In December 2022, President Biden signed into law the Fiscal Year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act. Section 5305 titled “Fairness for Federal Firefighters,” identifying that certain conditions will be “presumed” to be work-related for “federal employees in fire protection activities.” The list of presumptive illnesses includes but is not limited to various cancers, and the wildland fire workforce is currently navigating the system of processes, policies and procedures to have their presumptive illnesses covered. More information is available on the Federal Employee’s Compensation Act (FECA) Bulletin No. 23-05 delineating certain diseases as caused by Federal firefighting activities. 

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, who is responsible for managing the Office of Workers' Compensation Program, they have created a process to expedite claims submitted by firefighters who were diagnosed with certain cancers due to fire protection duties. Only the U.S. Department of Labor Workers’ Compensation Program has authority to approve or deny a workers’ compensation claim.

The Lessons Learned Center recently published a Rapid Lessons Sharing story of a firefighter’s experience navigating the U.S. Department of Labor’s process to submit a claim after receiving a cancer diagnosis. The story shared important information about the roles and responsibilities when submitting a workers’ compensation claim to establish eligibility for workers’ compensation coverage from the list of cancers identified in the new law. Current and past firefighters and anyone who supervises firefighters are encouraged to read the story and be aware of information provided by the Department of Labor.

The Forest Service, Human Resources Management Office has distributed an email agency-wide sharing how HRM can assist Forest Service employees with navigating the U.S. Department of Labor Workers’ Compensation Program. HRM has a staff of HR Specialists who serve as liaisons to assist Forest Service employees with the U.S. DOL’s Workers’ Compensation Program. These HRM specialists help employees understand deadlines, letters received and share what information is needed to fill out forms. HRM is able to identify if a submitted claim is for a wildland firefighter, or from an incident, and annotate the case accordingly. When submitted, these types of claims are routed to the U.S. DOL Workers’ Compensation Program for review and action by a dedicated team. Employees are responsible for filling out required paperwork and meeting all deadlines identified by the Department of Labor. The Forest Service has no authority to approve or deny claims but can help employees navigate the process.

Employees who want to file a Workers’ Compensation claim for a presumptive illness will follow the normal process and submit their claims via eSafety or may call HRM’s Contact Center at 1-877-372-7248, press 2 for assistance.