USDANEWS VOLUME 57 NO. 9--NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 1998
by Ron Hall, Office of Communications
It's just about the end of calendar year 1998, and some USDA managers may look back at the last 12 months and ask "How did our workers' compensation program grow so fast and cost us so much money this past year?!"
But in other USDA agencies, managers may look back with a sense of satisfaction. Here are some reasons why.
First, some background information. Jim Stevens, director of the Safety & Health Management Division in the Office of Human Resources Management, explained that workers' compensation at USDA is generally defined as the monetary benefit which the Department provides to those eligible employees who were injured on the job and are therefore at least temporarily unable to perform their normal USDA duties.
He added that USDA's 'charge-back costs'--which are the costs for medical services plus the compensation costs for lost salary that are provided to an employee--were $60.3 million for the period of July 1, 1997 to June 30, 1998, and were paid out to 9,818 'cases' filed by USDA employees. This compared to $59.2 million paid out to 10,345 cases for the previous 12-month reporting period.
"These payments were made to employees on 'workers' compensation' status by their respective USDA agencies," Stevens said.
That's all the more reason why USDA managers may be interested in some workers' comp-based innovations recently initiated at the agency level.
For instance, in June 1998 the Food Safety and Inspection Service authorized what it calls a '2 for 1' hiring initiative. "This allows FSIS managers," explained FSIS program analyst John Campbell, who coordinates the agency's workers' compensation program, "to hire two former FSIS employees--who are currently on FSIS's 'workers' compensation rolls'--for one existing full-time equivalent, or FTE, position, to each perform appropriate office duties."
One FTE position is counted toward the office's authorized ceiling, and the second is carried as an extra position for the duration of that hire, or until he/she fills a future vacancy. Both are considered permanent hires.
Campbell explained that, heretofore, the agency's working philosophy on workers' compensation was what he described as "The Whole Person, Or No Person." "This meant," he said, "we assumed that, unless the 'returned-to-work' employee was physically and mentally capable of performing all the tasks required of that specific position, FSIS didn't bring that employee back to work."
The agency's new approach, Campbell said, is that an employee on workers' compensation status, who can perform some form of limited duty for even a few hours a day, is encouraged to do so. During those periods of work the employee draws a salary, not workers' comp payments.
"So there are no extra expenses to the agency for this '2 for 1' initiative," he underscored.
FSIS also developed another initiative, whereby any FSIS employee, who reports information resulting in a conviction of a person defrauding FSIS's workers' compensation program, can be recommended for up to a $5,000 cash award.
To date, he said, 11 FSIS employees have reported such information, and are awaiting notification about possible convictions.
Second, in October 1995 the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service developed a data base called the "Workers' Compensation Case Management System." According to APHIS's workers' compensation manager Bill Ryan, who developed and administers that data base, it allows APHIS to determine how much it is paying each employee, and what the specific status is of each workers' compensation case.
In October 1996 that APHIS data base also became the data base for the USDA-wide workers' compensation program. The September 1996 issue of the USDA News carried a story about that initiative.
Third, the Forest Service has 6 employees working full-time to monitor workers' compensation cases. "We've been able to save, for the past three years, about one-half million dollars per year in workers' comp payments," affirmed Mary Morris, FS's workers' compensation manager.
Fourth, the Food and Nutrition Service's workers' compensation program is managed by the agency's health unit. Joann Cook, a registered nurse at FNS headquarters in Alexandria, Va., and the agency's workers' compensation specialist, said that FNS is the only USDA agency whose workers' comp program is managed by a health care professional.
"This approach is important," she underscored, "because it means that someone with a health background within FNS can speak with knowledge about the health particulars of a specific injury."
"We're then more able to ensure that the treatment--and the corresponding costs to FNS's workers' compensation program--are appropriate for the injury or illness sustained."
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