(Chats 4-8-26) - Mastering the CA-1 Form: Deadlines, CA-16 Rules & Continuation of Pay

After a massive cross-country tour training union chapters from APWU to the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, Chris and Gini  are back to break down exactly how to navigate a traumatic workplace injury. In this episode, they provide a comprehensive masterclass on the CA-1 form. From the critical deadlines you cannot afford to miss, to unlocking the power of the CA-16 and Continuation of Pay (COP), this episode is a step-by-step guide to protecting your wallet and your job. Plus, Chris reveals the hard truth about why claims actually get denied (hint: it’s your doctor, not OWCP).

Key Takeaways

• The 3-Year Rule: Did you wait to file? You have up to three years from the date of a traumatic injury to officially file a CA-1.
• The Golden CA-16 Form: If you report your injury within 7 days, you are entitled to a CA-16, which pays all work-related medical bills for the first 60 days. Your supervisor has exactly 4 hours to provide it.
• Continuation of Pay (COP): Always elect COP in Box 15. This covers up to 45 days of time off. Never default to giving up your hard-earned sick or annual leave.
• The Power of Witnesses: Why leaving Box 16 (the witness statement) blank is a massive mistake, and how a solid witness can push a stagnant claim over the finish line.
• Supervisor Accountability: Management has exactly 10 days to submit the second page of your CA-1 via ECOMP. Learn how to verify what they wrote and hold them legally accountable for false statements.
• The Doctor's Narrative: Why every denied claim is ultimately the treating physician's fault. Learn why you must bring a printed copy of your CA-1 directly to your doctor's appointment so they can properly refute any negative supervisor comments.

Resources & Links Mentioned

• Forms Discussed: CA-1 (Traumatic Injury), CA-16 (Authorization for Examination and/or Treatment).
• Portal: ecomp.dol.gov (to track your CA-1 submission and supervisor notes).
• Custom Union Gear: Shoutout to Brian at The Design Lab (904-683-1482) for custom union apparel and promotional materials.
• Schedule Awards: Mention of Dr. Ellis (Ellis Clinic, Oklahoma City) as a top resource for complex schedule awards.

Website for Locations. www.federalinjurycenters.com
Contact: 877-787-OWCP or message us Facebook
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Wednesday Night OWCP Chats with Chris & Gini

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Welcome back to the Breaking O WCP podcast. Join Chris and Jeannie as they bring you expert advice on Federal Workers Comp, guiding you step by step to get back to work the right way. Let's break down the barriers and get you the help you deserve.

SPEAKER_01 0:21

Everyone doing, I know again, we took off like a month, but we were gone the whole month. But the first week was travel. So we had to travel to get we were in four states in three weeks, and it was crazy, but it was great. We got to meet a lot of new people. We were in Salt Lake City. We trained the Salt Lake, no, the Utah Handlers Group.

SPEAKER_02 0:48

Which was awesome.

SPEAKER_01 0:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 0:50

They were really responsive to the class I taught.

SPEAKER_01 0:52

Yeah. So that was great. Hopefully, we'll be back next year. After that, we flew from Salt Lake to Reno, Nevada for the APW NPC. If you don't know what that is, it's the National Presidents Conference where all the state presidents, local presidents, some stewards were there.

SPEAKER_02 1:11

Which was awesome because we have so many friends inside of APW, and they were there, including Jonathan Smith, who's their new national president. What a character.

SPEAKER_01 1:20

Yeah. Let me tell you something about this is a shout out to Jonathan Smith.

SPEAKER_02 1:24

What's up?

SPEAKER_01 1:25

He didn't change his personality. Not even a little bit. When he was like state president of New York and then the local New York metro area.

SPEAKER_02 1:34

Not a guy who's full of himself.

SPEAKER_01 1:35

No, he's so open. He wants to listen to his members. And if you see him a different way, I'm sorry. But we were around him for, and we've been around him way before he was president. And such a nice guy. And you have a great national president. I'm telling you, if you go to him with your issues and problems, he will listen.

SPEAKER_03 1:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:56

You guys should be very happy to have such an understanding, fun national president. He was fun. Yeah. And then so we were in Reno for the NPC. Then we flew to Vegas where we were there for just three days because it was a birthday present for Chris from January.

SPEAKER_02 2:14

Rest and relaxation and winning. Las Vegas would not let me lose. I had three straight flushes at three-card poker in three days.

SPEAKER_01 2:21

I put$20 into a slot machine just for fun. And the second time I hit, what is it called? Max Bet?

SPEAKER_03 2:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:29

Max Bet, I won$158. So I said, cash out. And then we flew back home for literally a day and a half. It was barely 48 hours. So we went straight to the Florida APW state convention in Orlando, which was awesome because we have because we're here, our home base is in Tampa, Florida. We have so many friends in APW just because we live in Florida. And I'm telling you, these people are not like they're not friends. Like we have friends. We have five special ones in Florida. And shout out to Orlando, the Ian, Rob, Victor, AJ. Actually, they're all from all over parts of Florida. Wanda, everybody was so sweet. And like we hang out with them like it's family. There's and we never talk work. It's not, oh, let's go hang out and talk work. No, it's not that.

SPEAKER_02 3:25

Yeah, it's really nice. They don't make me do work comp talk the whole time.

SPEAKER_01 3:27

Yeah. So it was really good.

SPEAKER_02 3:29

And but with that said, you folks in California, you know who you are. You folks in Utah, you for sure know who you are.

SPEAKER_03 3:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:36

We love you too. It's not, it's not taken away. But there's these guys in Florida are like some of my very best friends in the world.

SPEAKER_01 3:45

It is.

SPEAKER_02 3:46

And it's it was special that they always let me come in. I'm gonna give a shout-out to APW just for having us. Yeah, they they let us go all the places, it's really nice. And the rest of the unions should take note because we're having a lot of success inside of APW. A lot of success.

