(Chats 7-10-19) | Federal Workers Comp: Denied Claims, Reconsiderations, and the 3-Year Filing Deadline

Welcome back to the Breaking OWCP Podcast! This week, Chris and Gini are tackling some of the most common and stressful hurdles in federal workers comp: closed claims, denied claims, and dealing with old or pre-existing injuries.

If you’ve recently received a denial letter, do not give up! Chris breaks down exactly why a denial is actually a roadmap to getting your claim approved, which appeal option you must choose, and how to prevent your claim from getting closed due to "inactivity." Plus, we bust the biggest management lie regarding filing deadlines—you have much more time than they are telling you!

In This Episode, We Cover:

• The Silver Lining of Denied Claims: Why a denial letter is actually a cheat sheet. Learn how to take the specific reason for denial directly to your doctor so they can write a targeted narrative report to fix it.
• The Only Appeal Option You Need: When you get a denial, always select "Reconsideration." Chris explains why this is the safest route and how it gives you a 12-month window to submit new medical evidence.
• Why Claims Get Closed: The #1 reason claims are shut down is inactivity (not going to the doctor or following a treatment plan). Learn how to keep your case active and how to reopen a closed claim.
• Filing Deadlines (Busting Management Lies): Did management tell you that you only have 14 or 30 days to file? Wrong. You have up to 3 years to file an injury claim (CA-1 or CA-2).
• Pre-existing Conditions: Whether it's an old sports injury or a service-connected condition for veterans, learn how your claim can still be covered if your federal job exacerbates the issue.
• The CA-10 Cheat Sheet: The 5 simple steps every federal employee should follow when injured at work. Print this out and put it on your bulletin board!

Mentioned in this Episode:

• Get the latest, bite-sized OWCP rules and regulations by following Chris on Twitter: @fedinjurycenter
• Need OWCP forms like the CA-10, CA-16, or CA-17? Download them for free at [Federal Injury Centers Website].
• Next Week's Teaser: Get your pens ready! We will be doing a deep dive into the rules, laws, and regulations that management constantly breaks—and exactly what you can do about it.

Don't forget to hit SUBSCRIBE and follow the Breaking OWCP Podcast so you never miss a live chat!

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

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Welcome back to the Breaking O WCP podcast. Join Chris and Jeannie as they bring you expert advice on the 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_00 0:21

Hey, there we are.

SPEAKER_02 0:23

Hey everybody, welcome to Wednesday night OWCP Chats with Chris and Jeannie.

SPEAKER_00 0:29

I would be Chris.

SPEAKER_02 0:30

And I think I'd be Jeannie.

SPEAKER_00 0:33

How's everybody tonight? Hope we all had a happy fourth. Several of you got on Twitter. I'm proud of you.

SPEAKER_02 0:40

Yay.

SPEAKER_00 0:40

We're at 489 Twitter followers out of 2.8 million federal employees. So we're inching up there. I expect to get the 11 more tonight. You all have a responsibility. Tell 11 of your friends or 11 of you that aren't on yet.

SPEAKER_02 0:56

Don't forget to share the video on your union pages and on your personal pages if you can, because everybody, like I say every week, everyone knows a federal employee. Whether it's your mailman and any of the family and friends that are watching, you may want to post this too.

SPEAKER_00 1:13

Or your co-workers.

SPEAKER_02 1:14

You have mailmen.

SPEAKER_00 1:16

None of you works alone.

SPEAKER_02 1:17

Yeah. And so don't forget to share and follow us every week. And tonight we're going to be talking about something that's been coming up in the last two, three weeks about closed claims and denied claims and what to do and what to do if you have past injuries as well. With that said, everybody share and let's get started.

SPEAKER_00 1:41

Yeah, before I start, let me say this. Today I posted something on Twitter about temporary limited duty assignments. So what happened is we had several people from a post office here in Florida and uh Spring Hill. And so they were getting sent 56 miles away from their workstation. And wondering, is that a problem? And so what I did is I found the rule for this inside the uh the procedure manual for uh Federal Workers Comp. And I posted it on Twitter today. I'd love it if you all saw it. For those of you that matters to, go ahead and go look at it. Everybody else, I'm gonna tell you it matters to you too. Go to Twitter and take a look at that. I'll be sure and mention it at the end, but I'll give you all a chance to get on there and read it first. But definitely take a look at it. It's like everything else I do. If I put it on Twitter, it's because it's important. If it's not important, I don't put it on Twitter. I'm not wasting your time. I'll go days or weeks without posting anything. So take a look at it, it's definitely worth your time.

unknown 2:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:36

Go to at Fed Injury Center and hit the follow button.

SPEAKER_02 2:42

Follow him, people. Follow him. Okay, again, for those of you that are just hopping on, don't forget to tell follow and share the video and invite your coworkers on over. And we're gonna be talking about closed claims and denied claims and all that fun stuff. And Jenna, so you said my OWCP claim was denied today. Should I just give up at this point?

SPEAKER_00 3:05

Whoa! Everybody stop right now and never give up.

unknown 3:07

Woo!

SPEAKER_00 3:08

Never give up, ever. Never give up.

SPEAKER_02 3:10

We've been talking to a few people this week, and it's just so strange how so many people have been calling about their denied claims and everybody, the things that people are saying, and the things that the supervisors have been saying, and that doctors that don't want to help. So we're gonna get all into it tonight. Jenna, go ahead and uh pay attention. Everybody can take notes and let's get started.

SPEAKER_00 3:31

Okay, but remember, Jenna, don't give up. Definitely do not give up.

SPEAKER_02 3:36

Hey Tanya, I'm feeling 80% better. Every hurricane season I get the fibromyalgia. The barometric pressure just makes my muscles fry.

SPEAKER_00 3:46

But look at her makeup. You would never know that she felt bad. Yeah, so I'm just like to be honest with you, I put her makeup on tonight. She couldn't handle it. That's how good that looks.

SPEAKER_02 3:55

You should do makeup tutorials on YouTube. No. Makeup tutorials live with Chris Humps. Alright.

SPEAKER_00 4:02

We are off the rails.

SPEAKER_02 4:03

Alright, everybody, let's get to a hundred followers, uh, views, and let's get started.

SPEAKER_00 4:08

Alright, so what's our first topic? I forgot. It's funny, like right before we got on tonight, five minutes before I said, So what are we talking about tonight? That's a true story. What are we talking about?

SPEAKER_02 4:17

Yeah, ten. Y'all, we can't wait to see you too. Close claims and denied claims.

SPEAKER_00 4:20

Close claims and denied claims. First thing I'll tell you is a denied claim is not the end of the world. It's common. One out of 13 people who have a federal job have a denied claim or an accepted claim. One out of 13 are accepted, which means everybody else isn't. So it's basically zero. And we assume that six out of thirteen actually has an injury. So one out of six people has an accepted claim. All the rest of you don't. And so if everybody with a denied claim gave up, that would just be horrible. But we teach how to get the claim accepted even after denial. We know people that have had multiple denials that ended up with an approved claim. So never ever give up. The worst thing is for people to just throw their hands up and say forget it.

