Report Summary
Social Security Administration
Office of the Inspector General
October 2010
Federal Employees Receiving Both Federal Employees' Compensation Act and Disability
Insurance Payments (A-15-09-19008)
Our Findings
We confirmed with the Social Security Administration (SSA) that improper payments
resulted when recipients whose FECA compensation was not recorded or accounted
for in the calculation of their DI benefits. In addition, we estimated improper
payments that resulted when SSA did not take into account recipients’ FECA
compensation in calculating their SSI payments. Based on our findings, we
projected approximately $43 million in estimated overpayments were paid to
about 961 DI recipients for whom SSA did not consider FECA compensation in
the initial calculation of their benefits. Furthermore, we estimate approximately
$603,140 in overpayments was paid to about 80 SSI recipients whose FECA compensation
was not initially accounted for in the calculation of their payments.
Our Recommendation
We recommended that SSA develop a computer matching agreement with the Department
of Labor (DoL) to identify possible DI and SSI claimants whose benefits do
not reflect the FECA compensation they received. A matching agreement will
allow SSA to perform matching activities similar to what we performed in this
review and take appropriate action for recipients who have overpayments that
result from SSA not taking into account FECA compensation. SSA agreed with our recommendation and is currently drafting a computer matching
agreement for this purpose and has started discussions with the DoL. SSA also
informed us it has determined that the legal authority to perform this computer
match is included in Sections 224(h)(1) and 1636(f) of the Act, which requires
Federal agencies to furnish SSA with information necessary to verify eligibility
for the DI and SSI programs.
Objective
To determine the extent to which improper payments resulted when Federal employees
received both Social Security disability payments and Federal Employees’ Compensation Act (FECA) payments.
Background
FECA provides Federal employees injured while performing their duties with workers
' compensation (WC) benefits, which include wage-loss benefits for total or
partial disability. The Social Security Act (Act) states, when a Disability Insurance (DI) beneficiary under age 65 also
receives public disability benefits, which includes WC, a reduction of the DI
benefit may occur. For Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments made under
the Act, an individual whose income exceeds a certain amount in a particular
month is not eligible for SSI in that month. To view the full report, visit http://www.ssa.gov/oig/ADOBEPDF/A-15-09-19008.pdf