SPEAKER_01 4:00

And FLIOA as well. So we're so super excited. If you those of you that don't know what the union FLIOA is, it's the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association. And if you saw on our chats page and my personal page, that FLIOA, the 111 Project, wrote an amazing story about federal injury centers. It was very touching, and we're so happy to be a part of them.

SPEAKER_02 4:22

Yeah, and I think it'd be wrong if I didn't say thank you to DeLeo for letting us, you know, be on his turf. So thank you so much also for being there. So we really appreciate the invite and letting us do what we do.

SPEAKER_01 4:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:36

So thanks so much for that.

SPEAKER_01 4:37

And let's see. The next thing, we're actually headed back to Utah, which that's where I'm from. I lived there, went to school there.

SPEAKER_02 4:47

So I'm heartbroken to have to go back to the mountains.

SPEAKER_01 4:49

Yeah. So we'll be there. We'll be at the Utah State Convention for APW. So we're excited to go back home and relax a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 4:59

I've had enough. I'm a Texan who lives in Florida. I'm ready for the heat.

SPEAKER_01 5:02

Yeah, we have some couple cold, colder days here in Florida, and I'm loving it.

SPEAKER_02 5:06

Today I had to put on a sweatshirt. I'm like, what the heck is happening here?

SPEAKER_01 5:09

We are headed to the AFGE District V District V caucus in Atlanta, Georgia. So we're so excited because we know a lot of people.

SPEAKER_02 5:20

And I get to eat at Malone's.

SPEAKER_01 5:22

Yeah, we know a lot of people within the five states, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. We know quite a few people within AFGE. And so we're so excited to be with that group of friends again as well. And we wanted to give a huge shout out to TSA. We, as much as we fly, are so thankful that you guys got paid.

SPEAKER_02 5:41

Such professionals. Holy crap. Like we were through four different airports and we just breezed through.

SPEAKER_01 5:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:47

These folks are working for free. And thank God for you, keeping the flight safe. Keep it up. Because if you guys the country owes you.

SPEAKER_01 5:54

If you guys were not getting paid and more and more of you were leaving, we were not going to be flying.

SPEAKER_02 5:59

I don't want to fly without TSA. That's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 6:02

So we have your backs, TSA, across the nation. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:06

I would say everybody here does. Everybody here does.

SPEAKER_01 6:09

And Guam, we love you guys and thank you so much. So, with that said, tonight, I know we were supposed to do this and we didn't get to do it. We're going to start from scratch. We are going to talk in detail about the CA1 form, what it is, and how to fill out all the boxes. And we're going to take that particular training from what Chris does when we go to state trainings about the CA1. So while you start, I'll be sharing.

SPEAKER_02 6:37

Yeah, so I won't do that. But what I do want to talk about is everything you need to know about having a CA1 injury and filing it. Um, let's start here. A CA1 is the form you fill out for any injury that happens in a single shift. So I always say, let's say you step off a curve and twist your ankle. That's a CA1 versus a CA2 that develops over time. It just over time you have a problem that just develops. But this CA1 claim happened as a single shift. The reason I want to talk about this is because there's so many of them and there's so many rules that apply to the CA1 that don't apply to CA2.

SPEAKER_01 7:14

Right.

SPEAKER_02 7:15

When I'm doing my class in front of union groups, I always ask, can anybody tell me how long you have to report an injury? At what point can you no longer report your injury? And this is a CA1 topic because the answer is three years for a CA1. It's three years for a CA2 as well, but it's a little different variation of it. So, number one, you have three years from your date of injury to report your injury. Why would they do that? Well, maybe you spent money out of your pocket, you want to get it back. Maybe you had mileage, you want to get back. Maybe you had LWAP, you took time off, you want to get your money back. Maybe you want to do lead buyback. Maybe you want a schedule award. And so they give you three years to get your uh claim reported there so you have an opportunity for a scheduled award. And most importantly, because some of you have some serious injuries, and three years later you're not better. And so they give you this giant window with which to report your injuries. So, number one, you have three years. Why is that important to you also? Because you may be somebody who's walking around your uh your workplace and you're limping around or you're struggling picking up boxes or whatever, your shoulder's not working as well as it used to. And you're like, time ran out. Probably not. It's probably not too late for you. You have three years to report your injury. We want everyone to be at work. I'm not a doctor, so I can't send you there, but the surest way to clock, the surest way to get paid is to clock in. So they give you three years. So that's number one. You have three years to report your injury. So number two, there's a couple of things that go along with the CA1 that don't apply to CA2. And one of these almost nobody has ever heard of. And that's called a form CA16. So if you're somebody and you're like, I've never heard of a CA 16, let me tell you what, you've heard of money, and without a CA 16, you very often have to use your own money to pay for healthcare after a work injury, especially in the beginning phases before claims get accepted. If you have a CA1 claim that you report, now this is important, you report within seven days. If you report your CA1 injury, within seven days of the injury, you can have the CA 16. It pays all of your work-related injury medical bills for the first 60 days. And if your claim is not approved, you never have to pay it back.

SPEAKER_01 9:42

Not supposed to.

SPEAKER_02 9:42

You never have to pay it back. So you get a form CA 16. All of this is still about the CA1, trust me. Now, to get a CA 16 on a CA1 claim, your supervisor has got to do some work. Your supervisor has to do something. It's really hard for them. They have to get it and fill out one page. So if they fill out their one page and hand it to you, they did their job. You give that to the doctor, and now all your medical bills are paid for 60 days, and you never have to pay it back. But the problem is so many people never get a CA 16. If you're with a union that likes to file grievances, every time you don't get a 16, you should file a grievance. It's just critical. Because without a form CA 16, who pays your medical bills?

SPEAKER_01 10:29

You do.