SPEAKER_01 5:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:02

We never ever throw your hands up and say forget it. So the good thing about denials, believe me, there are actually good things about denials. There's two good things that come right to mind. Thing number one is they send you a letter in the mail that specifically says why your claim was denied. So it'll say specifically your claim was denied because, and they'll give you the reason. If you circle that paragraph and take it to the doctor can write a rebuttal to the denial and fix it. And so you have to take the denial to the doctor and say, hey doc, fix it. And that's a benefit because now the doctor did his best job or worst job most of the time writing these narrative reports. But when it gets denied, they get to see how they how bad they did and where they did bad and where they went wrong, and they get to fix it. All denied claims are the fault of the doctor, okay? Unless you never went to one, then it's your fault because you didn't go to a doctor. But once you went to a doctor, the denied claim is the fault of the doctor. And it's the doctor's responsibility to fix it. So you say, hey doc, here's a paragraph that says why it's denied. Address this paragraph in a narrative report and fix it. Okay, so that's your first step with the denial is take the letter to the doctor and say, fix this, doc. The other good thing about a denial is that it comes, the back page of the denial packet is called appeal request form. And on that form, it's got options. You will ignore every option except the one that says reconsideration. Okay, you'll check reconsideration. Because in that one, two things are possible. Number one, they will accept new information from the doctor. So you're gonna take this to the doc and say, hey doc, write some new information, right? So that's the new information. But number two, you have 12 months from each denial to do that appeal if you select reconsideration. So always select reconsideration. Don't select oral hearing, don't select review of the written record, and avoid eCab unless it's a very last resort and it's not yet. And each time you get a denial, believe me, it can happen multiple times, but each time you get one, you take it back to the doctor and say, Doc, look, here's where here's why I denied it this time. Now address this, now address this, and keep sending it back as a reconsideration until they you get take away all the reasons for saying no. Okay, so that's what you do with the denial. You don't give up. You say, hey, there's an opportunity here. Now I know why they denied it and I can fix it. And that's what we do with denials. Now, closed claims, that's a different thing. You can get claims reopened. But the number one reason one gets closed, and gosh, you go through the trouble of getting it accepted, and then they close it. The number one reason they close it is because of inactivity. You're not going to the doctor, you're not following the doctor's treatment plan. They don't get any bills from the doctor over a period of time and they say, Oh, this person's better, they're back to work, or they're not going to the doctor, so they close it. Don't close your claims by not going to the doctor, right? So that's uh that's what you do there. Otherwise, if it's closed, you just call the claims examiner and find out why. And then fix it, right? Address the reason why. But almost always you can get claims reopened, so don't be alarmed. But usually most claims are closed because of inactivity on the case. What questions do we have coming in so far?

SPEAKER_02 8:17

Just everyone saying hello.

SPEAKER_00 8:19

Hello to everyone. Okay, great. No questions.

SPEAKER_02 8:24

No, there is questions at the end.

SPEAKER_00 8:26

Who's on Twitter yet? Is anybody there?

SPEAKER_02 8:29

Anybody there?

SPEAKER_00 8:30

11 more people tonight. Alright, it's your responsibility to get on Twitter. Make that happen at Fed Injury Center. Alright, so we can see questions coming in now.

SPEAKER_02 8:40

Yeah, so Thomas says, I got mine denied last week and it's complicated.

SPEAKER_00 8:44

Hey, you think it's complicated. I think it's probably something I've seen thousands of other times. If you like, scan the letter in or take a picture of it with your phone and send it to us over Facebook Messenger and let me take a look at it. And I'll tell you what's wrong with it and how to fix it.

SPEAKER_02 9:00

Let's see. Is it common for the doctor to charge a fee for writing a letter to OWCP?

SPEAKER_00 9:05

Yeah, unfortunately it is. A lot of doctors are not sure of themselves and don't know whether or not they can get a claim accepted. And or they don't want to deal with DOL, Department of Labor, as the payer or the insurance company, and so they'll tell you to pay. Hey, some of them are awesome and can write great reports, and it's a personal decision on your part of whether or not you want to pay it. But our doctors don't do that. We we just build Department of Labor.

SPEAKER_02 9:30

Alright, and Regina says, I have had my therapy and surgery approved, but denied paying me.

SPEAKER_00 9:38

Okay. So there's two different issues. The fact that your claim is approved in the first place is good, right? But denying paying you is a whole different thing. You have to fill out a CA7 form for your time away and attach documentation for why you need to be paid. So, like a CA 17 duty status report, attach that. Attach a printout of the appointments that you went to with the doctor, attach a CA20 form. All of these forms you can find on federal injurycenters.com, our website. And sometimes you've got to have the doctor write a narrative report explaining why you're off of work. Just a quick little summary of what's going on with you and why you're off of work. And then attach all that stuff and send that back in. But even when you get denied payment, they send you a letter telling you why it was denied. So if you're not sure and you want me to take a look at that letter, feel free, send it over. I'll be happy to look. What else we got?

SPEAKER_02 10:28

Hello, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Indiana, Vancouver, Washington. I have where can I find a list of doctors that accept OWCP in my area?

SPEAKER_00 10:40

Okay, so there's a couple of ways to do that. One, go to Google and search OWCP Injury Doctor in your city and state. So, like we're in Clearwater, Florida. OWCP Injury Doctor, Clearwater, Florida, right? That's your search. And any doctor that wants to be found will be found with that search. Otherwise, you've got to go to the ACS website. ACS sucks. It's so bad. But it's a portal where that has down below it has a provider search. And you can go through all the prompts there and search for a doctor in that area in your area like that. Or you can ask your co-workers where they went and had some success. Hopefully they'll want to tell you.

SPEAKER_02 11:17

Danielle says, How long does it take to get all this information? Which information, Tanyelle?

SPEAKER_00 11:24

As you Danielle, it takes a long time to get all the information. Number one, you gotta watch me and get this information. But to get the letter from the claims examiners, what I think you're talking about, there's no time frame, and so they can take as long as it takes to uh to make a decision. A lot of them are working from home sometimes, and you gotta watch the Wheel of Fortune before you can read narrative reports.

SPEAKER_02 11:43

Manny, are you saying West Palm Beach is saying hello?

SPEAKER_00 11:46

What's up, West Palm Beach?

SPEAKER_02 11:48

Hopefully that it that's what it is.

SPEAKER_00 11:50

Let me give a special hello to my niece and nephew, Paisley and Bryson Helms, watching from Princeton, Texas.

SPEAKER_02 11:57

Hey Paisley, hey Bryson, we can't wait to see you guys next week.

SPEAKER_00 12:00

They're gonna be here in a week.

SPEAKER_02 12:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:02

Playing on the beach, and hopefully all the rain's gonna be gone.

SPEAKER_02 12:04

Danielle says her CA17 and her CA 16. How long does it take to get all this information?

SPEAKER_00 12:10

Gosh, so the CA 16, as long as you report your injury within seven days, you should get your CA 16 right away. They have four hours to give it to you. And a 17, you should just get it every time you ask for it. When the doctor needs it, the supervisor's got to provide it. So those should be right away.

SPEAKER_02 12:26

Hello, mail handlers in Florida. How are you guys? Manny, West Palm Beach. Hello.

SPEAKER_00 12:31

Hey, and the specific role on the CA 16 is here. So go there and get it.

SPEAKER_02 12:38

Alright, Mammy wants to know when is it time to fill an MMI still being treated for injury that re-in that required surgery?

SPEAKER_00 12:46

Yeah, so MMI is determined by your doctor. It means maximum medical improvement. Only the medical doctor can determine that. But once you are at MMI, then the doctor has to do an impairment rating, which is an exam they do using the sixth edition to permanent impairment. And then you attach that report from the doctor to your CA7 and turn that into DOL to get paid.

SPEAKER_02 13:07

Okay, so Danielle, it's been a month and you haven't gotten this. She says she didn't get it. Can you call me tomorrow because we talk about this? You should know this a lot.

SPEAKER_00 13:16

I wish she was wearing the hashtag file agreement shirt because that's what you should do.

SPEAKER_02 13:19

Mike, you're feeling lonely in Texas.

SPEAKER_00 13:21

What's up, Mike?

SPEAKER_02 13:22

Come to Florida. Alright, let me go back on some of these questions. So again, guys, share the video. We're talking about closed and denied claims. Chris will go back over the closed and denied claims. Let me read some of these questions. I was hurt two years ago and I'm feeling pain in that area. How do I get someone to okay seeing a doctor?

