chanel
Silver Member
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) has filed a request with the Government Accountability Office [GAO], the Congressional watch dog agency, to audit once more the nearly century old federal workers disability program, where federal workers get lucrative disability payments. The government lists beneficiaries in their 100s receiving these taxpayer-funded payments.
The program, the Federal Employees Compensation Act [FECA], which the government launched in 1916, is supposed to cover lost wages for federal employees who suffer on-the-job injuries.
But many federal workers stay on the program for decades, well into their retirement. Those federal workers on disability can get nearly 75% of their salary tax-free for the rest of their life if they have one dependent, with annual cost of living adjustments.
FECA has no limits on the amount of time spent in the program or the amount of money given to recipients, the Senator notes in her statement, and adds: FECA has no caps or cut-off periods, which is why there are reported cases of recipients in their 90s and 100s still receiving workers' compensation benefits.
Stunningly, the program does not require regular third-party certifications of continued need for payments, which expose the FECA program to possible fraud, the Senator, ranking member on the Senate Homeland Security panel, said in her letter to the GAO.
The Labor Department says there are roughly 49,000 purportedly injured federal workers who have not returned to work and who are receiving FECA disability payments to cover lost wages.
Out of those 49,000 recipients, about 7,200 workers are listed as being over age 65 and potentially will not return to work.
Senator Collins says in a statement that the Labor Department unit which oversees the program paid out about $2.8 billion in disability payments over a recent 12-month span, without ensuring whether federal workers employees are exploiting the program.
"At the U.S. Postal Service, for example, 1,000 employees currently receiving federal workers' compensation benefits are 80 years or older, the Senator adds
Senator Collins also asked the GAO to compare FECAs records against the governments Death Master File and the civilian payroll database, to ascertain whether deceased federal workers continue to receive benefits or whether recipients are "double dipping."
Read more: A Federal Gravy Train May End - FoxBusiness.com
Wow. Congratulations Sen. Collins. This is what you guys are paid for.