While the Postal Service provides its employees with a safety and health program, accidents on the job happen — almost 56,000 in fiscal year 2021, in fact. After an accident, postal employees may be eligible to receive Federal Employees Compensation Act (FECA) benefits until they’re able to return to work. On rare occasions, however, some postal employees defraud the workers’ compensation system to the detriment of all.
We recently closed a claimant fraud case involving a postal employee that stretched from 2009 to 2021. In early 2007, this employee had filed a workers’ compensation claim alleging she sprained her ankle while on the job. The Department of Labor (DOL) approved her claim and began issuing FECA benefit payments two months later.
Our agents investigated the case as early as 2009, after receiving a Postal Inspection Service referral alleging the employee owned a catering business. However, the lack of significant findings at the time brought the case to a close