SPEAKER_02 10:30

You do. Now, obviously, if you go, and by the way, if you're new here, we have a company called Federal Injury Centers. It's a franchise of doctors across the country that do federal workers' comp. We never take your money and we don't care if you have a CA 16. But you don't have to go to a Federal Injury Center's office to come here. Wednesday night OWCB chats with Chris and Jeannie is an educational platform. You do not have to go to federal injury centers to be here. So you're welcome here no matter what. I say that because we don't care if you have a CA 16. We're never going to take your money no matter what. Yeah. But a lot of doctors do, imaging centers, surgeons, physical therapy places, they want your CA 16 because they want to get paid. It helps them get paid as well. And so we want you to have it so that you don't have hassles with everybody else. That's the key. That you don't have hassles with everybody else. So part of the CA1 is knowing you have the access to the CA 16. The law states that when you report within seven days, the supervisor has four hours to give it to you.

SPEAKER_01 11:34

What happens in four hours and one minute?

SPEAKER_02 11:37

File grievance. Yes. File grievance. So get a CA 16. Some of you are new and you're like, wait a minute, there's a way to pay my medical bills? Yeah, it's called a CA 16.

SPEAKER_01 11:47

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 11:47

So don't forget. Now there's another thing that only applies to a CA1, and it's continuation of pay, you have to report your CA1 within 30 days of the injury. But because you reported within seven days, so you can get a CA 16, you're also eligible for continuation of pay. Now, continuation of pay is a little different. It pays for your time off up to 45 days. Okay. Up to 45 days. Either your claim gets accepted or 45 days passes. At either point, it's over.

SPEAKER_01 12:17

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 12:18

But if you report immediately, you have some way to pay your medical bills and some way to pay you for being out of work. It's really important that you do that. Now, if you're somebody that's been waiting around and it's been a year and a half and two years, and you're like, wait, I just realized it's three years, too late. You can't get a CA 16 or COP. It's been too long. You can still get your claim approved and you can still get help.

SPEAKER_01 12:43

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 12:44

But with the CA1, you have the opportunity for a CA 16 to pay your bills and a s and COP to pay up to 45 days of time off. Now, if your claim is ultimately denied, they're going to come and get your second annual leave and plus money, if necessary, to pay back COP. But the law states as long as you're under a pill, you don't have to pay it back. And if you happen to pay it back and then later on it gets approved, they have to give it back to you again. So it's a good deal for you to elect COP and to get a CA16. Yep. So those are critical things in a CA1 claim that happen in a single shift.

SPEAKER_01 13:24

So I'll we'll let you know as soon as something happens. Carly from California.

SPEAKER_02 13:29

We love you so much, Carly.

SPEAKER_01 13:30

Yes, we do. Oh, Frank! We just wanted to give a shout out. If you see these shirts, these hats, this actually says APW. And this is Union Strong. APW Florida, Orlando. This was their state convention shirt. Union Proud, say it loud. If you see down below there, right there, it's these all these things are made by the design lab.

SPEAKER_02 13:55

Out of Jacksonville, Florida.

SPEAKER_01 13:56

By Brian. Brian's a really good friend of ours. If his wife is Angela Johnson, she does the education and she's also the local president in Jacksonville.

SPEAKER_02 14:06

For APW.

SPEAKER_01 14:08

So he's actually going to be making all of our Federal Injury Center stuff. We were using the VistaPrint Pro Shop. They are not as creative as we thought they would be.

SPEAKER_02 14:18

They're in no way creative. They require me to be creative.

SPEAKER_01 14:20

But we're telling you. If you ask Brian, hey, I'm just making an example. I have a baby shower and I want it to be completely different. He will figure out a way of what to make so nobody else has the same thing you do. Yeah. He's made personal things for Chris and I for ourselves and families that he nobody else had but us. And he made one of the coolest things when we went to FLIOA. It was a pen and it had seven things in it, like a screwdriver, a compass, a flashlight, a stylus. It was so cool. The FLIOA people were like, where did you get this? So if you want anything, and it whether you have a business, you have an event, a party, a get-together, or whatever, he can do for whatever. It's just not union stuff. But I'll tell you this: if you are a part of a union, he does the uh the union bug. The union bug stamp on everything. Yeah. And so we're super cool. We love that. So reach out Brian and 940? Yeah. That's a Texas number. Yeah, that's right. If you guys need to contact any anybody, I mean someone for any type of design, t-shirts, hoodies, hats, brochures, whatever, just printing things. Contact Brian. Yep. All right. So we have a few questions finally. Give me some questions. Jack said, I've been looking for an attorney in my network that do OWCP since the last time. Yeah, good luck. Good luck with that. There's only about 50 of them nationwide.

SPEAKER_02 15:50

We know them all.

SPEAKER_01 15:51

Yeah. So if you want one, we get with us and we'll try to see who we can hook you up with. Oh, Jack, yeah, from BDC.

SPEAKER_02 15:58

Yeah, you just became my Jack.

SPEAKER_01 16:00

Carrie Turner, is it common for DOL to say they are sending you for a second opinion before accepting a claim, and three months later you still don't have an appointment?

SPEAKER_02 16:10

It's super common. It's getting more and more common. Claims examiners are like passing the buck a lot. There's a lot of claims examiners that are just instantly sending things to a second opinion. And I'm sure you're being told to do it. It's not like these claims examiners are just like derelict on their duties. They probably have directions that they're being given. Yeah. But this is happening a lot.

SPEAKER_01 16:30

Michelle, I got hurt January 2023, 2025, still fighting to get my claim accepted. Keep asking for reconsiderations and also working with Federal Injury Centers of Quincy.

SPEAKER_02 16:42

But you're freaking out. It's not the end of the world.

SPEAKER_01 16:45

First of all, me personally, I cannot do anything. I'm not in an office and I don't know your case and I don't know the entire story. So what you guys have to do, and I'm not trying to say, don't message me, but I can't physically or do anything for you. You have to call the office. Now, if you call the office and they say they can't help you or whatever, you can contact me. Then we can do something about it. But telling me to help you, you know, how to fix your denial, you have to call the office that you were seen at.

