OWCP Continuation of Pay (COP) and Form CA-7: How Federal Workers Keep Getting Paid After a Work Injury

If you're a federal employee hurt in a single work incident (a traumatic injury) and you filed Form CA-1 on time, you may keep receiving your regular salary for up to 45 calendar days while you recover. This is Continuation of Pay (COP), paid by your employing agency — not OWCP. If you're still unable to work when those 45 days run out, you switch to OWCP wage-loss compensation by filing Form CA-7, which pays 66⅔% of your salary with no eligible dependents, or 75% with at least one. To avoid a gap in pay, Form CA-7 should reach OWCP before the 45-day COP period ends.

What Continuation of Pay (COP) actually is

COP is the bridge between the day you get hurt and the day OWCP wage-loss benefits begin. Instead of losing income right away, your agency continues your full regular pay while you're off work for an accepted traumatic injury.

Three things have to be true to qualify:

1. You suffered a traumatic injury — one event during a single workday or shift (not an illness that built up over time, which is handled differently under Form CA-2).
2. You filed Form CA-1 on time — ideally within 30 days of the injury.
3. Your wage loss begins within 45 days of the date of injury.

COP is paid for a maximum of 45 calendar days, and every day counts toward that limit — including weekends and holidays that fall inside your period of disability. It is not 45 work days; it is 45 calendar days.

COP vs. OWCP compensation — they are not the same thing

This trips up a lot of federal workers, so it's worth being clear:

• COP = your agency pays your full salary for up to 45 days after a traumatic injury.
• OWCP compensation = the Department of Labor pays a percentage of your salary once COP ends (or, for occupational-disease claims filed on Form CA-2, from the start, since those claims don't get COP).

The 3-day waiting period

FECA includes a 3-day waiting period during which wage-loss compensation is generally not payable. Here's the practical part most people miss: if your disability extends beyond 14 days, compensation for those first 3 days is paid retroactively. For traumatic-injury claims, this waiting period is normally applied at the end of the 45-day COP period — not at the start — so COP itself typically covers you from day one.

When and how to file Form CA-7

Form CA-7, Claim for Compensation, is how you ask OWCP to pay you once your salary continuation ends and you're in Leave Without Pay (LWOP) status because of your accepted condition.

Timing matters:

• If medical evidence shows your disability will continue past 45 days, your agency should give you Form CA-7 by about the 30th day of the COP period and submit it to OWCP by roughly the 40th day — the goal is to have it in before COP expires so your pay doesn't stop.
• After that, if you're still disabled, you generally file a new CA-7 every two weeks until OWCP tells you otherwise.

You'll need supporting medical evidence showing you're unable to work because of the accepted injury. This is where your treating clinic matters — the compensation follows the documentation. Thin notes, missing work-status reports, or vague functional restrictions can delay OWCP's decision and stop your pay.

How OWCP wage-loss compensation is calculated

Once you're on OWCP compensation for total disability:

• 66⅔% of your pay rate if you have no eligible dependents.
• 75% of your pay rate if you have at least one eligible dependent (for example, a spouse living with you, or a qualifying child).

For comparison, official leave (annual or sick leave) is paid at 100% — which is one reason many workers weigh whether to use leave or go into LWOP and claim compensation. It's a personal decision worth discussing with your agency and a knowledgeable provider, since burning leave that you may need later isn't always the right trade-off.

Common mistakes that cause a gap in pay

• Filing Form CA-7 too late, so COP ends before OWCP starts paying.
• Missing or thin medical documentation of ongoing disability.
• Confusing COP (agency, full pay, 45 days) with OWCP compensation (DOL, partial pay).
• Assuming an occupational-disease (CA-2) claim gets COP — it does not.

How NuThera helps

As an OWCP-enrolled clinic in Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NuThera treats injured federal workers and documents each visit so your disability status and work restrictions are clearly recorded — the evidence your CA-7 depends on. Our team can also help you understand which form applies to your situation and point you to the next step, so your treatment and your paperwork stay in sync.