The National Defense Authorization Act
for Fiscal Year 2008, Public Law 110-181, was enacted on January
28, 2008. Section 1105 of P.L. 110-181 amended the Federal
Employees Compensation Act (FECA) creating a new section 8102a
effective upon enactment. This section establishes a new FECA death
gratuity benefit of up to $100,000 for eligible beneficiaries of
federal employees and Non-Appropriated Fund Instrumentality (NAFI)
employees who die from injuries incurred in connection with service
with an Armed Force in a contingency operation. Section 8102a also
permits agencies to authorize retroactive payment of the death
gratuity for employees who died on or after October 7, 2001, in
service with an Armed Force in the theater of operations of
Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. To help it
exercise its responsibility to administer this benefit, the Office
of Workers Compensation Programs (OWCP) has promulgated an interim
final rule. The statute and regulations allow for employees to vary
the statutory order of precedence for beneficiaries and to
designate alternative recipients of this benefit. Form CA-40
requests the information necessary from the employee to accomplish
this variance. Form CA-41 provides the means for those named
beneficiaries and possible recipients to file claims for those
benefits and requests information from such claimants so that OWCP
may determine their eligibility for payment. Further, the statute
and regulations require agencies to notify OWCP immediately upon
the death of a covered employee. CA-42 provides the means to
accomplish this notification and requests information necessary to
administer any claim for benefits resulting from such a
death.
In accordance with 5 CFR
1320.13, emergency processing of this collection is requested and
is essential to the mission of the agency; the agency cannot
reasonably comply with the normal clearance procedures under this
Part because the use of normal clearance procedures is reasonably
likely to prevent or disrupt the collection of information or is
reasonably likely to cause a statutory deadline to be missed. The
agency has taken all practicable steps to consult with interested
agencies and members of the public to minimize the burden of the
collection of this information. Under 5 CFR 1320.13, it is
requested that this collection be submitted and approved on an
emergency basis. Under the National Defense Authorization Act for
FY2008, an amendment to the FECA allows for immediate death
gratuity payments to eligible survivors of Federal employees and
employees of nonappropriated funded instrumentalities (NAFI) who
die of injuries sustained in connection with the employee's service
with an Armed Force serving in a contingency operation. While the
Public Law became effective January 28, 2008, it also provides a
provision in which a death gratuity may also be paid to eligible
survivors of employees from certain agencies who died on or after
October 7, 2001, due to injuries incurred in connection with the
service of an Armed Force in the theatre of operations of Operation
Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. The OWCP FECA has
been delegated the authority to administer the adjudication of
claims and payment of the death gratuity under new section 5 U.S.C.
8102a, and has initiated a new collection with 3 distinct forms to
meet stature requirements. Because of the immediate and retroactive
provisions of this Law, the Agency requests that an immediate
review and authorization of this collection be approved for 180
days to implement section 8102a. The agency will subsequently
follow up with normal processing procedures to allow for the
routine three year extension of this collection.
PL:
Pub.L. 110 - 181 1105 Name of Law: National Defense
Authorization Act
US Code: 5
USC 8102a Name of Law: Amendment to the FECA, Death
Gratuity
This is a new collection
request. There are minimal expense associated with the annual cost
burden. The CA-40 is a beneficiary designation and maintained by
the employing agency; in the event a claim is file for benefits by
a designated beneficiary, a CA-41 is used and based on the
anticipated number of respondents (25) x mailing and envelope costs
(.47 cents), the annual cost burden is only $12.00. There is no
cost to the public as the CA-42 is filed by the employing
agency.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.
Form ca-42 Death Gratuity Official Notice of Employees' Death
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR 1215-AB66 Emergency Submission.doc
2009 opm salary table (4).pdf
Death Gratuity Official Notice of Employees' Death