SPEAKER_00 13:46

So nobody can approve you going to see a doctor. You go see a doctor. That's your choice. Yeah. So the choice of doctor is yours. You can go to the one you saw before, or you can go to a new one. But what you got to do is find out is it the same injury that's just a recurrence, which would be a CA2A, or is it something new, which would be a CA1 or two? And only your doctor can determine that by talking to you.

SPEAKER_02 14:07

Yeah. Janna said I was denied twice because GOL said the doctor didn't put a diagnosis. However, the doctor wrote a letter explaining my diagnosis and it was still denied for the same reason.

SPEAKER_00 14:18

So there are a lot of diagnoses that will be automatically denied pain. A diagnosis that means pain, they'll just deny it. So what they want is for the doctor to diagnose you with what's causing the pain and then prove it in their narrative report. Don't use pain diagnosis. Listen, all of you should read your narratives before they go to DOL. If your doctor's diagnosis is pain, give it back and say, Doc, go again. What's causing my pain?

SPEAKER_02 14:41

Yeah. Athena Franklin said thank you for all the information you two have allowed me to help to the carriers here.

SPEAKER_00 14:48

Good. That's what we want. And everyone here, that's exactly what we're talking about. Everyone share this information. It's not enough that you get on and watch and we're grateful that you do. Yeah. But we're not here just to teach you. We're here to teach you to tell others. And so we want you to teach others what you're learning. I tell everyone put a CA 10 up on your bulletin boards. Post them. And then tell three or four or five people about the CA10. Don't just post it there, and I'm going to look at it. And so thank you for telling others. We really appreciate that. It's exactly what's needed. And tell everybody to follow us on Wednesday nights and to go to Fed Injury Center.

SPEAKER_02 15:20

Yeah. Mr. Sam Hood said my claim was denied due to diagnosis by a physician assistant, so I filed for a reconsideration two months ago. Since I have a diagnosis from a specialist and cannot get any response to my OWCP on where they at where they are at with my reconsideration claim.

SPEAKER_00 15:38

Yeah, that's a really good point. Number one, the PA or nurse practitioner can't sign your documentation unless a medical doctor also signs it, or they call it a counter signature. So that was your problem. If a medical doctor would have countersigned the PA's report, you wouldn't have gotten denied for that reason. With that said, if your specialist, who I assume is an MD, sent in another report, then you've got to call your claims examiner and call them every day. Yeah. Be the squeaky will, okay? Call them every single day and find out what the heck is going on.

SPEAKER_02 16:06

Yeah. Mr. Silvas said, I'm on the second reconsideration on denial of my pain med hydrocodone. OWCP after a year, they can deny due to it becoming chronic. I am approved for the left knee surgery and upgrade for low back to aggravated. My pain doctor office seems to drag their feet. In pain, any suggestions?

SPEAKER_00 16:31

I'm not a doctor, so I can't tell your doctors what to do. What I can tell you is if it's not working, you can switch doctors. And uh, if you're if you want to switch doctors, lots of times if things aren't working, they'll just let you change. You just got to write a letter to DOL telling them you want to change doctors. Otherwise, you can ask your doctor to remove himself or herself from your case, okay? And they just write a letter explaining that they want to be removed from your claim, and then you can go find another doctor, and they will approve that letter from the doctor every time.

SPEAKER_02 17:00

Eric Wilson says, How do I get OWCP to add my left knee to my work comp case after having a total knee replacement on the right knee? I'm also going to need a revision on my right knee. I also have hips, back problems from overuse of the other knee and gait.

SPEAKER_00 17:17

Wow. You probably had your job for 20 to 30 years. So if the other stuff is a result of the original injuries, then your doctor's got to write a report that's called a consequential injury report. That's important, consequential injury. Because the doctor would be saying that this thing is would not have happened but for the other thing that did happen. Okay? And if you need to have other body parts added, then you have those added as consequential injuries, or you determine it's its own case, and you just have a new case added, maybe a new CA2 or a CA1, depending on how it happened. But lots of people have multiple injury claims going on at the same time. They don't all have to be added to the same one. You have to talk to the doctor and determine how it how and why it happened.

SPEAKER_02 17:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:58

For more information on that, feel free and give us a call. 877-787-OWCP.

SPEAKER_02 18:03

That's me.

SPEAKER_00 18:04

But not now because we're doing this.

SPEAKER_02 18:05

Yeah. Is there a time frame a doctor has to write a letter to OWCP?

SPEAKER_00 18:13

Sometimes OWCP requires things to happen in a period of time, but they'll tell you. But generally, just know that your reconsiderations have to be done in 12 months from the denial. And you want to have your doctors write their initial narratives like fast, like within 10 days. Don't let them drive their feet on that. Just tell them, doc, I need this done right away. But your benefits are being held up until the doctor gets their narrative done.

SPEAKER_02 18:33

Yes. Alright. WCP denied payment, says it wasn't authorized.

SPEAKER_00 18:40

They denied payment to the doctor and said it wasn't authorized. Well, number one, I'll tell you that when doctors get denied, that's not your problem. That's the doctor's problem. And I'm talking about a guy who works with doctors. But if they denied payment, it's because a number of things could have gone wrong. The doctor didn't pre-authorize it. Or that's probably why. Most likely that's why. But it's hard to know without seeing the explanation of benefits that they give the doctor.

SPEAKER_02 19:05

I know this live number didn't go down from 111 to 95. Folks!

SPEAKER_00 19:10

We're gonna have to start telling jokes.

SPEAKER_02 19:11

I yeah. He's a joke.

SPEAKER_00 19:14

Put some of these teenage kids in the house on it.

SPEAKER_02 19:16

Cindy, if a doctor gives a 7% disability from 2006, how does the information get attached to disability at retirement time?

SPEAKER_00 19:25

Alright, so disability and impairment ratings are two separate things. And your impairment rating gives you a percentage impairment based on the injury. Disability is something completely different that just that means you can't do that job anymore. So I need some more clarification on what exactly you're talking about.

SPEAKER_02 19:40

Yeah. Go ahead and message us on that so we can personally help you.

SPEAKER_00 19:45

Yeah, I definitely can help you at an expert level. I'm just not sure what it is you're asking.

SPEAKER_02 19:50

Hold on. Sorry, folks.

SPEAKER_00 19:51

Talk amongst yourselves. We'll be right back. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 19:54

Susie says my case has been denied, has been closed, and they have, of course, sent me home. I have been trying to contact injury comp to get the case open, but haven't been able to get through for days. Basically, they have stopped me from working because of this.

SPEAKER_00 20:10

Alright, so you have some things you can do here. If you had a claim that was accepted, okay, then they need to offer you limited duty assignment. If your claim is denied, then if you're following this, you know that you need to do a reconsideration and appeal it. As long as your claim is under appeal, it's not finished. And so they can't just kick you out of work and say it's not denied or it's not accepted claim. You know what they're doing now? We're seeing these letters where they want people to sign that their injury is not work-related. Do not sign that form. Okay, don't sign it. If you know your injury is work-related, don't sign and say it's not. Okay, it's not true. Instead, have your doctor do a better job. But show them proof that your claim is under appealing and reconsideration. And all you gotta do to do that is make a copy of your appeal request form and show it to them. And just let them know. And then get with your union. Look, we're all about union. If you can't tell, that's what we do. We love unions. We think that they are the strength behind what you do. They're always in your corner. And uh so get with them, file grievances, file EEO claims, file labor board charges. Don't get pushed around without pushing back harder.

SPEAKER_02 21:14

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 21:15

Always fight back.

SPEAKER_02 21:17

Okay, Lisa. I currently have an active OWCP case from a knee injury. Had surgery on it January 31st. I feel like I'm being rushed back to work by the orthodoctor. Have a visit next Tuesday. I don't feel at all like my knee is at 100%. Is it common for an MRI to recheck my knee and or get a second opinion from another orthopedic surgeon?

SPEAKER_00 21:42

Yeah, I know doctors that say that they can get MRIs approved once every six months if there's a good reason. So just because you've had one doesn't mean you can't have another one. And you can always go see a doctor and get another evaluation and have the doctor give an opinion about what's going on with you today versus what was happening in the past.

