How to Complete and Submit Form CA-2: Federal Occupational Disease Claim

To file Form CA-2, the Notice of Occupational Disease and Claim for Compensation, log in to the Employees’ Compensation Operations and Management Portal (ECOMP) at ecomp.dol.gov, complete the employee section, attach a narrative medical report from your treating physician, and submit the form to your supervisor, who forwards it to the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP).¹ If ECOMP is unavailable, you can complete the paper PDF and hand it to your supervisor. You have three years from the date you became aware your condition was work-related to file.²

Is CA-2 the Right Form for You

Form CA-2 is for occupational diseases, meaning conditions that develop from workplace exposure or activity across more than one work shift. Repetitive strain injuries, noise-induced hearing loss, respiratory disease from chemical exposure, and stress-related illnesses tied to ongoing conditions all belong on a CA-2. If your injury happened in a single shift, such as a fall or a chemical splash, you file Form CA-1 instead.¹

One consequence of that distinction matters before you file. CA-1 traumatic-injury claimants can receive up to 45 calendar days of Continuation of Pay while OWCP reviews the claim.³ CA-2 filers do not get Continuation of Pay. If you need to miss work while your claim is pending, you will use sick leave, annual leave, or leave without pay. If OWCP later accepts the claim, you can request Leave Buy Back to restore the leave you used.⁴

The Five Elements You Have to Prove

OWCP accepts a CA-2 only when the record establishes all five of these elements. You carry the burden.⁵

Timely filing within three years of the date you became aware, or reasonably should have become aware, that your condition was job-related.²
Federal employment status at the time of the exposure, as defined under 5 U.S.C. 8101(1).
An actual diagnosed medical condition, not just symptoms.
Performance of duty when the condition arose.
A causal relationship, supported by medical evidence, between specific factors of your federal job and the diagnosed condition.⁵

The fifth element is where most CA-2 claims falter. Believing your job caused the illness is not enough. Neither is showing symptoms appeared during federal service. You need a physician’s reasoned medical opinion connecting the workplace factors to the disease.

The Medical Narrative Report

Your treating physician’s narrative report is the single most important attachment. OWCP has said that reports on standard medical forms, including Form CA-20, are “rarely adequate” for occupational disease cases.⁶ The claims examiner leans on the narrative to decide the claim.

A usable report covers each of these points:

Dates of examination and treatment.
The history you gave the doctor, including the exposures and duties.
Findings on examination.
Results from diagnostic tests such as imaging, audiograms, pulmonary function studies, or lab work.
The specific diagnosis.
The course of treatment provided or recommended.
A causal opinion with medical reasoning that explains how the workplace factors caused or aggravated the diagnosed condition, not just a conclusory line saying the condition is work-related.⁶

The physician should walk through the biological mechanism. For a carpal tunnel claim, that might mean explaining how years of repetitive keyboard use produced median nerve compression, keyed to the nerve conduction study findings. Specificity moves the claim forward. Boilerplate stalls it.

OWCP publishes companion checklists for organizing your evidence. Form CA-35A is the general occupational disease checklist; Form CA-35B is tailored to hearing loss claims.⁶ They do not replace the CA-2. Reviewing the applicable checklist before submission helps you catch gaps that would otherwise draw a development letter and delay the decision.

You can file the CA-2 before the narrative is finished. In ECOMP, when the system asks whether you are submitting a medical report, enter something like “Pending medical report” and continue. Once your claim number is issued, you can upload the narrative as an attachment.⁷ The sooner it reaches OWCP, the sooner the merits review starts.

Completing the Employee Section

You can file inside ECOMP or download the PDF from the Department of Labor’s site.⁸ Electronic filing requires a free ECOMP account.⁹ Depending on your agency, ECOMP may require you to complete an OSHA-301 Injury and Illness Incident Report before allowing you to file the CA-2.¹⁰

The top of the form collects identifiers: full name, Social Security number, date of birth, home address, telephone, grade and step, and employing agency.⁸ In ECOMP, some fields pre-populate from your profile, but you still enter and confirm your Social Security number manually.⁷

The claim-defining fields come next:

Field 10, work location: the street address where you worked when the illness arose.⁸
Field 11, date of first awareness: when you first noticed something was wrong.
Field 12, date you connected the condition to work: often the date of the first medical report identifying a causal link.⁷
Nature of disease and exposure: describe the condition and the specific workplace factors you believe caused it. Name the chemicals, motions, noise levels, or equipment, and estimate exposure duration and frequency.⁶
Fields 23 and 24, treating physician: the name and full address of the doctor who first treated you, and the date of that visit.⁸
Dependent information: whether you have a spouse or dependents, which affects your compensation rate if the claim is accepted.

