The OWCP impairment rating chart, set by 5 U.S.C. § 8107, assigns each body part a fixed number of weeks of compensation for total loss, and your impairment percentage multiplied by those weeks (then by your weekly pay rate) is what the schedule award pays. A 15% rating for a hand, for example, comes out to 36.6 weeks of compensation.
The Federal Compensation Schedule
Each figure below is the maximum weeks payable for total loss or complete loss of use of that body part. Partial impairment pays a proportional share.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 8107 Compensation Schedule
- Arm: 312 weeks
- Leg: 288 weeks
- Hand: 244 weeks
- Foot: 205 weeks
- Eye: 160 weeks
- Hearing in both ears: 200 weeks
- Hearing in one ear: 52 weeks
- Thumb: 75 weeks
- Index finger: 46 weeks
- Great toe: 38 weeks
- Middle finger: 30 weeks
- Ring finger: 25 weeks
- Toe (other than great toe): 16 weeks
- Little finger: 15 weeks
Several rules ride along with the chart. Losing 80% or more of the vision in one eye, or losing binocular vision, pays the same as losing the eye itself. Losing more than one segment of a finger or toe pays the same as losing the whole digit; losing just the tip pays half. An amputation above the wrist counts at the arm rate, and above the ankle at the leg rate.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 8107 Compensation Schedule
Serious disfigurement of the face, head, or neck that would hinder your ability to find or keep a job can be compensated separately, up to $3,500 on top of any other schedule award.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 8107 Compensation Schedule
What the Chart Does Not Cover
The schedule does not include every body part. Federal law defines “organ” to exclude the brain, heart, and back, so there is no schedule award for a back or spine injury on its own.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 8101 Definitions If a spinal condition leaves an arm or leg permanently impaired, though, that extremity impairment can still be rated and paid.3U.S. Department of Labor. FECA Part 2 Procedure Manual A herniated disc that causes lasting leg weakness produces a ratable leg impairment even though the disc itself is off the chart.
For other important organs not specifically listed, the Secretary of Labor may authorize up to 312 weeks per organ, but the Secretary must formally determine that the organ qualifies.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 8107 Compensation Schedule
How Your Rating Becomes a Dollar Amount
Schedule awards pay 66⅔% of your monthly pay if you have no dependents, or 75% if you have at least one dependent.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 8107 Compensation Schedule The payment compensates for the permanent physical loss itself, not for any drop in earnings, so you can collect the award even if you return to full duty at your regular salary.
The math has three inputs: the body part’s maximum weeks, your impairment percentage, and your weekly compensation rate. Say you earn $1,200 per week, have dependents, and receive a 20% leg rating. That is 288 weeks × 20% = 57.6 weeks, and 57.6 × ($1,200 × 75%) = $51,840.
When more than one body part is injured, the awards run consecutively rather than at the same time. A hand award and a knee award from the same accident stack end to end. The exception is multiple digits on the same hand or foot, which are calculated as proportional loss of the whole hand or foot.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 8107 Compensation Schedule
How the Impairment Percentage Is Set
OWCP accepts impairment ratings only under the American Medical Association Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, Sixth Edition.5U.S. Department of Labor. AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment 6th Edition No other edition or method works. The evaluating physician must hold a valid medical license and have the background to conduct disability evaluations.
The Sixth Edition uses a diagnosis-based approach as the main method. The physician finds the correct diagnosis in the relevant regional grid, which gives a default impairment value, then adjusts it up or down based on functional history and clinical findings. For some upper- and lower-extremity conditions, range-of-motion measurements are allowed as an alternative. When both methods apply to the same diagnosis, the physician should use whichever produces the higher rating.
The medical report needs to identify the specific tables and data collection forms used from the Guides, describe the clinical findings, and explain how the physician reached the final percentage. Where the relevant chapter of the Guides includes a data collection or summary form, the physician has to complete it and attach it. Reports that skip this documentation are the most common reason claims come back for more information.
Maximum Medical Improvement Comes First
Before you can request a rating, your treating physician must state in writing that you have reached maximum medical improvement, meaning your condition has stabilized and no further significant recovery is expected. Without that finding in the record, OWCP treats the schedule award request as premature and denies it.
Reaching maximum medical improvement is not the same as being fully recovered. It means your remaining limitations are likely permanent. Many workers hit that point while still in pain or with reduced function, and the impairment rating is meant to capture exactly that gap.
Filing the Claim
The claim starts with Form CA-7, which has a section for schedule awards.6U.S. Department of Labor. Office of Workers Compensation Programs Claim for Compensation Fill in your case file number, date of injury, and affected body part, then attach the physician’s impairment rating report with the supporting documentation.
The fastest route is the Employees’ Compensation Operations and Management Portal (ECOMP), which uploads the form and report directly into your case file.7U.S. Department of Labor. ECOMP – Employees Compensation Operations and Management Portal You can also mail documents to the OWCP central imaging center. FECA requires that compensation claims be filed within three years of the date of injury.8U.S. Department of Labor. Federal Employees Compensation Act Frequently Asked Questions
After the claim comes in, a claims examiner checks basic eligibility and routes the file to a District Medical Advisor (DMA), a physician who reviews whether the rating was calculated correctly under the AMA Guides, whether the documentation supports the percentage claimed, and whether maximum medical improvement was properly established. The DMA can ask the treating physician for clarification, suggest a different percentage, or request additional testing. Once the medical review is final, the examiner issues a formal decision, and payment follows from the confirmed percentage.
If You Disagree with the Rating
When the DMA and your treating physician reach different well-reasoned conclusions, OWCP can appoint an impartial referee physician to break the tie. The referee conducts an independent exam, and OWCP gives that opinion special weight.9eCFR. 20 CFR Part 10 Claims for Compensation Under the Federal Employees Compensation Act
If you disagree with the final decision, you have three options: request reconsideration from the district office within one year (based on misapplied law, a new legal argument, or new evidence),10eCFR. 20 CFR Part 10 Subpart G Reconsiderations and Reviews request a hearing before an OWCP hearing representative, or appeal to the Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board. These paths are not all available at once, so choosing the right one matters.
Separately, the Secretary of Labor can review and modify any schedule award at any time.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 8128 Review of Award That door works both ways: if your impairment worsens and a new evaluation supports a higher rating, you can seek an increased award.
How Payments Arrive
Schedule awards are generally paid in periodic installments at your regular compensation rate, not as a single check. OWCP may issue a lump sum if it decides that is in your best interest, which in practice usually means you are already working or receiving a retirement annuity and do not depend on the compensation as wage replacement. There is no absolute right to a lump sum.12eCFR. 20 CFR 10.422 May Compensation Payments Be Issued in a Lump Sum
A schedule award cannot run at the same time as wage-loss compensation for the same injury. If you are drawing temporary total disability for a knee injury, the schedule award for that knee starts only after the wage-loss payments end. A schedule award for one injury can, however, run concurrently with wage-loss benefits for a separate injury to a different body part,3U.S. Department of Labor. FECA Part 2 Procedure Manual and it can run concurrently with civil service retirement benefits.