SPEAKER_02 17:16

I'd rather you just call the office because the doctor will have to write a medical report. Hey, Jennifer White. Jennifer's on.

SPEAKER_01 17:23

Jennifer. What's up? Hey, Lucille. Thank you for all you two do.

SPEAKER_02 17:28

Oh, you're welcome.

SPEAKER_01 17:29

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 17:30

We missed you. It's been too long. We haven't been on hardly at all in the last three or four months.

SPEAKER_01 17:35

And it's only because of our travel. Sorry. And that's the and you guys know we we do that. David. Why are we considered an active employee when we have been on OWCP for 10 years and have been that's a good question?

SPEAKER_02 17:50

I don't know why you're considered an active employee, but sounds like a good deal. I really I don't think she stumped the chump, but no.

SPEAKER_01 17:59

I'm not sure. You know me, I'm not a drinker or whatever. She's a party pooper and I'm done.

SPEAKER_02 18:03

She goes to bed at 8 o'clock.

SPEAKER_01 18:05

Except when I'm with the BOP. Oh god. Yeah, we're not going to be able to do that. We don't want to talk about that. No. Bill Moore. Going to OWCP doctor in Reno tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

SPEAKER_02 18:15

Yeah, we'll pull them for you. Yeah. I hope that works out for you, Bill.

SPEAKER_01 18:18

All right, let's move on.

SPEAKER_02 18:19

All right. So the next thing I want to talk about on the CA1 is the first page of the CA1. You gotta understand something. In order to report an injury, you have to fill out one piece of paper. Let that set in. Because people say it's so hard. It's one piece of paper. And it's all like electronic. You can actually do it on your phone or your laptop now. In fact, you have to. So like it's super easy, but there's a couple of sections that I want to point out to you. Section 14 or thereabouts is where you talk about what happened to you. Be very detailed. Use tons of detail because this is where your supervisor is going to try to use what you say against you. So use all the detail. If you need more space, use more space. Yep. Very important. Also, be 100% truthful. There's a law that says that anyone that files a false or fraudulent claim or statement in connection with a claim under FICA shall be fined, imprisoned, or both. Find, imprisoned, or both. That's only scary if you intend to tell a lie. So don't do that. Tell the truth 100%, but give all the detail you can. The next thing about the second or the first page is box 16. We talked about 15, that's COP. Just elect continuation of pay. In fact, let me just stay there for a second, but back to box 15. Elect COP or sick and annual leave. I did a class once with in the crowd, included claims examiners. So you should all feel really great. Whoever those claims examiners were that learned it from me are probably doing a pretty good job. But the senior claims examiner, who happened to be the union president of that particular AFGE local, said that everyone should claim or elect COP. If they're going to take your second annual leave, make them come and take it.

SPEAKER_01 20:10

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 20:10

All right. Don't just give it to them. So I want to say that's about box 15. But 16 is a witness statement. And sadly, the witness statement is almost always blank. And that's because either you're scared to be a witness or you don't request a witness. Right. And sometimes there's not one, right? But a witness could be like a customer. It could be, for example, let's say you're like a letter carrier and you're on your route. Like you could hurt yourself, and I could see it happen. And I can be a witness. So get a witness whenever possible. There's an infamous story that I tell about a really great guy named Gilbert, who was a VA employee.

SPEAKER_01 20:47

We love Gilbert.

SPEAKER_02 20:48

He was so fantastic and a veteran. So thank you, Gilbert. But he had a denial for eight years, and what really helped move him over the finish line was he got a witness statement from eight years earlier. So always be a witness and always get a witness because these are so important in getting your claims approved. And because I said approved, let me say this: the last I look at OSHA for federal work injury and illness statistics. You can search this yourself and see it for yourself. The last complete year, oddly, was 2023. I'm not sure when they haven't done 24 and 25 yet, but whatever. In 2023, 6.7% of the federal workforce had an accepted claim. I think you'll all agree with me that the injury rate is far more than 7%. You probably, when I talk to you, you're all like 30, 35, 50, 80, everybody percent. I don't know what the number is because they don't publish it. And it I think it would be impossible to because they'd have to show us approved claims, denied claims, and claims that were never attempted. They're never going to get that number. So it's important that you get a witness. You be a witness, you are truthful in your box 14 and your statement because it's easy to get a deny claim. Yeah. 6.7% of people have an approved claim. That means nobody else does, but it's important that you just do what I just said. So I'm gonna pause. What do you got?

SPEAKER_01 22:16

All right, we have a few more questions for the design lab. It is 904-683-1482. Yeah, I just pinned it at the bottom. So excuse the little red at the bottom. Mike Joseph. If you have another impairment rating after OWCP sends you to a second opinion and you contested the second opinion, does OWCP have to consider the new impairment rating? What are the options?

SPEAKER_02 22:44

So yeah, they have to consider any new medical information. Sorry that I oversimplified that, but that was the answer to your question. Yeah. Just FY.

SPEAKER_01 22:55

And we try to simplify all the answers.

SPEAKER_02 22:57

Yeah, I want to make everything simple for everybody and other people who are listening. Yes, they have to consider all the medical information.

SPEAKER_01 23:02

Because normally he talks like he's from a dictionary. So I always have to tell you. A fourth grade dictionary. He has to speak like he's in fourth grade. And it's not because we say you're stupid. It's complicated. It's law. Yeah. And law is complicated. Bill Moore, do I need to bring any doctor's notes to my Reno appointment? I have paperwork from both September and February surgeries.

SPEAKER_02 23:23

Bill, talk to the case manager over there and they'll tell you what they want you to bring. If I were the case manager, I'd want your CA1 or CA2. I'd want denial letters. I'd want the letter from previous doctors. If it got denied or approved, I'd still want to see it. Or anything from OWCP. Yeah, there's a number of things I'd want to look at, but talk to the case manager at that office and they'll tell you what to bring.

