Injured on the Job?

If you are injured on the job there can be a lot of thoughts racing through your mind. This page’s job is to try and help you with the steps you need to take to cover your butt at work so you can start thinking bigger picture. When the stress of the work element is taken care of you’ll breathe a little easier.

  1. Assess your need for an ambulance. If you think you need it then call for it. Don’t hesitate to call 911 if you’re worried about cost, being a hassle to your supervisor, or any other reason you might try to talk yourself out of it. If you need assistance immediately, call the ambulance.

  2. Call your supervisor and let them know what happened immediately. They need to know you’re injured so they can get the ball rolling on their end procedurally to get you taken care of. Don’t answer any investigative questions without a steward present, they can begin the process without investigating you in a vulnerable position. You can also text from your scanner if you do not have your phone available.

  3. Visit ecomp.dol.gov to begin filing your CA-1. This form is the Federal Employee’s Notice of Traumatic Injury and Claim for Continuation of Pay/Compensation, and when you fill this out as soon as possible you lift a heavy weight off of yourself. Make sure you select “Continuation of Pay” or the Service will use your leave to pay for your absence! You definitely don’t want that. Suffice it to say that when you fill this out when the accident happens it puts the ball in management’s court to act. If you do not do this management may not act and you may get stuck with bills! Don’t let that happen to you.

    Also, you don’t need to wait to create an account. You can set up your account before you need it so all you have to do is log in and file the CA-1. Save your login info somewhere accessible, like a Google Doc or on a note on your phone.

  4. Let a steward know what’s going down. A simple text will do if you’re not up for a conversation, but letting a steward know will put that on their radar so they can follow up and keep it moving.

That is the low-down to help keep you grounded in a stressful and uncertain position. After you do that, just focus on you because the last thing you need to worry about is how you’re going to get paid while you’re incapacitated.

Be safe out there, and if you’re reading this make sure you tell a fellow carrier about this section on the site!