SPEAKER_02 21:57

Yeah. Karen says, should I have the information? From the old doctor, go to the new doctor. I would.

SPEAKER_00 22:02

Yeah, if I were the new doctor, I'd want to see what the old doctor did. It'd make my job easier. And if my job's easier, I can help you better. So always take that stuff.

SPEAKER_02 22:10

Karen says, repeat what you said about doctors not being paid. What did you say?

SPEAKER_00 22:15

Yeah, it's not your problem. So if doctors aren't getting paid, don't worry about it. Now, if they start billing you, worry about it, but they shouldn't bill you, they should bill Department of Labor. That's just how that goes. But with that said, if they're not getting paid, it's for two reasons. I didn't only said one of them before. Reason number one, your claims not accepted, so they're not going to get paid. Reason number two, they're not pre-authorizing treatment, which is by rule, they need to pre-authorize your treatment. And so if your claim's accepted, you need to ask the doc, hey, are you pre-authorizing treatment? If they're not, that's the problem. They have 12 months to bill their services to DOL, so it's probably not too late for them either.

SPEAKER_02 22:48

Yeah. Do I have to ask the doctor to remove himself? He'll probably charge me for that.

SPEAKER_00 22:55

Man, what a cowardly doctor. Alright, look, if your doctor charges you to remove him or herself from the claim, then ask yourself, what's it worth to you to get rid of that doctor? I can't tell you one way or the other. I just think that's that's cowardly. That doctor is actually, you're doing that doctor a favor. If you ask that doctor to leave you and your claim's not accepted, the next doctor gets your claim accepted, the first doctor will get their bills paid. So that doctor should let you go just to get their bills paid. Or do a better job. If they do a better job, your claim gets accepted, their bills get paid, but you're taken care of. The key is the claim has to get accepted, and then all the doctor's bills will get paid.

SPEAKER_02 23:35

Sorry, I'm reading all these things and I'm like, I feel so bad for you guys. Very bad. Mr. Alonzo said, would you consider getting an OWCP lawyer if you're doing multiple impairment ratings?

SPEAKER_00 23:47

Yeah, that might be an air. We love our OWCP lawyer. We think he's golden. But we don't recommend him right away. But that's one issue I would. If you have a lot of impairment ratings going on, you're likely going to get denied on some or all of them, and in that case, you might want the lawyer. And if that's something you're interested in, we can definitely help you find one that's good. We know a lot of them, but we only we recommend one primarily.

SPEAKER_02 24:09

Susie, you said they close your claim and the doctor's not able to get paid.

SPEAKER_00 24:14

The doctor needs to do the job to get your claim reopened, Susie. That's the doctor's job.

SPEAKER_02 24:19

If not, like when you guys are getting these denials over and your doctor is trying to figure it out, I know it's a hassle. Get another doctor. We tell you guys this all the time. Everyone complains that OWCP is such a pain in the butt. But if you get a good doctor, and when we tell you go either go to one that Chris has trained or one that we're involved with, or go on the ACS, and I tell you guys, call the billing manager and ask them, do you take federal work comp? The girls at the front desk just don't know. They think state work comp and federal work comp, it's all the same thing. Then you guys waste time going. So get a good doctor from the beginning that knows how to do this stuff. If you guys have doctors that you would like us to talk to, get them my number, give them my number and have them call me, and we will discuss this with them.

SPEAKER_00 25:03

I couldn't have said that better.

SPEAKER_02 25:05

Yeah. I have been trying to contact OWCB for two weeks. Now no answers, no callbacks, or message messages were left. What can I do?

SPEAKER_00 25:16

Keep calling. The next time you call, ask for a supervisor, ask for a senior claims examiner, supervisor. Ask for the district manager. Ask, do whatever it takes. Ask for somebody else. All these claims examiners have supervisors, and the supervisors have senior supervisors. So just know that.

SPEAKER_02 25:34

Carol, tell me how to get paid. Had T had TKR on April 9th, 2019. Went back to work on June 19th, 2019. Still haven't received a check. Calling every day. No one has called me back at all this week.

SPEAKER_00 25:49

So you had a total knee replacement, I'm assuming that's TKR. And with that, means you were off of work. If your claim was accepted and you're off of work, then you needed a CA 17 form by the doctor that took you off of work, a duty status report. Attach that duty status report to your CA 17 and turn that back in. Have your doctor write a narrative report. This is such a no-brainer, but have your doctor write a narrative report explaining why after a knee replacement you couldn't go right back to work. And then they'll pay you.

SPEAKER_02 26:15

Yeah. I know a lot of you have a lot of concerns, but let us get through the whatever what we're gonna talk about, and then we will re get to your questions. Beep beep. We'll get to your questions after. Did I say beep?

SPEAKER_00 26:30

She was so sick the last two days. And tonight it's like Jeannie on speed? I don't know she doesn't do speed.

SPEAKER_02 26:37

I don't do speed.

SPEAKER_00 26:38

Barely coffee.

SPEAKER_02 26:39

Yeah. Okay, again, don't forget to follow, share. We have 99 viewers right now. I know there's probably a couple thousand on there because this is all we could see after you guys.

SPEAKER_00 26:50

And not even 500 Twitter followers, which is really a shame because the good stuff that we talk about is on Twitter. But it's like it said fashion. But it's free from everything else. Like you go to Twitter and you have to, I really have to be careful. Like I have to think about what I'm gonna say. Because I have 139 or 40 or whatever characters, including spaces. So I've got to get to the point. So what you read from me on Twitter is quick to the point and valuable. And it will help you, and it answers every question that I've talked about so far at Fed Injury Center on Twitter. Go follow. So what's our next topic? Let's talk about another one.

SPEAKER_02 27:28

All right, so management. So, you guys, we've been talking about closed and denied claims. It's been a hot topic this entire week. So we'll come back to it again. Or if you are watching now, just hashtag replay rewind. Okay, let's go to the next topic. It says you don't understand the process of filing your claim, or you think it's a hassle when you get injured on the job. We know that it's a hassle because the supervisors management give you such a hard time.

SPEAKER_01 27:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:56

So we're gonna touch this just lightly because next week, because this has been asked over and over, we're gonna go ahead and go over the mini training that we have for supervisors, management. The last time we did it, we had 24,000 views, and we know this is a big thing.

SPEAKER_00 28:16

So tell your managers to watch next week. Yeah, they're gonna hate it.

SPEAKER_02 28:19

Yeah. But yeah, when you get injured on the job, if it happened today, you fill out a what?

SPEAKER_00 28:25

CA1.

SPEAKER_02 28:26

And if you've had it been going on for quite a while, what do you fill out?

SPEAKER_00 28:30

CA2.

SPEAKER_02 28:31

There you go.

SPEAKER_00 28:32

So And what happens if you miss your 30-day filing deadline?

SPEAKER_02 28:35

I have three years to file.

SPEAKER_00 28:37

You do have three years to file.

SPEAKER_02 28:38

You do, yes. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 28:41

She's been paying attention.

SPEAKER_02 28:43

I got a good grade on my test. She did.

SPEAKER_00 28:46

Hey, I have a test for this, and all of our staff has to take it. Nobody's heard me tell this stuff more than her, so she did really well on it. So I want to talk about this, though, that the process of filing a claim is hard and overwhelming. It's not. It's really not. No, it's not. You've got to get over the first hurdle on the CA 10. The CA 10 is what a federal employee should do when injured at work. Let me stop here and say go to federal injurycenters.com, click the tab that says OWCP forms, and you can print all the CA 10s that your heart desires. Okay? Print them all. At the bottom of it, it says post on employees bulletin board. Probably you've never seen one there unless you're one of the people that watched this and you've gone and posted it. This is for you.

SPEAKER_02 29:28

Manny, I know.