SPEAKER_01 23:46

Yeah. New here. What services do you provide claimants?

SPEAKER_02 23:49

Oh, hello, Kristen. Yeah, I'm happy you're here, Kristen. Welcome. So this is Wednesday night OWCP chats. I'm Chris. That's Jeannie. Here, the service we provide is education. We're teaching people what to do and how to navigate the OWCP system because it's complicated and scary. We have a franchise called Federal Injury Centers and it's got doctors in 26 states. And those doctors specialize in helping injured federal workers when they're hurt at work. But I have to again stress: you don't have to go to those offices to come here. This is an educational platform. Those are the services we provide. We travel around the country and train unions, again, education. We do education here. I've written some books, education. And then we've got doctors. And the only reason we have them is because over the years since I've been doing this, I realized you don't have enough. And that was a problem that I can solve. And so I'm solving it.

SPEAKER_01 24:41

So we have a franchise called Federal Injury Centers.

SPEAKER_02 24:44

You do not have to go there to be here. We're happy to have you.

SPEAKER_01 24:47

And those of you that are going to ask where your locations are, just go to www.federal injury centers.com and click the red button that says locations.

SPEAKER_02 24:56

It's three W's.

SPEAKER_01 24:57

Yeah. Sonya. What's up? She said, hey guys, let me vet as I'm in a martini. Two martinis. Okay. I'm so sick of new lead clerks doing attendance. Tax and keeping keep using the wrong code.

SPEAKER_02 25:14

I mean, you are two martinis in.

SPEAKER_01 25:16

And not the number 049 OWCP L BOP. And use your darn AL and sick leave. She said damn.

unknown 25:25

I know.

SPEAKER_01 25:25

But I don't say that.

SPEAKER_02 25:27

I said it.

SPEAKER_01 25:27

When an error occurs, you have to ask for an adjustment. That will delay your CA7 and CA7A to be completed. Guess what? They delay your darn benefits.

SPEAKER_02 25:37

So you got to be on top of your thing. Be on top of it. It's your life, your money, your circumstances. Stay on top of it. Don't be a passive passenger in this deal.

SPEAKER_01 25:45

I'm headed to the Western States Conference in Henderson, Nevada next week for the role carriers.

SPEAKER_02 25:51

All right. So far I've talked about the rules that apply to a CA1, that you have three years to report. I said that if you report within seven days, you can have a CA 16 that pays all your medical bills for 60 days and you never have to pay it back. I said that if you report within 30 days, which you did when you reported within seven, you can have continuation of pay, which is up to 45 days of time off. I told you that a senior claims examiner said that everyone should elect COP. Make them come and take your sick and annual leave. Don't just give it to them. I told you to be very detailed in your box 14 talking about what happened to you. Box 15 was COP. And then I told you to get a witness statement and make sure the witness statement has great detail. What I haven't said yet is you got to make sure your doctor puts all this stuff in their narrative report because that's how we get claims accepted. That we take our CA1 or CA2, but we're talking about CA1s tonight, and we take all the information in it and we say, hey, doc, make sure this is in your narrative because it's part of the five things that doctors have to do to get your claim approved. So make sure that all happens. But so that basically covers the roles that apply to a CA1 and it covers the key parts of the first page, which is your responsibility to fill out the first page. So moving to the second page, it's super tricky for supervisors. I don't mean to be mean, I'm just saying you gotta consider the audience. And so now I'm talking to supervisors, and uh it's just one page.

SPEAKER_01 27:19

But we have a handful of supervisors that are well, they know I'm not talking to them.

SPEAKER_02 27:23

I love very good friends of ours. The supervisor also only has one page to fill out. It's like it's so easy, it's like ridiculous, actually. Because as long as they don't tell lies about you, they could probably fill this thing out in two days or two minutes. It should take two minutes. Here's what you have to know. Number one, make sure you have their proper email address. Because when you go to eComp to file your CA1, it sends a notification to your supervisors that says, Hey, dummy, you have one page to fill out. Here it is, right? So that's what it does. Get the correct email address. Your supervisor would spell it wrong, even if it's there. Let's say their name is Bob, they'd spell it wrong like B-O-O-B. But make sure you spell it B-O-B because you know that's how you spell Bob. Get it to the proper place, and then that way they can do their one page. From there, they have 10 days to turn this in to O W C P. Now, when I say turn it in, I literally mean click submit. It's not hard. Okay. So after they read the one page, it's all in English. Like actually. And then they answer all the questions, probably in English. I don't know. Some misspellings, probably no good punctuation. And then they just click submit and it goes to OWCP, and then you're in business. But if they don't do it within 10 days, they've violated the law. Yeah. And that's where you file agreements. I'm being tough on supervisors, and it's okay. I don't actually care if they no, I'm just gonna always probably keep doing it. But don't let them be idiots. I always say they're dumb or playing dumb. Don't let them play dumb. Tell them what to do. You have 10 days. It's in your inbox. To find your inbox, go to inbox and click it. Okay. Do what it takes to have your supervisors be able to help you. Then they fill out one page. Now here's the trick. They also have to adhere to the anyone that files a false or fraudulent claim or statement in connection with a claim under FICA can be fined or prison, imprisoned or both. So if they file a false statement, knowingly false, on the second page of the CA1, they can get in a lot of trouble. So you need to look at your CA1. There's a box that says, was this in performance of duty? You need to check what they said there. It's gonna say, was this due to willful misconduct, intoxication, or intent to injure yourself or another? You got to know what they said there. There's a question that says, Does your knowledge of the facts about this case agree with what the injured person or the witness said? And if no, explain. You've got to know that they said that. But then below, there's this like certification statement. And it says, Any person that knowingly certifies to a false statement is committing a felony. So if they can read English, they know they have to tell the truth. So if they don't say anything bad on the other ones, boom, you're golden. But you need to read the second page of the CA1 and know what they said because this is where a supervisor tries to hose you. And I hear people all the time say, Oh, my supervisor got my claim denied. No, they didn't. Your claim got denied because a doctor did a bad job, because the doctor wrote a bad narrative report, because the doctor didn't include all the stuff I'm telling you to have the doctor include in their narrative. The doctor's got to include what you said happened to you. They got to include what the witness statement was, and they have to include every stupid thing that a supervisor said and then refute it in their medical narrative. This is very important because what we want to get to is actually there's nothing here that's being refuted.

