Postal Service’s Limited Duty and Rehabilitation Programs Return to Work Processes in the Southern and Pacific Areas

The objective of our audit was to assess whether the U.S. Postal Service effectively managed its Limited Duty and Rehabilitation programs to ensure that injured employees in the Southern and Pacific areas who were deemed fit returned to work timely. The Postal Service’s Limited Duty and Rehabilitation programs help the agency meet its legal obligation to injured-on-duty employees, including the requirement to return them to work within their medically defined work restrictions. These programs accommodate employees who are temporarily unable to perform their regular job and assist employees with permanent disabilities. The Postal Service tracks employees who are deemed fit to return to work in a limited duty capacity via its No Work Available (NWA) list; however, there are no assignments available at this time. On May 17, 2017, there were 1,243 employees on the NWA list nationwide, 489 of whom were in the Southern and Pacific areas.