SPEAKER_00 29:31

So look, the first thing on a CA 10 says report to supervisor. Everybody knows that's a pain in the ass, okay? I'll talk about that next week when I have supervisors watching. Have your supervisors watch. But it's a pain in the ass to talk to them. But that's what you gotta do. You gotta report to them. Or to HR or injury comp or whatever, depending on your agency. But you have to report it. And you need to report your CA1 injuries right away. Everybody's saying me. This one's gonna take two hours, so CA1, CA2. Alright. Either way, report them right away. When you wait, you start losing benefits. The first benefit you lose if you wait more than seven days is a CA 16, which pays all your medical bills for 60 days. So your claims aren't getting accepted, anyways. Almost everybody gets their claims denied. And so the first 60 days, they pay your bills no matter what if you get one of these forms. So make that happen. If you want to know the rules on how to get that within four hours of your request, you know where to go. Okay? Go there and get your CA 16. It also says you can choose your own doctor. The next thing is you can choose your own doctor. Alright, they can't choose it for you. They can't get mad at you because you picked a doctor they didn't like. It's none of their business what doctor you pick. Their job is to get the heck out of the way and let you do what you want. So pick your doctor. The third thing says fill out a CA1 or two. The fourth thing says get your notice of receipt or receipt of notice. And the fifth thing says decide how you want to get paid. But all that happens in one setting. It's so easy. You don't stand up until it's done, okay? So it's not overwhelming. Just get a CA10 form and go through the steps. I just went, I told you all five steps right now. It was so easy, okay? So all of you can do it. I want you all to get a CA10, go through it. You don't have to memorize it word for word, but just understand what each section means. There's only five sections. And then post on your bulletin boards and tell everybody that works with you to look at it. Okay, help people. Help people with this. And if anybody wants quite or has questions, you can post something about us. Write federalentrycenters.com on the top of it or something. Or write our 877 number, 877-787-OWCP. They can always call us and we'll tell them what this stuff means. We'll help anybody anytime, okay, with anything related to OWCP.

SPEAKER_02 31:55

Alright, I know I I said we were going to talk about is management telling you things that are untrue. So we've been hearing that you guys are asking management, you guys are asking HR, and then you guys call me and Chris and I say something else, and you're like, I don't know. You know what? It's completely understandable that you guys, no, no, that you guys will think that they're telling you the truth and we are not. However, they're not telling you the truth.

SPEAKER_00 32:22

Maybe they don't know.

SPEAKER_02 32:23

And it's a bunch of stuff. They don't know, they have no clue what the heck OWCP is all about. They used to be a cashier and now they all of a sudden became a supervisor.

SPEAKER_00 32:34

No offense to cashiers. Hey, no offense.

SPEAKER_02 32:37

But you don't know, and when your people get injured, you don't know what to do. So when you call us and we tell you what to do, and management says, no, you have only 30 days to follow your injury, and I tell you you have three years, and then you're like, I don't know. Please take our advice because we know the process.

SPEAKER_00 32:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:55

We really do.

SPEAKER_00 32:56

You can have your manager write down the stuff that they're telling you that's not true, and then water it up really tight and just practice with the trash can. That's what it's good for. If I tell you to do something, that's what you do. Don't listen to anybody else except her. You can listen to her. And uh nobody else, because we're telling you what's going on. But management's gonna tell you things that aren't true all the time. And sometimes it's because they don't know any better, they don't, it's not like they have malicious intent, but a lot of them do have malicious intent, or they got bad information, or they read half of the regulation and left out the other half. Like we got managers sending people 56 miles for a temporary limited duty. Yeah, the deal is it's gotta be close to your home within 50 miles. And I posted that today right here.

SPEAKER_02 33:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:38

And if you care about that and you don't want to drive a ridiculous distance for a limited duty assignment, go here and check this out.

SPEAKER_02 33:45

Yeah, so again, when management's telling you something and you just want to ask, just to make sure, or even HR, look, we know HR is up there, but HR is not handling your OWCP injury, and they may not even know what the heck it is.

SPEAKER_00 33:58

They're looking out for the company, that's their job.

SPEAKER_02 33:59

Yeah. So if you're unsure and you feel like everyone's telling you different things, shoot us a message on Facebook, email, myself, or on this page, and we'll answer, we'll tell you the truth. Why wouldn't we tell you the truth?

SPEAKER_00 34:16

And yes, I always tell you the right thing every time.

SPEAKER_02 34:18

And yes, you can go to another state if you live in Florida. I can go to Georgia, Alabama, wherever to see another federal.

SPEAKER_00 34:28

Now they might not pay your travel.

SPEAKER_02 34:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:30

They might not reimburse you for travel, but what would you like? To be reimbursed for travel or to get your claim accepted? I'd like both, but if you have to pick one, get your claim accepted.

SPEAKER_02 34:40

Cindy, will you be able to get a list of trained doctors that you two have trained, like in Arkansas and Oklahoma? Unfortunately, we have no doctors that we've trained in those two states.

SPEAKER_00 34:51

Not yet, sorry.

SPEAKER_02 34:52

So you definitely will have to go on the ACS website, which is a pain in the butt, but that's your only option right now. You could find out where your neighboring cities are and see if that's it. Again, at the end of this, I'll go ahead and host all the doctors that we have for federal injury centers and the ones that Chris has trained nationwide.

SPEAKER_00 35:12

I'm gonna go ahead and just say it real quick and see if check me, because I might miss them. There's a few. I've trained doctors. I'm gonna go from left to right on the map. I'm looking west to east. Wisconsin, Arizona.

SPEAKER_02 35:24

You went from up to left that way.

SPEAKER_00 35:27

Whatever. Wisconsin, Arizona.

SPEAKER_02 35:29

Texas.

SPEAKER_00 35:30

Texas. I've trained in Chicago, Illinois, Indianapolis, Indiana. Highly recommended all of those. North Carolina, Florida, and Florida. Massachusetts, three times. Where else?

SPEAKER_02 35:44

Rockville, Maryland.

SPEAKER_00 35:45

Maryland. That was our first one.

SPEAKER_02 35:47

Vienna.

SPEAKER_00 35:48

Yes, Virginia. Virginia. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 35:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:52

Good. Lots of places, and some of these are convenient. I'm from Texas, and so Texas. And every place is far. Okay, every place. If I'm gonna I live in Dallas area. If I want to go to Houston, it's like a four-hour drive. But from here in Clearwater, if you want to go to Miami, it's a four-hour drive. That's just how it goes. Sometimes a four-hour drive to me is not that big of a deal. To you, it might seem like it, but once you get there and your claims accepted, man, it's like life-changing. It might be a good deal for you.

SPEAKER_02 36:17

Here's what I can tell you. I know a lot of you are asking about Washington and Oklahoma. Oklahoma, there's Dr. Ellis.

SPEAKER_00 36:23

Yeah, I didn't train Dr. Ellis, but Dr. Ellis knows the stuff.

SPEAKER_02 36:26

Yeah. We will be coming to Ohio and Hucky that we know of so far. Those of you that live in Rhode Island and Connecticut, just go up to Massachusetts. Go see us over in the Boston area. And we're actually going to be there in Boston probably September.

SPEAKER_00 36:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:44

So we're going to do a Facebook Live live in one of our offices.

SPEAKER_00 36:47

I expect to see everybody from the Massachusetts area from that area of New England in our office when we're there. We'll give you more information as uh as it comes. But I'd like to have a full house and do this actually live. I like doing it that way.

SPEAKER_02 36:59

Can I go doctor shopping for them to contact you in Oklahoma? Yes, you can. Give them my phone number and I'll get on the phone and I'll get the we have one of our partners named Joe who does all of the talking to the doctors, and I'll get on the phone with them and coordinate a call. And then we have this one president guy named Chris Helms that'll just okay everything and boom, we'll get some training done.

