HRM: U.S. Department of Labor Workers’ Compensation Program (Update)
On Jan. 10, 2025, the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Workers’ Compensation Program issued Federal Employee’s Compensation Act Bulletin No. 25-01 Designation of High-Risk Cancers for Federal Firefighters, to expand the list of presumptive illnesses to include additional various cancers, such as: Cervical Cancer, Uterine Cancer, Ovarian Cancer, and Basal Cell Carcinoma.
As a reminder, in December 2022, Congress passed the Fiscal Year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act. Section 5305 of that law titled “Fairness for Federal Firefighters,” identifying that certain conditions will be “presumed” to be work-related for “federal employees in fire protection activities.” More information is available on the Federal Employee’s Compensation Act Bulletin No. 23-05 and delineates certain diseases as caused by Federal firefighting activities.
NOTE: The U.S. Department of Labor receives federal funding to manage the Workers’ Compensation Program and is the only agency who has authority to approve or deny Workers’ Compensation Claims.
What is the Forest Service’s Human Resources Management liaison role for the DOL Workers' Compensation Program?
HRM has a staff of HR Specialists who serve as liaisons to assist Forest Service employees with the U.S. DOL’s Workers’ Compensation Program. These HRM specialists help current/former employees and survivors of FS employees who have passed from one of the identified presumptive illnesses to understand deadlines, letters received and share what information is needed to fill out forms. HRM is able to identify if a submitted claim is for a wildland firefighter, or from an incident, and annotate the case accordingly. When submitted, these types of claims are routed to U.S. DOL Workers’ Compensation Program for review and action by a dedicated team.
Employees are responsible for filling out required paperwork and meeting all deadlines identified by the U.S. DOL Workers’ Compensation Program.
How to file a claim
Employees who want to file a Workers’ Compensation claim for a presumptive illness will follow the normal process and submit their claims via eSafety or may call HRM’s Contact Center at 1-877-372-7248, press 2 for assistance. Below are additional resources to provide detailed information.
Additional resources
Help is available
You can contact your local Labor Relations specialist for additional information, or your union representative if you are a bargaining unit employee. Contact information for both is located on the HRM Labor Relations website.