clear, current restrictions from your doctor on a CA-17 protect you here.

7. Schedule awards for permanent impairment

If a work injury leaves you with a permanent loss, or loss of use, of certain body parts or functions, you may qualify for a schedule award. The law sets a number of weeks of compensation for each listed body part, such as 312 weeks for an arm or 205 weeks for a foot, paid proportionally for partial loss.

Your physician must rate the impairment using the AMA Guides edition OWCP specifies. You can receive a schedule award even after you’re back at work.

8. Benefits for your family

If a postal employee dies from a work-related injury, FECA pays monthly compensation to eligible survivors. For example, a surviving spouse with no eligible children receives 50% of the employee’s monthly pay, and total survivor benefits can reach up to 75%. FECA also pays certain burial expenses.

No one likes to think about this. But it’s part of what FECA provides, and families should know it exists.

A few more things USPS employees should know

  • FECA is the exclusive remedy. You can’t sue the Postal Service or the federal government for a work injury instead of filing under FECA. A claim against an outside party, like a driver who hit your vehicle, may be possible.
  • Your union can help. An officially sanctioned union official can serve as your representative, without charging a fee. Any other representative’s fee must be approved by OWCP, and fees based on a percentage of your benefits aren’t allowed.
  • Use the right form. CA-1 for a single event, CA-2 for a condition that built up over time. See our Kansas City postal OWCP claim basics.
  • Know your appeal rights. If a decision goes against you: 30 days for a hearing, 1 year for reconsideration, 180 days for ECAB. See our appeals guide.

How we can help

Federal Injury Centers of Kansas City, led by Dr. Matt Gianforte, DC, provides care for injured federal workers, including postal employees, in Shawnee, Kansas. We provide the medical documentation OWCP needs: CA-17 duty status reports, CA-20 attending physician reports and causal relationship narratives.

Under FECA, chiropractic care is limited to spinal manipulation to correct an x-ray demonstrated subluxation, and we’ll tell you up front what’s in scope. We’re not a law firm and don’t represent claimants.

Request a consultation or call (913) 355-6648.

Sources

This article is general information, not legal or medical advice. For decisions about your claim, contact OWCP or your representative.

About Dr. Matt Gianforte, DC

Dr. Matt Gianforte is a graduate of Palmer College of Chiropractic and the founder of Federal Injury Centers of Kansas City in Shawnee, Kansas. His team treats injured federal employees under FECA and provides the medical documentation OWCP requires.