Federal Employee Workers Compensation Calculator

FECA benefits for total and partial disability

For total disability, the regulation reads: “Compensation for total disability is payable at the rate of 66 2/3 percent of the pay rate if the employee has no dependents, or 75 percent of the pay rate if the employee has at least one dependent.” (20 C.F.R. § 10.401(b))

For partial disability, where you can earn some pay: “Compensation for partial disability is payable as a percentage of the difference between the employee's pay rate for compensation purposes and the employee's wage-earning capacity. The percentage is 66 2/3 percent of this difference if the employee has no dependents, or 75 percent of this difference if the employee has at least one dependent.” (20 C.F.R. § 10.403(b))

Who counts as a dependent: “Dependents include a wife or husband; an unmarried child under 18 years of age; an unmarried child over 18 who is incapable of self-support; a student, until he or she reaches 23 years of age or completes four years of school beyond the high school level; or a wholly dependent parent.” (20 C.F.R. § 10.405(a))

When the payments begin: “Compensation is payable when an employee starts to lose pay if the injury causes permanent disability or if pay loss continues for more than 14 calendar days. Otherwise, compensation is payable on the fourth day after pay stops pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 8117(a).” (20 C.F.R. § 10.401(a))

The calculator above applies those two rates to the pay rate you enter, or for partial disability to the difference between it and the wage-earning capacity you enter. OWCP decides both figures for a real claim.

The maximum and minimum compensation

The regulation caps the payment: “Compensation for total or partial disability may not exceed 75 percent of the basic monthly pay of the highest step of grade 15 of the General Schedule. (Basic monthly pay does not include locality adjustments.)” (20 C.F.R. § 10.406(a))

And sets a floor for total disability: “Compensation for total disability may not be less than 75 percent of the basic monthly pay of the first step of grade 2 of the General Schedule or actual pay, whichever is less.” (20 C.F.R. § 10.406(b))

Both turn on the General Schedule pay table for the year, which changes, so the calculator does not apply them. If the figure it shows is near either limit, the limit may decide the payment.

Continuation of pay after a traumatic injury

For a traumatic injury, the regulation puts continuation of pay before compensation: “the employer must continue the employee's regular pay during any periods of resulting disability, up to a maximum of 45 calendar days. This is called continuation of pay, or COP.” (20 C.F.R. § 10.200(a))

To be eligible, a person must, among other conditions the regulation lists, “(2) File Form CA-1 within 30 days of the date of the injury (but if that form is not available, using another form would not alone preclude receipt); and (3) Begin losing time from work due to the traumatic injury within 45 days of the injury.” (20 C.F.R. § 10.205(a))

Continuation of pay is the employer's regular pay, not compensation, and the calculator does not compute it. Wage-loss compensation is what follows it.

OWCP workers compensation claims and deadlines

Notice comes first. The regulation says: “To claim benefits under the FECA, an employee who sustains a work-related traumatic injury must give notice of the injury in writing on Form CA-1,” (20 C.F.R. § 10.100(a)) The Act says a notice of injury or death shall “(a) be given within 30 days after the injury or death;” (5 U.S.C. § 8119(a))

The claim itself: “An original claim for compensation for disability or death must be filed within 3 years after the injury or death.” (5 U.S.C. § 8122(a)) A claim after that can still be allowed in two cases the Act names: where “(1) the immediate superior had actual knowledge of the injury or death within 30 days. The knowledge must be such to put the immediate superior reasonably on notice of an on-the-job injury or death; or” (5 U.S.C. § 8122(a)(1)), or where “(2) written notice of injury or death as specified in section 8119 of this title was given within 30 days.” (5 U.S.C. § 8122(a)(2))

For an injury that shows up later: “In a case of latent disability, the time for filing claim does not begin to run until the employee has a compensable disability and is aware, or by the exercise of reasonable diligence should have been aware, of the causal relationship of the compensable disability to his employment.” (5 U.S.C. § 8122(b))

For a minor, the time limits do not “(1) begin to run against a minor until he reaches 21 years of age or has had a legal representative appointed;” (5 U.S.C. § 8122(d)(1))

For wage loss after continuation of pay, the regulation on Form CA-7 says: “The form should be completed as soon as possible, but no more than 14 calendar days after the date pay stops due to the injury or disease.” (20 C.F.R. § 10.102(a)(2))

The 30-day notice and the continuation-of-pay conditions are the shortest clocks here. Give written notice to your supervisor as soon as you can, and keep a copy.

Suing the federal government for a work injury

The Act makes its compensation the federal employee's remedy against the government: “The liability of the United States or an instrumentality thereof under this subchapter or any extension thereof with respect to the injury or death of an employee is exclusive and instead of all other liability of the United States or the instrumentality to the employee, his legal representative, spouse, dependents, next of kin, and any other person otherwise entitled to recover damages from the United States or the instrumentality because of the injury or death in a direct judicial proceeding, in a civil action, or in admiralty, or by an administrative or judicial proceeding under a workmen's compensation statute or under a Federal tort liability statute.” (5 U.S.C. § 8116(c))

So the claim against the government for the injury is the FECA claim. A claim against someone other than the government is different, and the next section says what the Act requires from its recovery.

A claim against someone other than the government

If someone else is liable for the injury, for example the driver of another vehicle, a recovery from them is adjusted against FECA benefits. Section 8132 says that from a suit or settlement, “the beneficiary, after deducting therefrom the costs of suit and a reasonable attorney's fee, shall refund to the United States the amount of continuation of pay or compensation paid by the United States and credit any surplus on future payments of compensation payable to him for the same injury.” (5 U.S.C. § 8132)

The same section protects part of the recovery: “However, the beneficiary is entitled to retain, as a minimum, at least one-fifth of the net amount of the money or other property remaining after the expenses of a suit or settlement have been deducted;” (5 U.S.C. § 8132)

This site's other calculators estimate an injury claim against someone else; the refund the Act requires comes out of that recovery, and none of the calculators computes it.

What this calculator does not do

It does not decide a claim, a pay rate or a wage-earning capacity, which OWCP decides. It does not apply the maximum or minimum, compute continuation of pay, a schedule award for the loss of a body part, death benefits or a cost-of-living adjustment.

It applies the rates quoted on this page, from the Department of Labor's regulations as the eCFR printed them up to date as of October 1, 2026, and the deadlines from the 2024 edition of the United States Code. A later change to either is not reflected until this page is updated.