Federal Employees' Compensation Act

{{Short description|United States federal law}}

{{About|the compensation act|other uses|Federal Election Campaign Act|and|FECA (disambiguation)}}

{{Use American English|date=February 2023}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2023}}

File:USMC-09580.jpg

The Federal Employees' Compensation Act (FECA), is a United States federal law, enacted on September 7, 1916.{{cite web |title=Summary of the Major Laws of the Depart mentos of Labour |publisher=U.S. Department of Labor |url=http://www.dol.gov/opa/aboutdol/lawsprog.htm |access-date=January 2, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130209174025/http://www.dol.gov/opa/aboutdol/lawsprog.htm |archive-date=February 9, 2013 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |url=http://documents.law.yale.edu/kern-mcgillicuddy-act-see-federal-employees-compensation-act-1916 |title=Kern–McGillicuddy Act (See Federal Employees' Compensation Act (1916)) |publisher=Documents Collection Center – Yale Law School |access-date=January 2, 2014}}{{cite web |url=http://www.dol.gov/compliance/laws/comp-feca.htm |title=The Federal Employees' Compensation Act (FECA) |publisher=U.S. Department of Labor |access-date=January 2, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140102192408/http://www.dol.gov/compliance/laws/comp-feca.htm |archive-date=January 2, 2014 |url-status=dead }} Sponsored by Sen. John W. Kern (D) of Indiana and Rep. Daniel J. McGillicuddy (D) of Maine, it established compensation to federal civil service employees for wages lost due to job-related injuries. This act became the precedent for "disability insurance" across the country and the precursor to broad-coverage health insurance.{{citation needed|date=January 2014}}

President Woodrow Wilson signed H.R. 15316 into law on September 7, 1916.{{citation needed|date=January 2014}}

The Federal Employees' Compensation Commission was the original administrator of the FECA. However, the Commission did not exist at the time the FECA went into effect and claims accumulated for more than six months while members were selected and sworn into office. The Federal Employees' Compensation Commission officially began its duties on March 14, 1917. The commission was abolished on May 16, 1946, by President Harry S. Truman as part of the Reorganization Act of 1939. Its duties were transferred to the Federal Security Agency on July 16, 1946.{{cite journal |last=Nordlund |first=W. J. |title=The Federal Employees' Compensation Act. (Cover story) |journal=Monthly Labor Review |year=1991 |volume=114 |issue=9 |pages=3–13 }}

The Act is now administered by the U.S. Department of Labor.