The Federal Employees’ Compensation Act (FECA)

One of the most significant employment regulations in the US is the Federal Employees Compensation Act (FECA). The Federal Employees Compensation Act (FECA), which covers a variety of federal government civilian employees, including those in the court, legislature, and executive branch, was passed into law in 1916. (Szymendera, 2017). Both full-time and part-time workers as well as federal jury members are covered by the scheme. The coverage also includes federal jurors, peace corps volunteers, state and local police officers working in a national capacity, and students enrolled in training corps classes. Strict adherence to employment laws, especially the FECA, is necessary for developing and managing an effective compensation plan. The FECA establishes a comprehensive and exclusive employees’ compensation initiative which pays for disabilities or death of federal workers caused by injuries sustained while in the line of duty. What’s more is that the law provides wage loss compensation for disability, vocational rehabilitation, schedule benefits for permanent loss and the related medical costs. Further, recent statistic shows that between 2014 and 2015, the FECA paid out over $3.1 billion in benefits with about $1.889 billion being spent on disabilities, $1.08 billion on medicals and $156 million on the survivors of federal workers killed on the job (Szymendera, 2017). Indeed, the FECA has helped countless people in their greatest time of need, and it is, for this reason, the current research focuses on this law especially its importance in creating and administering a compensation plan.

The main reason why the FECA should be considered when creating or administering a compensation plan is to avoid unnecessary litigation. According to research, there were 114 employee suits filed in 2016 with an overall monetary relief of $52.2 million ("Litigation Statistics," 2016). Employers will almost certainly incur expenses as soon as the claim is filed and thus the best way to win such lawsuit is by avoiding them altogether. Compensation programs should be consistent with existing regulations in the sectors of labor standards and relations, employment insurance and occupational health and safety.

Another reason to consider employment laws particularly the FECA is to generate guidelines for merit increases or bonuses. Merit increases are committed to retaining employees by rewarding them based on their performance achievements ("Merit Increases," n.d.). Such gains are a great way to reward the staff, but without specific guidelines of the FECA, there is no way to ensure the incentives are awarded justly. A fair compensation plan helps in recruiting and retaining talent, increasing employee morale and encouraging high performance.

The FECA also protects employers from false claims. In this regard, anyone who intentionally makes a false statement, concealment of fact, misrepresentation or any other form of fraud to obtain compensation under FECA is subject to civil remedies and felony criminal persecution. Lastly, the law helps to design sufficient compensation packages to discourage workers from returning to the job after an accident or fatal injury and creating unnecessary and burdensome expenses for federal agencies.

As can be seen, one of the most important regulations to consider when dealing with federal employees is the FECA. This compensation legislation helps to avoid unnecessary litigations, generate ethical guidelines and reduce false claims. Providing nondiscriminatory, fair and sufficient staff compensation is a top concern for employers, and it is in the businesses' best interest to abide by both local and federal impartial pay compensation data.

References

Litigation Statistics. (2016). Eeoc.gov. Retrieved 7 October 2017, from https://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/statistics/enforcement/litigation.cfm

Merit Increases. Human Resource Management. Retrieved 7 October 2017, from https://humanresources.ku.edu/merit-increases

Szymendera, S. (2012). The Federal Employees’ Compensation Act (FECA): Workers’ Compensation for Federal Employees.