SPEAKER_01 30:47

And it's not OW, everybody, everybody we hear say OWCP denied my claim. You know why they denied it? Because it was the doctor's fault. It is OWCP doesn't go, oh yeah, this person broke their leg. Denied. No, it's whatever the doctor writes. That's a whether whether it's our offices or not, literally, it's not OWCP's fault. So you cannot sit there and complain and moan all day. Oh, I hate OWCP. Is it a process? But this is why we teach you the process because it's not OWCP. It's nobody else's fault but the doctor's fault that writes the narrative. So remember that.

SPEAKER_02 31:24

Today I was on a meeting with my company. We had 55 people in the meeting, of which included doctors. And even in that, I said, Docs, I'm just letting you know. This is what I tell people. Every deny claim is your fault.

SPEAKER_01 31:36

Yep, he does.

SPEAKER_02 31:37

I have no tolerance for deny claims. Zero. And you shouldn't either. Okay. You have a 7% approval rate. We have a 95% approval rate. And that extra 5% pisses me off. So quick recap. I've told you about page one. I've told you about page two. The last thing I want to tell you about the CA1 is once you fill it out, once your supervisor fills it out and it's submitted, it'll be in your e-comp file. So you go to ecomp.dol.gov and you go into there, and I want you to print out your CA1. Everything you wrote, everything the supervisor wrote, print it out and take it to the doctor. Because the doctor's got to write a medical narrative, and that medical narrative will be the key to getting your claim accepted. So everything I just told you, all that we just talked about, is the beginnings of getting a claim accepted. And if you do those things, your odds of getting an accepted claim go through the roof. And that's what we want for you.

SPEAKER_01 32:30

We remember when e-comp wasn't even a thought yet. And I remember when somebody called me and said, All my mail is going to the post office. When Chris told them to look and see what address was on their paper, the supervisor wrote the post office's address, and the supervisor was receiving the mail.

SPEAKER_02 32:53

And by the way, I'm now years later convinced that was not malicious. I'm convinced that was dumb or playing dumb, and I believe it was dumb. Yeah. The supervisor looked at address and went, must be work address.

SPEAKER_01 33:05

Yeah. So please read your stuff. So Jose said, How can a doctor know what the supervisor wrote on their own? Oh, sorry. Hi, Josie. I'm so sorry. I don't have my reading glasses on. Yeah. How can a doctor know what the supervisor wrote on their narrative?

SPEAKER_02 33:24

Because you print out your CA1 both pages and take it to the doctor. I said that, but I'm so happy that you asked the question so I can highlight you have to print that out and take it to your doctor.

SPEAKER_01 33:35

Yeah. My postmaster used 0.59 every holiday week. I just a letter submitted a letter of demand now because she messed up. Oh.

SPEAKER_02 33:49

So I'm assuming that like she used holiday time or whatever instead of COP. So now they have demand, they want it back. We can help you with that, but you may need to rewrite that message because it's a little confusing.

SPEAKER_01 34:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:03

I I want to help you, but that message was a little confusing.

SPEAKER_01 34:06

When you guys have questions and there's no one that you know you can call or even message me, go to our locations tab and call the nearest location if you want. Sure. Ask if you want to. We tell everybody ask for the case manager, and they know because they get training from Chris, they know all the answers to your questions.

SPEAKER_02 34:28

Those 55 people today, most of them were my case managers around the country.

SPEAKER_01 34:32

You can call. And let's say you're in Nebraska, which we don't have a location yet. Yeah. And the closest one is in New York. I'm just saying. Call the New York office because what every single case manager knows the same thing, and they get trained by the same person.

SPEAKER_02 34:47

And they're not directly trained by me, but they're using my staff as the training. I just want to remember or remind everybody, Design Lab, it's 904-940. 904, not 940.

SPEAKER_01 35:00

I I corrected it. See, isn't this cute? This APW hat. I have the APW State Convention shirt.

SPEAKER_02 35:07

The Union Strong. And the thing about this shirt, I'm very picky about shirts. Yes. This is super soft.

SPEAKER_01 35:12

It's so simple.

SPEAKER_02 35:13

It's a really soft shirt. I'd sleep in it because it's that soft.

SPEAKER_01 35:17

Yeah. So if there's any other unions, and it you don't have to be APW, you could be whatever union you want, whatever business you want, whatever Brian does a heck of a job making things.

SPEAKER_02 35:29

He's a badass. There was one up here we didn't read. All right. If we missed your question, just tell us.

SPEAKER_01 35:42

My Mary said, if that shirt is XXL, it's mine mine. All you gotta do is contact Brian. He'll make individual shirts. He just doesn't make, he can make one shirt for you. You tell him what you want on it, and he'll make it. The postmaster used a 059 partial L WAP instead of the 049. So I received a letter of demand from USPS saying they paid my health benefits when I know OWCP has been paying and they are wanting their money back.

SPEAKER_02 36:11

I like the question. How does it feel to want? I don't know, like your health benefits. I'm not sure what we're talking about there either. Workers' comp benefits, the agency never pays those, so they can't demand those back. The only thing that the agency can demand back is continuation of pay. I have no idea what else related to federal workers' comp the agency would think they have any right to. That's it. The only thing they have a right to is continuation of pay that should not have been paid because your claim was ultimately denied.