SPEAKER_00 37:23

I say yes to any doctor who doesn't think money first and who can passionately put everything he's got into help or she into getting her claims accepted. That matters a lot to me. If their first question is how much money can I make, I'm probably out.

SPEAKER_02 37:37

Yeah, Oklahoma, Dr. Ellis is in Oklahoma City. Oklahoma City.

SPEAKER_00 37:42

He's spectacular. Look, he's rough. I wouldn't want to mess with him, but he knows how to do this thing.

SPEAKER_02 37:46

There are no doctors in Michigan. Everyone from Michigan, no joke, drive to Indianapolis to see Dr. Toll. And Indianapolis is the only DOL doctor by Dr. Toll there.

SPEAKER_00 37:56

He's the only doctor in the state.

SPEAKER_02 37:57

Yeah. Hey, Mr. Taylor. Arizona, it's in Tucson. Dr. Drew Heaton and husband, Dr. Heaton.

SPEAKER_00 38:05

Dr. David Heaton and his wife Drew.

SPEAKER_02 38:07

David, I never know. Yeah. Okay. Chicago's on. Mr. Hodge, we are coming to Ohio. Yes. Look out for us probably in the mid of next year.

SPEAKER_00 38:17

Whatever you've got going on there right now, it's about to get better.

SPEAKER_02 38:19

Train doctors in Washington. If you have a doctor in Washington that you want us to train that's interested in the program, let give them my number. Everybody give them uh my phone number. I think you guys, it's funny, you guys are misunderstanding that there's a process into the whole getting a doctor. So understand it's just not a one, two, three. A doctor says yes. So there's much more to it.

SPEAKER_00 38:43

But have the doctor contact me and we will but the good news is I now have staff to go train doctors, so I don't have to do it myself. I actually love to do it, but I'm one guy, okay? So I've hired some people that can go do that and and help us out. And so if we can find willing doctors that have the right attitude, the right goal in mind, we could probably get that done pretty effectively now.

SPEAKER_02 39:03

Yes, Kentucky, we will come sometime next year. We are that's it's a definite, we are coming, I think, to Lexington. Yeah, Lexington's our Louisville.

SPEAKER_00 39:12

Well, our goal is Lexington.

SPEAKER_02 39:14

Lexington. Pittsburgh, we are trying to look for a doctor that actually wants to do this in Pennsylvania. So again, if you know a doctor, they will be coming to Kentucky. Yes. Mike is my uh mimic. Uh all right, so let's get on to the next thing. Have you been suffering from old injuries and don't know what to do? What can we do?

SPEAKER_00 39:40

Alright, look, there's a couple of things here. One is uh you have three years to report your injuries, whether it's a CA1 or a CA2. So if you've been dealing with something for a few years, it's probably not too late. So know that. Your deadline is three years. If it's a CA2 claim, like something that built up over time, you have three years from the date you knew that was work related. Okay, so if you just figured out today it was work-related, you have three more years from now. That's just an example, but whatever that is. And from every CA1 claim, an injury that happens in a single shift, you have three years from then. Why do they do that? I don't know, but I assume it's because there's so few doctors that do this that they give you a chance to report your injuries later on if you finally find someone like our doctors that know what they're doing and they're getting this done. But the other thing is like pre-existing conditions. You can have something that happened before your job, before you got your federal job, and then this job exacerbates that condition, okay, or inflames it, or there's a few definitions, but mainly if it gets worse because of the job, then it can still be covered. It doesn't matter how old it is. The beautiful thing about like the VA and the Postal Service, to name two, and the biggest two, I think, is that they hire a lot of veterans, and uh which I personally love. And but a lot of veterans they show up with pre-existing conditions, and that's okay, because if your job worsens that condition, then that worsening can be covered by OWCP. Don't just throw your hands up and say, I'm just screwed, because you're not. They hired you with that, and they gotta deal with it if the job makes it worse.

SPEAKER_02 41:12

Yeah. Let me clear something up for you guys. We did have a clinic in Atlanta and in Memphis, and we no longer have those clinics.

SPEAKER_00 41:23

It just didn't work out, but the doctors are still there, it just didn't work out for us. And I'll tell you, and this is a lesson for everybody asking us to come into an area and then nobody showing up to get help, that's hard because these doctors that we work with, they're running a business, and they can't operate a business if no patients show up to get help. And so that happened in a couple of areas, and it's unfortunate. But that's why we're really we gotta be careful about where we go because there's a couple of you that want the help, but the doctors, in order to make a viable business, need to be able to help a lot of people. And the way I train them, the help is as good as it gets, but it's just it's hard. There's a lot of things that happen. I don't really if I go into all the things that happen, I'm gonna be talking bad about people and I would do that. But yeah, uh those areas just didn't work out for us.

SPEAKER_02 42:08

Yeah, Mr. Silvas, you asked about training for the military. Yeah, don't come to Texas and train.

SPEAKER_00 42:15

We train civilian employees on bases anytime.

SPEAKER_02 42:18

I've never been to San Antonio.

SPEAKER_00 42:20

I have, I live in Texas.

SPEAKER_02 42:22

You don't take me to San Antonio. Okay, that's sad. But we will come if you want us to. Chris lives in Dallas, so it's not what is it, a hop skip into it real quick ride?

SPEAKER_00 42:32

It's a short five-hour drive.

SPEAKER_02 42:34

Oh, I could drive that. Tammy, and I know you said I sounded like a commercial, that was the whole thing. So, guys, tonight, oh, if you're asking how can you send me a private message, if you go into the Wednesday night chats, there's a part there that says uh set send a message, and you just send the message there, or you can message me on just the regular Facebook on my Facebook on Sorogeny. You can send me a message there or Chris Helms. And that's how you say my name. A lot of you don't I always ask how you say my name.

SPEAKER_00 43:10

It took me a minute to figure it out, too.

SPEAKER_02 43:12

It's Sirogenie.

SPEAKER_00 43:14

Don't feel bad. That's why we call her Jeannie.

SPEAKER_02 43:16

I've been going by Jeannie since the sixth grade.

SPEAKER_00 43:18

Even her email address is Jeannie, and she said that up herself.

SPEAKER_02 43:21

Yeah. So uh let's see. So the if you want us to come train, we're gonna start again as of August. We're gonna start August, and this the our last cutoff date for any kind of OWCP training is November 13th. We're gonna be in Ohio with the role carriers doing their fall booster.

SPEAKER_00 43:42

Mark.

SPEAKER_02 43:42

And uh that's that's the last thing because you guys, as federal employees, especially the letter carriers nationwide, start your busy, awesome Christmas season 18 24 hours delivering packages.

SPEAKER_00 43:56

They're doing food drives. Yeah, you got a lot of stuff going on, so we want to help with that.

SPEAKER_02 44:00

Too we're involved with a lot of activities within our community with the presidents, and we do donations for turkeys and just a bunch of fun stuff, and then the kids are out of school and stuff, and we'll still be doing Wednesday night chats, but we won't be traveling as of November 13th.

SPEAKER_00 44:19

And with that in mind, listen, we've got folks in Massachusetts that want to help out in the Boston area. So for those of you that are doing your food drives and they're doing MBA drives and whatever else you got going on, please let us know. We love getting involved with that stuff. It's really a pleasure for us and an honor to be able to help out.

SPEAKER_02 44:38

You have three years to report your injury on the job.

SPEAKER_00 44:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:43

Three years. Remember, not 30 days, three years, no matter what management says to you.

SPEAKER_00 44:49

Sometimes they say 14 days. I heard somebody say you had three days. It's three years, not three days. That manager was an idiot.

SPEAKER_02 44:57

Somebody wants to know what does okay, let's do the acronym thing that I was talking about.

SPEAKER_00 45:01

You do it.

SPEAKER_02 45:02

What do we do? I felt like Sesame Street music coming in the top of my head.

SPEAKER_00 45:07

What does DOL stand for?

SPEAKER_02 45:09

DOL stands for Department of Labor.

