The complete picture
From injury to first payment — the full timeline
First: which form are you filing?
One event → Traumatic Injury
A fall, a lift, a crash, a dog bite — something with a date and time, within a single shift.
File within 30 days
Filing within 30 days protects Continuation of Pay — your full salary for up to 45 days.
Over time → Occupational Disease
Hearing loss, carpal tunnel, lung disease, PTSD — conditions that developed over more than one shift.
3-year limit applies
Clock starts when you first connect the illness to your work — often the date a doctor told you.
The timeline that decides your claim
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D-0
Day 0 — the injury or diagnosis
Get treatment first. Then tell your supervisor in writing.
See a doctor of your choice — you have that right. For traumatic injuries, ask your agency for CA-16 — it guarantees payment for the first exam. Written notice to your supervisor starts your paper trail.
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30
Within 30 days — critical
File CA-1 (or CA-2) in ECOMP
Register free at ecomp.dol.gov and file. For traumatic injuries, check the Continuation of Pay box. Your agency completes their portion and forwards to OWCP — they cannot decide your claim.
If you miss 30 days: COP is lost, but the claim itself survives if filed within 3 years. Don't let a missed COP window stop you from filing the claim.
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10d
Within 10 days of claiming COP
Medical evidence of disability must reach your agency
A doctor's note confirming you can't work. Without it, the agency can refuse COP even if the CA-1 was on time.
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D-45
Days 1–45 — COP period
Continuation of Pay + build your medical evidence
Your agency pays your normal salary for up to 45 calendar days. Meanwhile, your doctor's narrative report is the heart of the claim: it must state the diagnosis and explain how work caused it with medical reasoning. "Patient reports back pain" is not enough.
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CA-7
Around day 35–40 — before COP runs out
File CA-7 to keep money coming
COP is not compensation — when it ends, pay stops completely unless you've filed CA-7 (Claim for Compensation). File about a week before day 45. Then file every two weeks while you remain out of work.
This is the #1 preventable gap in federal comp: the pay cliff between COP day 45 and a late CA-7.
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Dev
If OWCP sends a development letter
Answer every numbered question within 30 days
A development letter is not a denial — it's a checklist of exactly what evidence will get your claim accepted. Answer each numbered item in order. If your doctor can't finish the narrative in time, send what you have with a note that more is coming.
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✓
Typically weeks to a few months
OWCP accepts your claim
Medical care begins (all authorized treatment, no copays). Wage-loss compensation continues at 66⅔% or 75% of pay, tax-free, as long as disability from the accepted condition continues.
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MMI
When your condition stabilizes
Schedule award becomes available
At maximum medical improvement, your doctor rates permanent impairment using the AMA Guides. File CA-7 checking the schedule-award box. Arms, legs, hands, hearing, eyes — each has a fixed maximum number of weeks. Payable even if you've returned to work.
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✗
If OWCP denies
Three appeal doors — pick by strategy, not instinct
Oral hearing (30 days): new evidence + your story in person. Reconsideration (1 year): new evidence, purely written. ECAB (180 days): law review on existing record only. Choose wrong and you waste your strongest shot.
Never let the 30-day hearing window lapse while "thinking about it" — you can withdraw later, but you can't request one late.
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3yr
The outer wall
3-year statute of limitations
Written notice must be given within 3 years of the injury, or of the date you reasonably connected your condition to work. Exception: if your supervisor had actual knowledge within 30 days, a late claim may survive. Never assume — verify.
All deadlines at a glance
CA-1 filing to protect COP
Medical evidence to agency for COP
File CA-7 before COP expires
Answer a development letter
Request oral hearing after denial
File ECAB appeal after denial
Request reconsideration
Statute of limitations
Missed a deadline? Don't assume it's over. Late claims sometimes survive — supervisor knowledge, ongoing medical awareness, and other exceptions can keep a door open. That's exactly what a free review is for.