SPEAKER_01 36:43

Yeah. All right. What is it next? The problem is the code contact and the HR department.

SPEAKER_02 36:49

The problem is the code contact your HR department. All right, so Mary's saying they just coded it wrong.

SPEAKER_01 36:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:54

Thank you, Mary.

SPEAKER_01 36:55

Yeah. We are headed to Montana, where they're gonna do a quadruple state convention that's gonna include Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, and Oregon. So we're so excited. And Chris is actually training there.

SPEAKER_02 37:10

They gave me two hours to teach my class, and I'm so excited because this is a when I wrote my book, The 25 Things You Can Do to Win an OWCP, I was literally thinking of these states. It was these states I wrote it for because I know they have no doctors and I want their claims to get approved. So I wrote this book because I said if you follow this book, your claims can get approved. So I'm so excited to teach them there. We don't have any offices in that area, but which doesn't matter. Oh, the the closest one. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 37:40

I don't even know.

SPEAKER_02 37:41

It doesn't matter. I'll come anywhere to teach this. I don't have to have an office there. I will teach it anywhere. So we're really excited.

SPEAKER_01 37:49

Yeah, we're gonna go and make sure we go to the train station.

SPEAKER_02 37:52

Yeah, Jack, we've never been to Yellowstone. Read Dana's.

SPEAKER_01 37:55

Yeah, I am. Okay. All right, Dana West. Supervisor didn't know how to get the CA sex CA16 for motor vehicle accident. There were several scans, x-rays done in the first 10 days or so that turned out to be things that were just sore soft tissue injuries at the time and didn't turn out to be any major injury. But now I'm assuming the only way to get those x-rays and scans of those body parts covered.

SPEAKER_02 38:18

The only way to get them covered is to have an approved claim. That's it. When your claim's approved, they're gonna they'll pay for this stuff because it's how your doctor figures out what's wrong with you. You didn't know how to get the CA 16, the supervisor didn't know how. Whatever. For a motor vehicle accident. That, by the way, every accident that you have on the job driving a car is a CA1 because it happened now. It doesn't happen over a period of two or more shifts. The accident just happened. Okay, so I don't want to get too deep into that. But so the CA 16 is your right. Yeah, soft tissue injuries. I'm not a doctor, so I can't really speak to that. But nothing gets paid till your claims approved. Yeah, it's not just x-rays, like literally nothing is paid, just like you're not paid till your claims approved. You have no benefits until your claim is approved, except for the CA 16 and the COP if you report in time. So that's pretty pretty common. Pushed them.

SPEAKER_01 39:08

So that is yes, partially true, but they literally, a lot of the supervisors, like some of the local presidents tell us that some of them really don't have a clue about OWCP.

SPEAKER_02 39:20

I don't think chapter in your training manual for work comp. It's not there, so they're not trained on it. We want you to report your injury on time, follow your injury on time, go to the doctor and get back to work as soon as humanly possible.

SPEAKER_03 39:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:32

So you're safe. Your supervisors just don't want to know about it.

SPEAKER_01 39:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:36

And what we're telling you is get back safely when the doctor tells you to.

SPEAKER_01 39:41

Yeah. It's so funny. We it's funny. We heard it from APW, we heard it from AFGE. I'll never forget when we're NRL C A.

SPEAKER_02 39:47

Yeah. The real cares.

SPEAKER_01 39:48

They all said stupid visors, but I feel bad because I don't. Sometimes they really don't know.

SPEAKER_02 39:56

I mean, it does that make them stupid.

SPEAKER_01 39:58

So tonight we went over all about the CA1.

SPEAKER_02 40:01

We talked about the CA 16.

SPEAKER_01 40:03

Yeah. And how to fill it out, how to do it, when to get it, how many years you have, three years, guys.

SPEAKER_02 40:10

Look, Kristen Scott, I'm a supervisor. If you're here watching this, yes, you're probably pretty awesome.

SPEAKER_01 40:15

Oh, no, like Kristen, we have friends that are TSA supervisors, rule carrier supervisors. We know them, and they are really good to their people. So for you being on here, kudos to you. Whatever union you're with and whatever craft you're in, they're lucky to have you. Dana said it has been approved, but the three injuries approved are related to spine concussion, had six x-rays and scans of hips, stomach, shoulder. If the hospitals file for those bills, the ICD nine cones aren't going to match. So I figured they would deny them.

SPEAKER_02 40:46

Yeah, they're ICD 10s now. But yeah, they may, but with the CA 16, they won't. They should just pay everything because that's what they needed to do. What I'm worried about is a hospital sending you a bill. So contact your claims examiner and find out what to do when that happens. I don't want you to pay money.

SPEAKER_01 41:04

Terry, I have a disfigurement of the face. I need a plastic surgeon or a maxophageal surgeon to conduct a schedule award for me. Any referrals, I will travel.

SPEAKER_02 41:15

Okay, so I don't really have a referral for this, but I can tell you that the most the number one schedule award doctor in the world or in this country is Dr. Ellis. He's in Oklahoma City. He's in no way associated with us, but I know him. I think he's great. He also thinks he's great. He'll tell you all about it. But he's really good with schedule awards. So look up the Ellis Clinic in Oklahoma City. Again, no association whatsoever with us.

SPEAKER_01 41:42

Mary, I believe report all when you go back to work. I worked last June 2025. Until now, I didn't get paid yet. I received DOL paperwork. Do I put working in the answer to the questions? DOL didn't know I started working. She said I didn't receive any notice. What should I do?

SPEAKER_02 42:00

Yeah, for sure. Just exactly what's happening. That's what you write down. 100%. Don't leave anything out. They're gonna find out anyway. So just tell them everything.

SPEAKER_01 42:10

Oh. All right, guys. Any other questions?

