How to Fill Out and Submit the OWCP Work Capacity Evaluation Form

The OWCP work capacity evaluation form is the medical document your treating physician completes to tell the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs what work you can and cannot do because of an accepted federal on-the-job injury. There are three versions in the OWCP-5 series, and the right one depends on your condition: OWCP-5a for psychiatric or psychological conditions, OWCP-5b for cardiovascular or pulmonary conditions, and OWCP-5c for musculoskeletal conditions.¹ The answers your doctor writes on that form drive whether your wage-loss benefits continue, get reduced, or stop, so getting it completed accurately and submitted promptly matters.

Pick the Right Form for Your Condition

There is no universal OWCP-5. The Department of Labor uses three separate forms:

OWCP-5a for psychiatric or psychological conditions such as PTSD, major depression, or anxiety disorders.
OWCP-5b for cardiovascular or pulmonary conditions such as heart disease, COPD, or occupational asthma.
OWCP-5c for musculoskeletal conditions such as herniated discs, rotator cuff tears, or knee injuries.

All three are on the Department of Labor’s FECA forms page and inside the Employees’ Compensation Operations and Management Portal (ECOMP). Your claims examiner may also send the appropriate form directly to your physician. If your claim has more than one accepted condition, say a back injury and depression, your doctor may need to complete more than one form.

What Your Physician Has to Document

A form that says “patient cannot work” without objective support tends to get bounced back. Each version asks the physician to tie a specific diagnosis to specific functional limits, backed by clinical findings or test results.

OWCP-5c (Musculoskeletal)

The OWCP-5c asks the physician to classify your overall strength level as sedentary, light, medium, heavy, or very heavy, and then rate individual activities against three frequency codes. “Occasionally” means up to one-third of the workday (about two hours and forty minutes), “frequently” means one-third to two-thirds (up to five hours and twenty minutes), and “constantly” means two-thirds or more of an eight-hour day.²

Activities the physician rates include sitting, standing, and walking; reaching, reaching above the shoulder, pushing, pulling, and twisting; lifting, bending/stooping, squatting, kneeling, and climbing; fingering (wrist movements) and handling (elbow movements); and driving both at work and commuting. For any activity involving lifting, pushing, or pulling, the doctor must specify a maximum weight in pounds. If the physician concludes you cannot perform your usual job or work a full eight-hour day, a narrative report with the medical reasons is required.²

OWCP-5a (Psychiatric or Psychological)

The OWCP-5a focuses on cognitive and behavioral capacity rather than physical strength. The physician has to say whether you can handle an eight-hour workday. If not, the form asks how many hours you can currently manage, whether those hours will gradually increase, and a projected date for reaching full-time capacity. If the doctor believes you will never reach eight hours, a narrative report with medical reasoning is required.³

The form also asks whether you can perform your usual job. If not, the physician has to identify which specific aspects of the position are problematic and describe the duties and work environments that would be suitable, plus any medical factors that need consideration when identifying an alternative position.³

OWCP-5b (Cardiovascular or Pulmonary)

The OWCP-5b addresses work tolerance for heart and lung conditions.⁴ As with the other two, the physician has to link the accepted diagnosis to specific restrictions using clinical evidence such as stress tests, pulmonary function studies, or imaging.

When a Functional Capacity Evaluation Helps

If your doctor lacks the clinical data to confidently assign specific numbers, a Functional Capacity Evaluation can supply them. An FCE is a standardized battery of tests, including grip strength, lifting tolerance, and endurance, performed by a rehabilitation specialist. OWCP’s vocational rehabilitation program may recommend or arrange an FCE when restrictions need to be established or updated.⁵ The results give your physician an objective basis for the numbers on the OWCP-5.

Fill Every Field, Explain Every Limit

Your physician fills out the form, but you have a real interest in seeing it done properly. Blank boxes get read as “no restriction,” which can lead OWCP to conclude you have more work capacity than your doctor intended. When the form asks whether you can perform your usual job, a bare “no” is not enough; the physician has to say which duties are problematic and why. For any limitation, whether a twenty-pound lifting cap or a four-hour workday, the doctor should state the medical rationale tying that restriction to the accepted diagnosis.

The physician must sign and date the form. Missing signatures and incomplete dates routinely cause rejections. Typed responses or clear handwriting prevent misreadings. If you see your doctor completing the form during an appointment, review it before it leaves the office to catch obvious omissions.

How to Submit the Completed Form

There are two submission routes.

ECOMP

The fastest option is the Employees’ Compensation Operations and Management Portal at ecomp.dol.gov. You or your physician can upload the completed form to your active FECA case through “Add Documents to Existing Case.” You will need your FECA case number and identifying information. One caveat: ECOMP accepts medical reports, but reimbursement forms like the OWCP-915 and OWCP-957 must be mailed separately, since uploading those through ECOMP delays processing.⁶

Mail

If you cannot use the portal, mail the completed form to:

U.S. Department of Labor
DFEC Central Mailroom
PO Box 8300
London, KY 40742-8300⁷

Use a method with delivery tracking. Mail is slower than ECOMP, and a lost form can create a gap in your file that interrupts payments.