SPEAKER_00 45:13

So Department of Labor is the agency, the federal agency that houses OWCP. Which stands for what? This one's hard for everybody.

SPEAKER_02 45:24

Office of Workers Compensation Program.

SPEAKER_00 45:28

Yes, that's exactly right. OWCP. That is federal workers comp. OWCP is what we're all talking about. And bonus question. All of this is governed by the law that's called FICA, which stands for federal employee. Yes, you're so close.

SPEAKER_02 45:47

Compensation. I just scored me a free trip.

SPEAKER_00 46:02

Why didn't we even do this part of the video?

SPEAKER_02 46:04

So that's what DOL means, that's what OWCP means, and that's what FICA means.

SPEAKER_00 46:08

So we use acronyms all the time. And I read a book once that said don't use acronyms around people that don't understand the acronyms. But we expect that you all do. Now that you don't, you do now. And if any of you wants to know something else about what I've talked about tonight or any other night, go to at Fed Injury Center on Twitter. Follow me.

SPEAKER_02 46:27

So Rhonda, you said you were disciplined because you waited a year to report a wear and tear injury. She was told she'd be written up for waiting.

SPEAKER_00 46:37

This is my favorite. Here's what you do.

SPEAKER_02 46:39

I waited hoping it would go away and heal itself.

SPEAKER_00 46:41

Contact OSHA.

SPEAKER_02 46:42

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 46:43

1-800-321-OSHA and ask them if reporting a work injury, if retaliating against you for reporting a work injury, is a violation. So I'm guessing they're going to say yes because on the OSHA website, the sixth out of nine employee rights is the right to report work injuries. And on the OSHA website, it says that it is against the law to penalize you or otherwise retaliate for filing work injuries. And if you'd like that rule in writing.

SPEAKER_02 47:15

Oh my god, I'm gonna have to repeat it.

SPEAKER_00 47:17

Go to Twitter and get at Fed Injury Center because I damn sure posted that one there. Because lots of people are being retaliated against for reporting work injuries. And so what we're doing is saying, hey, let's ask OSHA, is that a violation? 1-800-321-OSHA. Is that a violation? Ask the question. Let them decide if it is. If it is, they'll do their thing.

SPEAKER_02 47:37

And that brings up something else. You said you waited. Okay, we hear this every single day. Please, even if you wait to go to a doctor, at least report it. Get your CA1, tell somebody, and make sure it's documented. Because this is what we heard that we should train you guys. If you get injured, tell somebody. Document it so it's there, so they can't say anything. Maybe you did fall and hurt your ankle, but you don't have to because it healed. Like my son today playing basketball, messed up his ankle. He doesn't need to be on work on.

SPEAKER_00 48:12

He just needs some good Air Jordan.

SPEAKER_02 48:13

Yes, he does. So you can wait, you have three years to file, but still report it. So you have that on your record. So nobody can say anything. So the supervisor is lying to you. Point blank. You're not gonna get written up.

SPEAKER_00 48:30

No, actually, let them write you up. That'll be so great. Let them do that because they're gonna get in a lot of trouble for it.

SPEAKER_02 48:37

Okay, so you said there's no doctor, you're on OWCP, and there's no doctors even within 60 mile radius. Okay, so we have some ladies that drive 11 hours from South Carolina to our Clara Water office.

SPEAKER_00 48:55

That's a pain, but they make it a vacation.

SPEAKER_02 48:59

They spend four days here, they get their therapy, their MRIs, or whatever they need to. But I understand not everyone can do that, can afford that. So contact me, let me know what city and state you're in, and I'll just have to give you the closest city. There isn't anything else that we could do unless you go on the ACS website. And I know a lot of the doctors, we say it all the time, they don't, they're not, they're just on there because their their billing person just said A to Z, let's just get us credentialed.

SPEAKER_00 49:30

There is something else we can do.

SPEAKER_02 49:31

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 49:31

I have in the past taught you what to tell your doctors to put in your narrative report so they can get your claims accepted. If you weren't there watching it, or if you were, you can go to Twitter at Fed Injury Center. And I posted the five things that go into a doctor's narrative report. You can give that to the doctor and have them fill in the blanks. Let's see, Tom.

SPEAKER_02 49:53

Who's Tom? Let's see. Somebody said, Tom, I don't think they were trained by Fed InjuryComp, but I've used somebody orthopedics out of somewhere for two different claims now. They did an awesome job for me with DOL. Hope this helps. If you find doctors that are helping you, by all means go for it. We don't know every doctor that takes workers' cost.

SPEAKER_00 50:20

I don't require you to see a federal injury center doctor for you to get help by me or her. We want you to find good doctors that will get your claims accepted. If you've got a doctor close to you, by all means go to that doctor. The choice of doctor is yours. I can't tell you what doctor to go to. Your supervisors can't. Nobody can. If you find one that's good, pass it up, pass it on. Spread the word.

SPEAKER_02 50:40

You want to know how you get OWCP to approve you for seeing another doctor out of state?

SPEAKER_00 50:45

That doesn't matter. Where the doctor is is irrelevant. Okay, if you're in Florida, you can go find a doctor in Alaska if you want to. The key is going. If you need to change treating positions, request it. If you need your doctor to relieve themselves from your case, ask them to request it. Do that in writing. And then you can choose your own doctor. They're going to question you and say, why are you going to a doctor in Alaska when you're all the way in Florida? Well, because I want my claim accepted. And that's it. Now they're not going to pay your travel, but they will consider the doctor's narrative report.

SPEAKER_02 51:14

I'll go ahead and list Dr. Ellis' address. And yes, he does do impairment ratings as well.

SPEAKER_00 51:19

It's ellisclinic.com.

SPEAKER_02 51:21

Yeah, just go to ellisclinic.com. And yes, you can also go on the OSHA website and file a complaint as well. Tammy, you are correct.

SPEAKER_00 51:29

Yeah, once you get to OSHA.gov, you go down and just there's a place. File a complaint. It's easy.

SPEAKER_02 51:34

Yes. So I recommend it.

SPEAKER_00 51:36

You know what else I recommend? We haven't talked much about this.

SPEAKER_02 51:38

What?

SPEAKER_00 51:39

I recommend when your supervisors try to give you a hard time and they violate the contract with a union or they go against the laws or the rules, you file a grievance. File a big fat grievance.

SPEAKER_02 51:49

Hashtag file grievance.

SPEAKER_00 51:50

I want to file grievances. I would file a grievance right now on somebody if I could, but I'm not in a federal agency or with a union. But file a grievance. Don't let them get away with that crap.

SPEAKER_02 52:00

Yeah, we listen. Next week is going to be really awesome. So make sure you tell your coworkers from tonight.

SPEAKER_00 52:07

And your supervisors.

SPEAKER_02 52:08

Spread the word. We are going to hash it out again about all the rules, the laws, the CFR codes, about what the supervisors are not allowed to do, the fines, the penalties that come with.

SPEAKER_00 52:22

Sometimes they want to spar with us, too, don't they? The supervisors. They want to come on here and they want to spar a little bit. They want to pull the gloves out. That's fine. I got my UFC gloves on.

SPEAKER_02 52:31

Where can I find the information that tells me how long I have to file a CA1? Oh, Twitter. The code is on the Twitter.

SPEAKER_00 52:42

I found two laws, one in the Code of Federal Regulations and one in the U.S. Code. It's super valuable. I'm not, look, I'm playing around, of course, but dead serious. You gotta all be on Twitter. I'm not, I don't want you to follow the president or your congressperson or your favorite actor or whatever. I don't want you to follow your favorite athlete. Just follow me. And it's not because I get nothing out of it. Look, if I post something and nobody looks at it, or I post something and everybody looks at it, it's the same thing for me. Okay, I just want you to see it. So I'm posting this stuff there. That's why I keep telling everybody to go to Twitter. It's the fastest, easiest way for you to get the best information in the shortest period of time. I don't know how else to sell it.

