20 CFR § 10.521 - If an employee elects to receive retirement benefits instead of FECA benefits, what effect may such an election have on that employee's entitlement to FECA compensation?

---
identifier: "/us/cfr/t20/s10.521"
source: "ecfr"
legal_status: "authoritative_unofficial"
title: "20 CFR § 10.521 - If an employee elects to receive retirement benefits instead of FECA benefits, what effect may such an election have on that employee's entitlement to FECA compensation?"
title_number: 20
title_name: "Employees' Benefits"
section_number: "10.521"
section_name: "If an employee elects to receive retirement benefits instead of FECA benefits, what effect may such an election have on that employee's entitlement to FECA compensation?"
chapter_name: "OFFICE OF WORKERS' COMPENSATION PROGRAMS, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR"
subchapter_number: "B"
subchapter_name: "FEDERAL EMPLOYEES' COMPENSATION ACT"
part_number: "10"
part_name: "CLAIMS FOR COMPENSATION UNDER THE FEDERAL EMPLOYEES' COMPENSATION ACT, AS AMENDED"
positive_law: false
currency: "2026-04-05"
last_updated: "2026-04-05"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
authority: "5 U.S.C. 301, 8102a, 8103, 8145 and 8149; 31 U.S.C. 3716 and 3717; Reorganization Plan No. 6 of 1950, 15 FR 3174, 64 Stat. 1263; Secretary of Labor's Order No. 10-2009, 74 FR 218; Pub. L. 117-263."
regulatory_source: "76 FR 37903, June 28, 2011, unless otherwise noted."
cfr_part: "10"
---


# 10.521 If an employee elects to receive retirement benefits instead of FECA benefits, what effect may such an election have on that employee's entitlement to FECA compensation?

Where an employee is undergoing vocational rehabilitation, or where OWCP is attempting to otherwise place that employee in a suitable job, and that employee elects to receive retirement benefits from the Office of Personnel Management instead of benefits under the FECA, the OWCP may proceed with a loss of wage-earning capacity determination which may reduce FECA entitlement as long as the determination is based on the evidence of record at the time of such election.