Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) my view

by Dean Albrecht

Currently and more so in the future many on the job injured employees (IOD) will be thrust into the OWCP VR program. In order for this process to even be considered the employing Agency must notify OWCP that they are unable to accommodate the IOD within their restrictions. The VR program is being pushed to the forefront as a means to save Federal Agencies millions of dollars in compensation payments. If used properly and the “procedures” are followed the VR program is an excellent opportunity for IOD employees to become productive. The VR program is more effective if after being “Culled” from employment with the USPS the IOD employee files for Disability Retirement. By doing this the IOD employee will maintain their health and life insurance benefits.

      There seems to be a pattern that surrounds any government program that is thrust into use, and that is abuse. Quotas need to be made and the money spent into the planning and development of such a program needs to be recovered and a profit must be shown. Those who are appointed to run these programs are under a tremendous amount of pressure to produce numbers that show the program is working. This is where the “abuse” is factored in, and proper procedures do not get followed. When that happens (and it is happening) the individuals who are harmed the most are the IOD employees, through loss of income. In basic terms and in a nut shell this is how the program works:

       An IOD employee is either sent to a second opinion physician because they are already on total disability or their modified/rehab position has been eliminated and a update on the limitations is requested (there obviously is more procedures in between but I am trying to be brief), after the report is sent to OWCP, the IOD employee is contacted by OWCP through a Notice stating that they qualify for VR and a VR officer will be contacting them in the near future. The notice also goes on to state the normal language of the penalties for not cooperating.

      The next Notice comes from a VR officer who wants to set up a meeting to discuss the advantages of the VR program and to do some testing to see what areas of employment would best suit the IOD employee.

      At the meeting and subsequent testing the VR officer has some great news for the IOD employee; they qualify for the VR program. The VR officer will then make arrangements for the IOD employee to attend classes to learn a new skill. “Accounting” appears to be the VR officer’s favorite choice. This statement is based on four IOD employees (three from USPS one from BOP) who I came into contact with who were being thrust into this program. All four of these individuals suggested other options of training instead of Accounting; all suggestions were ignored or brushed off by the VR officer. It should be noted that the four individuals are from different parts of the country and none are in the same State. Though this is a very small number compared to the number of employees who are in or being thrust into the VR program, a pattern is developing with regards to rehabilitating the IOD employees into the Accounting field.

      For the sake of simplicity this is how it works from here. The IOD employee is then set up to attend Accounting class with the approval of OWCP. OWCP then will send another Notice to the IOD employee explaining that they will pay for the tuition, and expenses related to the Accounting class, as well as pay compensation payments throughout this time period and even a few months after graduation. However the starting salary of a graduate from Accounting class is twenty thousand dollars, we are paying you 75% of forty thousand (which was the income while employed at USPS). Your payment will be reduced to 75% of twenty thousand whether you find employment or not. Within months the IOD employee’s income is cut in half, however they will have a diploma to hang on the wall. Assuming employment is found the IOD employee was a success story for the program. If employment is not found the IOD employee begins to suffer financially. Either way the USPS has just saved thousands and thousands of dollars in compensation payments to the IOD employee. It is a win win situation for the USPS. The USPS has a lot at stake here and the savings can be in the millions which would keep them afloat a few more years. When the statement is made “a lot at stake” it is because the USPS has a long history of going to the extreme at returning IOD employees back to employment using modified/rehab positions. A 180 degree deviation has occurred on this policy, now in order for the IOD employee to be qualified for the VR program the USPS must now state they no longer can accommodate the IOD employee. This is a large gamble on their part, because if the IOD employee is not a candidate for the VR program, the IOD employee will remain on the roles of compensation for a long long time, at the USPS expense.

      It is extremely important that any IOD employee currently in the VR program or is going to be thrust in to it know their rights. Do not be intimidated by the Claims Examiner nor the State contracted VR officer. The lack of information being explained to the IOD employee about the VR process by the Claims Examiner and the VR officer is disturbing. For example: prior to being a qualified candidate for the VR program “all of the IOD employee’s physical and emotional conditions must be taken into consideration” whether work related or not. From the four who I have been in contact with this is not being done and the Claims Examiners as well as the VR officer are only using limitations imposed solely on the accepted conditions of the IOD injury to “qualify” these individuals as candidates for the VR program. When challenged on this, the IOD employee is then placed in a suspended (medical hold) status by the Claims Examiner. Thereby costing the employing agency to provide compensation payments to the IOD employee, because they have already stated they can no longer accommodate within the limitations. 

      The Notices I have seen are intimidating and leads one to believe that as an IOD employee there is no choice but to be lead through the program. In most situations the physician who is treating the IOD employee for the accepted condition is not the same physician who is treating the IOD employee for non work related impairments. OWCP is not aware of those other physicians or the non work related conditions and as such were not taken into consideration when qualifying the IOD employee for VR. Though I feel the Claims Examiner has the responsibility to inquire about other physical or emotion conditions prior to qualifying an IOD employee for VR, this is not being done and it is up to the IOD employee to bring this to the attention of their Claims Examiner.

     The USPS and OWCP need to take a slower approach and follow the proper procedures in place when qualifying an IOD employee as a candidate for the VR program. The VR program will be work for some, but for OWCP and the USPS to assume that most IOD employees are qualified candidates without following proper procedure will end up in the long run an expensive assumption.

    As stated above this is the short version, there is a lot more to inform the affected “Culled” employee. I have spent years in researching this program in anticipation of it being instituted as outlined in the Reorganization Act in which I obtained a copy of in 2003, during one of the many visit to L’Efant Plaza for the Glover settlement.

Dean Albrecht