Federal Unions Concerned about Health Care and Workers’ Compensation Provisions in Postal Bill
Federal union officials are asking Congress to throw out provisions in the pending Postal Reform Act of 2013, expressing concerns that the legislation will dramatically affect federal employee health care and workers’ compensation benefits. The three unions — the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association and the American Federation of Government Employees — sent a letter to members of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, expressing their concerns.
According to the group, the proposed legislation will potentially harm workers in a number of ways:
- A provision in the bill allows the Postmaster General to withdraw active postal employees from the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP). Since postal employees make up about one-quarter of the participants in that program, the group believes that a necessary consequence of such a move would be increased costs/premiums for other federal employees, retirees and their families.
- A provision in the bill would also increase premiums for employees and retirees remaining in FEHBP by at least two percent (across the board) and perhaps as much as 35 percent for some plans.
- Another section of the pending bill would reduce federal workers’ compensation, or FECA, benefits once an injured worker reaches Social Security retirement age. Currently, an injured worker can receive 67 to 75 percent of their wages (at the time of injury). Under the proposed law, that amount would be reduced to 50 percent when the injured person qualifies for Social Security. The group cited a GAO report that showed that these cuts would have a significantly greater impact on low-wage earners and on those who were injured early in their careers.
- The statute would also do away with the FECA family benefit, set at 8 percent of former wages.
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