Write the exposure description as if the reader has never seen your workplace. “I was around chemicals” tells the examiner nothing. Something like “I operated a pneumatic drill approximately six hours per shift, five days a week, from 2018 through 2025, without hearing protection for the first three years” gives them a fact pattern they can evaluate.

The Supervisor Section and the 10-Day Deadline

Your supervisor completes the shaded portion of the form. They verify your employment status, confirm or dispute the exposures you reported, and describe the work environment. They do not need to have witnessed the exposure themselves; they review for consistency and sign under penalty of criminal prosecution for knowingly false statements.¹¹⁸

Federal regulations give the agency 10 working days from the date you submit your claim to transmit it to OWCP.¹¹ If the form is sitting on someone’s desk past that window, cite the deadline.

Submitting the Form

Electronic submission through ECOMP is the preferred route. When you file in the portal, the system routes the completed form to your supervisor. Once they finish their portion, ECOMP transmits the package to OWCP.¹ If ECOMP is unavailable, print the CA-2 PDF, complete your section by hand, and give it to your supervisor to process on paper.

What Happens After You File

OWCP assigns a nine-digit case file number once the complete package is received. Use it on all future correspondence and status checks.⁴

A claims examiner reviews the file against the five elements. Missing information, whether a vague exposure description, a thin medical narrative, or an incomplete supervisor section, triggers a development letter requesting more, and each round adds weeks. Straightforward claims with strong evidence can decide in several weeks; complex or poorly documented ones stretch to months.

If the claim is accepted, OWCP pays for medical treatment of the accepted condition and, for time missed from work because of it, wage-loss compensation at 66⅔ percent of your monthly pay with no dependents or 75 percent with at least one eligible dependent.¹² If you used sick or annual leave while the claim was pending, you can request Leave Buy Back by filing a CA-7 with box B checked in Section 2 and signing Form CA-7b after your agency completes it. Each agency sets its own rules on whether it permits Leave Buy Back and the deadline for requesting it.⁴

If Your Claim Is Denied

A denial letter includes your appeal rights.¹³ Three routes are available, and the deadlines differ:

Oral hearing before the Branch of Hearings and Review. Request it within 30 days of the decision. You can present testimony and additional evidence in person or by telephone.¹³
Review of the written record, also handled by the Branch of Hearings and Review, but decided on the paper file with your added documents and argument.
Reconsideration by the district office that issued the decision, requested within one year and supported by new evidence or legal argument not previously considered.¹⁴

You cannot request an oral hearing after the case has already been reconsidered. If you want a hearing, ask for it first.¹³

Beyond those, you can appeal to the Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board (ECAB) within 180 days of the OWCP decision.¹⁵ ECAB reviews the legal and factual basis of the decision and does not accept new evidence, which is why building a strong record at the OWCP level is worth the effort.

False Statements Carry Criminal Penalties

Knowingly making a false statement or concealing a material fact on a FECA claim is treated as perjury under federal law. If the benefits falsely obtained exceed $1,000, the offense is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine; at $1,000 or less, it is a misdemeanor carrying up to one year and a fine.¹⁶ The same warning applies to supervisors certifying their portion of the form.⁸

1
U.S. Department of Labor. Employees’ Compensation Operations and Management Portal
2
eCFR. 20 CFR 10.101 – How and When Is a Notice of Occupational Disease Filed?
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 8118 – Continuation of Pay
4
U.S. Department of Labor. Federal Employees’ Compensation Act – Frequently Asked Questions
5
eCFR. 20 CFR 10.115 – What Evidence Is Needed to Establish a Claim?
6
U.S. Department of Labor. Evidence Required in Support of a Claim for Occupational Disease
7
National Association of Letter Carriers. Filing a CA-2 in ECOMP
8
U.S. Department of Labor. Notice of Occupational Disease and Claim for Compensation
9
U.S. Department of Labor. How to File a Workers’ Compensation Claim
10
U.S. Department of Labor. How to File a Form – ECOMP
11
Defense Civilian Personnel Advisory Service. Supervisor Responsibilities – Benefits – Policy
12
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 8105 – Total Disability
13
U.S. Department of Labor. FECA PM 2-1600 – Review Process
14
eCFR. 20 CFR 10.607 – What Is the Time Limit for Requesting Reconsideration?
15
U.S. Department of Labor. ECAB – Processing an Appeal
16
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 1920 – False Statement or Fraud to Obtain Federal Employees’ Compensation