SPEAKER_02 53:21

It says somebody saying, Mona says, Can you please post this info, please? I have been unable to work for almost two years without pay for a permanent work injury that was a that was accepted years ago. Please, I need to do I need you to do that. I have to ask a doctor to remove him or herself. I can do it on my own.

SPEAKER_00 53:41

And I have on there how to remove a doctor as well, and how to get a doctor to remove themselves.

SPEAKER_02 53:45

Karen and Mona, please message me on the Wednesday night chats to remind me. Tony. I have an approved claim. I'm back to work. When I have to take off for a medical appointment, my postmaster uses my sick leave. So now I don't have any time left for appointments.

SPEAKER_00 54:05

Oh the claim's approved?

SPEAKER_02 54:06

The claim is approved.

SPEAKER_00 54:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 54:09

Are they supposed to use sick leave for appointments? Even though my claim got approved.

SPEAKER_00 54:14

So with your claim being approved, what you should do is clock out, get a CA7 form that you can find on federal injurycenters.com. Probably a CA7A as well, a time analysis form. You can find it there as well. And you should select LWAP, Leave Without Pay, and then account for your time off the clock with LWAP. So you clock in, and when you're off the clock, you go on LWAP and you get paid there. And you turn that in every two weeks with your at each pay period, and then they pay you that way. You just have to attach documentation for why you're off of work. Like I was at the doctor, or I had a CA 17 that took me off, or whatever. Okay. But that's what you need to do. If you use sick time, now you can you can consider doing leave buyback. Get a CA7B and just fill it out and see if it makes sense for you.

SPEAKER_02 55:06

When you have to go to the doctor for an injury that occurred at work, are they supposed to charge you with a leave day?

SPEAKER_00 55:14

So if it happened in a single shift and you reported your injury within 30 days, then you can take continuation of pay, COP, and they should just pay you with COP. You would have had to elect that on your CA1 form in box 15.

SPEAKER_02 55:30

Yeah. So we're gonna wrap up. I gotta get some turmeric in these arms so I don't deal with fibromyalgia. The storm is coming in tonight that we heard. Tropical storm Barry is making his way to clear water.

SPEAKER_00 55:45

They go in order of alphabet, and I'm pretty sure Tropical Storm Chris is coming soon.

SPEAKER_02 55:50

That might be a hurricane.

SPEAKER_00 55:52

It would definitely be a hurricane.

SPEAKER_02 55:54

Anyway, guys, we hope that we gave you some information tonight. If you're just catching at the very end, you can just go back and replay the video. That's why I said hashtag replay. We try to give you as much info as we possibly can each week. We will sit down in a little bit and answer the questions that we didn't answer here live. There's so many that are coming through.

SPEAKER_00 56:14

And Chris, you're awesome.

SPEAKER_02 56:16

Who?

SPEAKER_00 56:17

Chris.

SPEAKER_02 56:18

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 56:19

She's said we're awesome.

SPEAKER_02 56:21

Somebody said we were the power couple. Roar.

SPEAKER_00 56:24

She's got a lot of power. I just do this thing.

SPEAKER_02 56:26

Listen, I'm telling you, ask him. Yesterday I was crying because I was in pain. I was in that much pain. So when I have the energy to spunk up, I'm spunking up and beep beeping everywhere.

SPEAKER_00 56:36

There's a lot of spunks and beeps around here tonight.

SPEAKER_02 56:38

Yeah, fibromyalgia is no joke. Thank you so much. I just get it during the hurricane season.

SPEAKER_00 56:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 56:44

So a beep.

SPEAKER_00 56:46

It is a real pleasure to be able to teach everybody. I'm grateful that so many people got on tonight. And again, I know it looks like I'm just playing. I'm trying not to be a pain, but get on Twitter. Get on Twitter. Don't just not just you, okay? All of your co-workers. You gotta just start passing it along. Because once you get on there, you're gonna go, gosh, where's this been? I should have done this already. Chris has told me every week for the last however many weeks. Okay, it's seriously really important. I'm only posting things on there that are gonna greatly benefit you and help you especially combat your supervisors who want to give you a hard time. This will help. That's the whole purpose, okay? I'm not gonna waste your time, I promise you.

SPEAKER_02 57:25

Yeah, again, neck, like I said, next week we're gonna go over management, all the rules, the laws, and the regulations and the stuff they're not supposed to do and the lies that they're telling you.

SPEAKER_00 57:34

When we did what we're gonna do about it, what we're gonna do about it.

SPEAKER_02 57:37

The first time we did this training live to you guys, we had 24,000 views. We want to see 24,000 people every week.

SPEAKER_00 57:45

Let's get 240,000 views next week. It's gonna be a barn burner.

SPEAKER_02 57:50

Yeah, so next week, I'm telling you now, seriously, have a pen and paper because when he's going over the laws, you're gonna want to write it down.

SPEAKER_00 57:58

Your head's gonna spin. I'm serious, there's a lot of it. But in advance of that, get on Twitter and get at FedEdry Center because you'll find that a lot of those laws are there, and so you'll be able to follow along and even see it in advance if you want to look at it beforehand.

SPEAKER_02 58:10

Thank you guys. I'm gonna try to feel better. I don't take any, I take natural stuff for five of my algorithms, but I thank everybody that gave me some advice. I've been suffering with this now for maybe seven years now.

SPEAKER_00 58:22

She toughs it out, she really does. For me, I would take everything.

SPEAKER_02 58:25

And I even made dinner tonight.

SPEAKER_00 58:27

That was so good.

SPEAKER_02 58:28

Doll's kitchen. It was so good. But uh I know you guys enjoy us. We appreciate you guys trusting us. I say this to you guys every week. We really do thank you guys so much for watching us. And I know a lot of you say that you guys wish that we were on years ago, but we're here now and we're not gonna stop, and we're still gonna be out here helping you guys until they shut down all the OWCP and DOL and they're not gonna do that, take an act of Congress.

SPEAKER_00 58:55

Listen, join your union. If you're with your union already, get involved, show up, use your voice, okay? It's really important. And uh, because they're gonna be there to help you. There's a line that I can't cross over, but they're on the other side of that line. So join your union and follow me on Twitter.

SPEAKER_02 59:11

Yeah, and John Pendle. Pendle.

SPEAKER_00 59:14

What's up, John?

SPEAKER_02 59:15

He says, wait, so I have three years to file an injury.

SPEAKER_00 59:19

Okay, listen, everybody.

SPEAKER_02 59:20

Three years to file an injury.

SPEAKER_00 59:21

Hold on. Everybody that's on Twitter or Twitter, everybody that's watching this right now, I want you all to comment on John Penley's comment because he's just messing with you. John works with me up in the Massachusetts area, and he definitely knows this stuff, so he's just messing around. Everybody say hi to John, and if you're in Massachusetts, go see him.

SPEAKER_02 59:40

Yeah. And those people that are in Massachusetts, all you stewards and you union folks, your presidents, get ready because I'm coming to tackle Boston and just the entire Massachusetts with my buddy Derek out there.

SPEAKER_00 59:55

So I'm gonna go teach some stuff.

SPEAKER_02 59:56

Get ready for me to come out there and I'm from I was born in New York. I kid don't push me, you Bostonians. You're dealing with the New York and that move to Salt Lake. Well, that said, everybody, we want to say thank you again for watching. Those of you that are catching, don't forget to hashtag replay and don't forget to share and follow our videos each and every week. Tell your doctors to call me if they want to be a part of the program.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:22

Tell your friends to follow us.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:24

Have your union officials contact me if they want us to come and train you guys. It's free, it costs zero dollars.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:31

And it's a ton of fun.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:32

Yeah. And so we'll see you guys next week. Again, we're gonna be talking about supervisors, so get ready.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:38

So tell your supervisors. Have a good night. See ya.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:40

Bye.