SPEAKER_02 42:14

So yeah. So we've been doing this since 2016. We've been able to help, I don't know if it's millions of people, but hundreds of thousands. So many. Okay. So many in 10 years. And uh, but we're we feel like we're just barely scratching the surface. So if you can let your friends know to come here, follow the page. Um, we're here when we're here. Obviously, we're not here every week because of our travel schedule of doing live training, but I really enjoy the opportunity to help people with their problems tonight so they don't have those same problems tomorrow. Yeah. So tell your friends, please.

SPEAKER_01 42:48

And a lot here's another thing. I forgot what I was gonna say, but okay. Lori, I know this is off today's topic, but I need to know how to find a doctor to get a rating for my MMI to file my award. My injury was approved seven years ago, and that doctor was not really good with OWCP. I had to guide him on what was missing back then. I went back to work, but now retired, but never filed for the award.

SPEAKER_02 43:12

Lori, go to Google. This is gonna sound so simplistic, but trust me, this is what you do. Go to Google and search OWCP schedule award doctor. That sounds so simple. But every doctor in the country that wants to do schedule awards will be found with that term. OWCP schedule award doctor.

SPEAKER_01 43:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:35

And it doesn't matter what state they're in.

SPEAKER_01 43:37

Request authorization, it will override the treatment suite denial.

SPEAKER_02 43:42

Ana, if there is a denial, request authorization, it will override the treatment suite denial. That sounds like somebody that's got some inside knowledge.

SPEAKER_01 43:49

What we normally tell everybody if you get a denial, file for reconsideration. It is your best option. And you have twelve months.

SPEAKER_02 43:57

Yeah, that gives our doctors an opportunity to. Write medical reports that they have to consider new stuff. And you're welcome, Lori.

SPEAKER_01 44:04

Anything else, guys, before we sign off? It's great to be back. We will be here next week as well. And then after that, we are headed to Utah again. I know everybody's like, You guys have been to Utah like the last four or five months. Yeah. So what? That's where I'm from. And I love it. And I can't stand the heat in Florida.

SPEAKER_02 44:25

I'm the defect billing supervisor. Kristen. Nice to meet you. I love it. Love that so much.

SPEAKER_01 44:31

There you go, guys. She just gave you a little insider. Yeah. So with that said, everybody, we hope you enjoyed today's topic about the CA1.

SPEAKER_02 44:40

Tell all your friends, it's not too late. They have three years.

SPEAKER_01 44:43

Yeah. Just so you guys know, this is Facebook, not us. If this in 30 days, this goes away from Facebook, it goes it gets pushed over to our YouTube page. So all of our chats from 2016 has been pushed over to our YouTube Wednesday night OWCP chats with Chris and Jeannie. If you don't, now I remember what I was going to say. If you don't click the follow button on here, or you don't click the subscribe button on YouTube, you won't know when we go live. We get people that come to the Wednesday night OWCP chats page, then goes to Messenger and says, I can't find the page, and I can't find your live. You're here, you're on the page in order to message me. Click the follow button, and then you'll get all the notifications, all of our posts about where we're going to be. If you want us to put it on your union Facebook page, just invite us on as just like for us to join your page or just send me a message and let me know.

SPEAKER_02 45:44

That's right. Jack, I'll I'll call you tomorrow.

SPEAKER_01 45:46

Yeah. Maria. Oh, I know. I thought it was Tuesday when I woke up this morning. I had to think about what day it was too, Maria.

SPEAKER_02 45:53

On a lot of they say P1. I'm not 100% sure what that means, but Maria is definitely a P1.

SPEAKER_01 45:58

But what is it?

SPEAKER_02 46:00

It's like she's been here since day one.

SPEAKER_01 46:01

Oh, yeah. There's some longtime folks on here some from 2016. But again, if you are looking to get union shirts made or business shirts made or whatever shirts made or call the design lab. Any, I'm telling you, anything you want, Brian can design it.

SPEAKER_02 46:19

At 904, not 940-683-1482. Brian's a good friend and he does great work. Like fantastic freaking work. Okay. So 904-683-1482.

SPEAKER_01 46:33

Yep. Ask for Brian. He's cool. Jennifer just put our YouTube page down there. So those of you that have friends, coworkers that don't want to be on social media, you don't have to. You can go to YouTube. This is why we did that. And you can follow us there. But again, click the follow button, tell your friends. And when you're tagging your friends on this page on Wednesday nights, you must do the at sign at you know at Chris Helms. And it has to turn blue on your end. And then that's how they're going to know. Other than that, if you just type their name in, they're never going to see it. So just letting you know.

SPEAKER_02 47:08

Let people know. Our goal is to help as many people as possible, but we need you to share it so we can help more people.

SPEAKER_01 47:14

Joe said, Welcome home, Chris and Jeannie. Thank you, Joe.

SPEAKER_02 47:18

All right. Hey, that was it. That's Wednesday night, OWCB chats with Chris and Jeannie. We talked to you about the CA1. You got a lot of inside information that you'll never hear anybody else teach about, I assure you, because I know everyone else that teaches this. Tell your friends to come back here next week and we will have another topic and teach you about that.

SPEAKER_01 47:36

Probably next week, we're probably going to talk about the CA2 and then the CA 16. So the CA16 is something a lot of you don't know about. I don't think we'll do that. Why?

SPEAKER_02 47:47

Because they don't go together. But we will find a great topic for next week, and I'm not sure what that is yet, but I'll take your suggestions.

SPEAKER_01 47:53

Yeah. If you have any suggestions, just comment below and let us know. But more than likely, it'll be something like that.

SPEAKER_02 48:00

Dot Kelly, what's up?

SPEAKER_01 48:02

How are you? It's been forever.

SPEAKER_02 48:04

Our Florida Rule Carrier.

SPEAKER_01 48:06

Yeah, that's awesome.