TIP OF THE WEEK - December 2, 2013TIP OF THE WEEK - December 2, 2013

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Do you have questions about OWCP Deductions for FEDVIP?

Overview:

2If you have a question or topic for Tip of the Week, contact your District 6 Liaison, Jacksonville, FL

Effective the beginning of 2007, employees, retirees and compensationers were able to elect Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program (FEDVIP), if elected during designated open seasons. Deductions are made from employee pay checks and retiree annuity checks. However, the process for those individuals in receipt of benefits under the Federal Employees‘ Compensation Act (FECA) is more complicated.

There is no place on Form CA-7, the form used for claiming FECA benefits for a disabled employee, to show that the employee has Vision and/or Dental Insurance; only FEHB and FEGLI codes are requested. For Vision and Dental Insurance, the Vision and Dental office at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) should be notified (the customer service representatives for FEDVIP are at 877 888-3337) that the employee is in receipt of FECA benefits. When that is done, OPM will notify OWCP's National Office in Washington, D.C. of the correct deduction amount, and OWCP then will begin to make deductions.

How it works:

3If you have a question or topic for Tip of the Week, contact your District 6 Liaison, Jacksonville, FL

This is a multi-step process to make vision and dental deductions, so at present OWCP is only deducting vision and dental premiums on those FECA recipients on the periodic and death rolls where OPM has been notified of their coverage. FEGLI and FEHB deductions will continue on a Daily Roll (DR) claimant if that claimant is on compensation, but if a FECA recipient does not have a status code of Periodic Roll (PR), Periodic Roll - No Wage Earning Capacity (PN), Periodic Roll - Partial Wage Earning Capacity (PW) or Death (DE), then vision and dental deductions will not be made. If a claimant is on the supplemental or daily roll, they are expected to return to work at some point in the not-too-distant future, and no deductions for vision and dental will be made. (By the time the OPM is notified, OPM notifies OWCP's National Office, and deductions begin, the employee more than likely will have returned to work).Reference: https://extranet.apps.cpms.osd.mil/Divisions/Benefits%20and%20Worklife/Injury%20and%20Unemployment%20Compensation%20Branch/Injury%20Compensation%20Overview/Guidance%20for%20DOD%20Deployed%20Civilians/OWCP%20Deductions%20for%20FEDVIP.aspx#