Federal Workers' Compensation

What has happened so far? I asked for voc rehab and the whole thing was a joke...Have you worked at all lately?

Thanx for responding Swimmingly and Lou65.

I am presently in VR being forced to attend classes in WORD and EXCEL at the Community College near me.

After a SECOP (the only one in 3 decades on LWEC) a "doctor" who also has a legal degree after his name,(JD) could not refute my medical evidence and conditions but he certified me fit to work 8-hours-per-day in a Sedentary job. Which everyone knows is the second-best thing he could have done for his $750 fee.

When the OWCP CE sent the letter to my EA CE (NAVSEA) her answer was that there were no jobs to offer and added, "Mr. ______ may not be a good candidate for VR services since his permanent restrictions severely limit his ability to work and he has limited technical skills."

The OWCP CE addressed those concerns in her recommendation for VR on Form R-14 like this, "The Employing Agency expressed concerns with offering the claimant Voc Services but the SECOP noted that he was working odd jobs and was capable of working a full range of Sedentary jobs."

Since 2009 when I could no longer work 40 hours per week as a janitor, my hours were changed thusly, I found a job in the early morning as a guard opening up a local public school (at 6am) and turning on the lights and heat or AC and accepting deliveries of milk, bread, and commodities for the cafeteria. I didn't put the stuff away, that is done by the drivers. This took 2 hours per day and I was on my way home a little after 8am. Later in the afternoon, I walked across the street, from my home, to the business where I used to be a full time janitor and swept the floor and put-out the trash for which I'm paid one or two hours.

In 2015 I lost that school job leaving me with only the afternoon job. The SECOP doc when reading my file asked: "Wow! You haven't worked in 35 years?" I told him I have been working all along but in unskilled jobs because I could no longer ply my skilled trade (Sheet Metal Worker) due to my injuries.

All of these hours and earnings have been documented on Form CA1032 each year but based upon what I've told you, the SECOP certified that I could work a full-range of Sedentary jobs 8-hours-per-day. My treating physician has been submitting Forms 5c every year since 2010 that I can work less than 2 hours 40 minutes per day in all of the duties enumerated on the Form 5c.

As one might surmise, I have a lot more calculations and arguments which I don't care to "publish" in an open forum. If an expert cares to contact me in-person I will gladly pay that person for their expert advice.

I'm wracking my brain trying to figure out why a CE would "push" for this Constructing of a LWEC in my case. If my calculations are correct, I stand to, not only NOT have my benefit cut but to get a RAISE!

Please contact me. If you don't want to give your email address to a stranger, plug my email address into the website called "10-Minute email" and get a totally anonymous email address that self-destructs after 10-minutes! obe17@mail.com

I think I understand but allowing that I'm not able to stop the Constructed LWEC from being applied, into which Item # of the Shadrick Formula does the CE plug-in the Constructed LWEC? Does it go into Item #3?

I want to make perfectly sure I'm reading you right, Jesse.
Your last sentence said she will plug that Constructed LWEC job rate into Item #3.

I have three PAYMENT PLATES (that I got using templates from your website) showing that for the past 10 years they have had $413.60 in Item 3. It's the rate of the injury job on the date of the injury.

But that is neither here nor there, this CE is spending $8800 (that's what Form 14 says) to Construct an LWEC whose value is $438 or $403 so she can enter it into Item #3 where she has (in one case) a HIGHER NUMBER ALREADY!

She's gonna give me a RAISE!

Oh! Okay then. THAT is the question I needed answered.

If they are allowed to put the LWEC into Item #5 they are not using Shadrick at all.
When someone uses a formula. they can't choose which parts of it you want to use. You either use the formula or you don't.
They are using an arbitrary number. That is what I wanted to know.

ECAB says that Shadrick's purpose is not to establish earning capacity but to establish earning capacity loss. So they've corrupted the intent of the rule just like they've corrupted the mission statement of FECA which was instituted to protect American Workers' rights!

Okay then, I'll focus all my energy on refuting the SECOP. Thanks again and I'll go to your website and donate a $100. At least now I know to not waste anymore time in this argument. I'm almost sure I've got them on the SECOP doc is a QUACK argument!
I think I can win on Appeal but appeals happen AFTER our benefits have stopped. I wanted to avoid that.

Thanks again. You're the best!

It's impossible to say whether or not you're making accurate calculations without knowing what #1 and #2 indicate or what pay rate they would use for #3. But even if using the $400 amount, it's impossible to calculate without #1 and #2.

The odds of OWCP increasing your compensation are highly unlikely. Should the end result of the Shadrick formula come out to a number higher than what you receive now, OWCP would likely discontinue VR and keep you at the compensation you currently receive.

Now, Shadrick does allude to situations where the job rate doubles or halves, over 2, 5, or 10 years, due to cataclysmic events such as a business boom or bust.
But my job rate simply creeped-up over 35 years due to natural events and cost-of-living and all that stuff.

But the fact remains that Shadrick only supports my argument that I lost a LOT of money when I got hurt!
They want to cut me out now that I'm old and they have no right. I have my DEM Congressman and one DEM Senator's office who have promised to (try) to make sure they don't.

Let me address your last line first: When I say that they could conceivably have to give me a RAISE, it is hyperbole. (that is an outrageous statement not meant to be taken literally but to make a point) I don’t believe they are going to do that! I suspect at some point someone is going to wake-up and realize that they’ve begun a process that doesn’t end-up where they assumed it would and as you have stated… ABORT! Stop VR! Go no further. Spend no more money on this man’s training. Somebody goofed!