What OWCP Does With the Form

A claims examiner reviews the evaluation against the rest of your medical file, looking for internal consistency between the restrictions, the diagnosis, the test results, and the treatment history. A well-supported evaluation gets used to update your work capacity status.

If the examiner finds the evaluation vague, inconsistent, or insufficient, OWCP may schedule a second opinion examination (SECOP). The SECOP physician is chosen by a medical referral group under contract with OWCP.⁸ If the SECOP physician and your treating physician disagree, OWCP is required to appoint a third, impartial referee physician to break the tie, and the referee’s opinion carries the weight of the medical evidence.⁹

How the Findings Affect Your Benefits

If the evaluation shows you can do some work but not your full pre-injury job, OWCP may issue a loss of wage-earning capacity (LWEC) determination. Under federal law, partial disability compensation equals two-thirds of the difference between your monthly pay and your monthly wage-earning capacity.¹⁰ The statute directs OWCP to consider the nature of the injury, the degree of physical impairment, your usual employment, your age, your qualifications for other work, and the availability of suitable employment.¹¹

A formal LWEC decision resets your compensation rate going forward. If your condition later worsens, you have to demonstrate a material change in your medical status to get the rating modified, which is why what your physician writes on the OWCP-5 matters so much at this stage.

Return-to-Work Job Offers

If the evidence shows you can do some level of work, your employing agency may extend a formal written job offer. A valid offer describes specific duties, physical requirements, work schedule, organizational and geographic location, the start date, a response deadline, and pay information including grade, step, and salary.¹² A position generally must involve at least four hours of work per day if you are medically capable of that. Temporary and seasonal positions are considered unsuitable unless you held that type of position when injured.¹³

Once OWCP determines an offer is suitable, you have 30 days from the notification letter to accept or explain your reasons for refusing. Accepting and working the job for 60 days or more establishes that the position fairly represents your wage-earning capacity.¹²

Refusing an Exam or Suitable Work

Skipping or obstructing an OWCP-ordered exam suspends your right to compensation for the entire period of refusal, and that lost time is deducted from the total period for which compensation is payable. Compensation does not resume until the refusal stops.⁹

Refusing suitable work is worse. A partially disabled employee who refuses to seek suitable work, or refuses or neglects to work after suitable work is offered, forfeits entitlement to compensation entirely.¹⁰ That is termination, not suspension. If you think a job offer is unsuitable, raise it inside the 30-day response window.

If OWCP Rules Against You

Three review routes are available if your benefits are reduced or terminated based on a work capacity evaluation you disagree with.

Reconsideration. Send a written request to the district office that issued the decision, with new evidence or a legal argument. No fee.
Oral hearing. Request a hearing before a representative of the Secretary of Labor within 30 days of the decision. You can present additional evidence, and the representative must notify you in writing of the decision within 30 days after the hearing ends.¹⁴
Appeal to the Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board. File within 180 days of the decision date. ECAB reviews only the evidence that was in the record at the time of OWCP’s final decision and does not accept new evidence.¹⁵

If you have new medical evidence, such as a fuller narrative from your physician or updated test results, reconsideration is usually the most direct path. If the argument is that the examiner misread the evidence already in the file, ECAB is the better fit because the Board evaluates the existing record.

When You Need a New Evaluation

The OWCP-5 is not a one-time document. OWCP can request updated medical evidence at any point during a claim. Common triggers are a worsening of the accepted condition, a change in treatment that alters your functional capacity, or the start of vocational rehabilitation where restrictions need to be established or refined.⁵ Your physician, the claims examiner, or a rehabilitation counselor can start the process.

If your condition recurs or worsens after you return to work, tell your physician promptly and ask for documentation of the change. That documentation is what supports an updated OWCP-5 showing new restrictions. Without it, your file still reflects the older evaluation, and your benefits stay at the rate those earlier findings set.

1
U.S. Department of Labor. Forms
2
U.S. Department of Labor. Work Capacity Evaluation Musculoskeletal Conditions
3
U.S. Department of Labor. Work Capacity Evaluation Psychiatric/Psychological Conditions
4
U.S. Department of Labor. Work Capacity Evaluation Cardiovascular/Pulmonary Conditions
5
U.S. Department of Labor. Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor Handbook
6
U.S. Department of Labor. Employees’ Compensation Operations and Management Portal
7
U.S. Department of Labor. Information for Injured Workers
8
U.S. Department of Labor. FECA Part 3
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 8123 – Physical Examinations
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 8106 – Partial Disability
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 8115 – Determination of Wage-Earning Capacity
12
U.S. Department of Labor. Returning Injured Workers to Suitable Employment
13
U.S. Department of Labor. Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor Handbook
14
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 8124 – Findings and Award – Hearing
15
U.S. Department of Labor. Processing an Appeal