[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 101 (Thursday, July 28, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: July 28, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                        EXPLANATION OF H.R. 4825

                                 ______


                         HON. AUSTIN J. MURPHY

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 28, 1994

  Mr. MURPHY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to explain H.R. 4825 which I 
introduced on July 25. This reform legislation will establish fairer 
appellate procedures for handling Federal employee claims for 
compensation for work-related injuries.
  Throughout my 18 years in Congress I have been diligent in my quest 
to make the Department of Labor's Office of Workers Compensation 
Programs more responsive to the needs of injured Federal workers. As 
chairman of the Subcommittee on Labor Standards, Occupational Health 
and Safety which has oversight of Federal workers compensation program, 
I have observed that the OWCP has structural and procedural problems 
and is in need of meaningful reform.
  The OWCP is very competent at the task of resolving a high volume of 
relatively routine cases expeditiously and with a high degree of 
professionalism. Unfortunately, once the case proceeds beyond the 
routine, the needs of the injured are placed in jeopardy.
  One of the most frustrating aspects of the FECA program to the vocal 
cadre of dissatisfied claimants is the lack of real administrative due 
process. The way the current system is administered, there is not even 
the appearance of impartiality in the appeals procedure. If an 
individual doesn't like the OWCP determination on a claim, the 
disappointed claimant must request a review by another OWCP employee 
who works for the same boss. Unless the first case officer is acting 
contrary to law or his superior's instructions, why would we expect a 
different result or an independent attitude from someone else reporting 
to the same director.
  The purpose of this legislation is to conform the FECA appeals 
procedure as near as possible to the three-tiered system which has 
worked so well in the Black Lung and Longshore and Harbor Workers 
Compensation Programs. In these two programs. intermediate 
administrative appeals are conducted by an administrative law judge 
under the procedural safeguards of the Administrative Procedure Act. 
While we have received complaints that the eligibility criteria for 
these two programs are too stringent, we never receive the allegations 
of conspiracy and malfeasance that regulatory plague the Federal 
Employees Compensation Program.
  Last year, House Education and Labor Committee Chairman William D. 
Ford and I asked the Comptroller General of the United States to have 
the General Accounting Office investigate the U.S. Department of 
Labor's administration of the Federal Employees Compensation Act. 
Although the report was inconclusive as to the impropriety of decisions 
by the FECA program or the Employees Compensation Appeals Board, the 
mere possibility of collusion caused me to prepare this reform 
legislation.
  The House Majority Leader, in the waning days of the first session, 
introduced reform legislation calling for a more effective, efficient 
and responsive Government. A portion of this legislation provided for a 
deterrence of fraud and abuse in the FECA Program. The Government 
Reform and Savings Act of 1993 mandates fines and imprisonment of any 
individual convicted of fraud in the application or receipt of 
benefits. Now today, I offer for the consideration of the Congress this 
bill that will further reform FECA to allow for an administrative law 
judge to conduct appellate hearings of OWCP decisions.
  I call upon my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to join me as 
cosponsors of this important workers compensation reform legislation.

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