Secondly, I had my doubts about how effective “Congressional” or “Senatorial” intervention could be but several experts have assured me, “Oh no! There is a separate set of rules regarding inquiries from pols.” One fella even told me their letters land on the CE’s desk in a RED folder and they have a set amount of time to be answered! He said, “We got our funding from them. We were sensitive to their inquiries.” Now, if you are alluding to the fact that they are not allowed to “interfere” their offices made that perfectly clear.

As for the pay rates of the two jobs they are going to make me qualified for:

I’m sorry. I thought I made that clear. I mean the job they determine I can do. I have a letter from the OWCP CE stating they are going to qualify me for one of two jobs. She quotes the DOT# of those jobs and the weekly pay rate. I got a follow-up letter from my Employing Agency NAVSEA that I am going to be sent, by OWCP, through VR and qualified for those same jobs and the rates of pay.

I got all of the inter-office memos including the Form VR-14 authorized by the RS and the RC. It states that according to the CE, the SECOP certifies I can do each of those jobs, even over the objection of the CE at my EA. I began classes 3-weeks-ago. I am through the first course. I am 8-months into the process.

As for their saying, now, in mid-stream, that I’m qualified for a $50,000 job, I don’t see how they could. They can’t simply say they’re going to pay for me to learn MS-Office and then I’m going to look for jobs as an airline pilot. They have already stretched FECA §8115 to the point of snapping! I’m 75-years-old. They are training me for Sedentary jobs I’ve never done, historically, which are in no way anything like my usual employment. It’s not Steven Hawking they are trying to get off the roles, it’s an IW whom SECOP admits has suffered a loss in earnings potential as a Sheet Metal Mechanic in Heavy Manufacturing, I never graduated from high school. I worked with my hands and my back. I’ve lost hundreds of thousands of dollars because I was permanently injured on the job,

Finally, in the scenario you illustrate, I still don’t lose too much (I mean the $500 in Item #3 instead of the $438 or $403 they have already quoted) You are overlooking how a PAYMENT PLATE is interpolated. Its purpose is as a formula to gauge the effect of the Consumer Price Index on an IW’s benefit rate. You go as far as Item #7 but there two more steps to get to the 28-day number. You stopped at the Weekly Comp Rate, you now have to add that to my Cumulative CPI and then round it.

I ask a question of the most knowledgeable person I’ve read in the past 8 months I’ve been into my research and you seem to get mad at me at every point in my argument. My argument is not with you! I can tell by all the effort you spend on these websites that you seek to prepare an IW for the fray. I’m merely asking you questions. Thanks again. I’ll be on your website on WED when my check comes to hit the DONATE button. Thanks for replying to me.

Thanks, Jesse, this is the answer I was hoping for:

"The odds of OWCP increasing your compensation are highly unlikely. Should the end result of the Shadrick formula come out to a number higher than what you receive now, OWCP would likely discontinue VR and keep you at the compensation you currently receive."

I needed to know for sure (for my own peace of mind) which Item # (in the Shadrick Formula) the Constructed LWEC would occupy. I already KNOW what the LWEC is going to be because I already have letters from OWCP's Claims Examiner, my Employing Agency's CE, the Rehab Counselor, and a copy of the Form R-14 (VR Referral) stating the DOT# of the job, the job description, and the pay rate they are going to apply.

I also know the amounts they have used as Item #1 because it's on my Monthly Statement and Item #2 because I "reverse-engineered" the formula on the three PAYMENT PLATES they gave me on the CD of my case data I requested under The Privacy Act (I owe THAT to you) I am not 100% sure which one of the two job openings it will be but I assume it will be the higher of the two, i.e. the $438 per week Customer Service Representative job.

When I am finished my classes and we go through the motions of a feigned attempt at placing me in a job, the CE will "let the cat out of the cellophane bag" and reveal to me that since I was not hired into any of the job-openings within the prescribed time limits, OWCP was going to invoke the Constructed LWEC Rule and "plug that number into" Item # 3 of the Shadrick Formula.

When she does that (if she waits that long to do it) she will see that she has replaced the number 413.60 (which up-till-now has occupied Item #3) with the new number $438 and she will run the formula and find that she will be able to cut my benefit by a paltry $8.34!

There are two other possibilities, however, that you pointed-out: the RC could, conceivably, find a job opening, that I qualify-for with my workplace limitations, that is higher than the one quoted, which I would guess they would have the prerogative of using (but it won't be too much of a difference)

What all this means is: they should have explored the "forecast" (for lack of a better term) of the result of sending me through VR and realized it was not a good move which was what you say at the beginning of this post. THAT is all I'm hoping for. If it doesn't work out this way and they are able to cram some number down my throat which achieves their goal, I still have my "your SECOP doc is a QUACK!" argument. Thanks again...I hope you are right.

Your answer also satisfies the grounds for an "intervention" (if you will) by a Congressperson. My thoughts there were that the pol would not be uncovering some error OWCP was making in application of VR process but the wisdom of applying it in my case. Congress IS the entity from which OWCP gets their funding and so Congress would be within their rights to question whether it was good judgement to spend $8800 (that's the cost of this VR according to the Form R-14) to save, perhaps, less than $50 per month!