Guide · Updated October 16, 2026

Understanding Continuation of Pay for McAllen Federal Workers

Continuation of pay (COP) is your regular salary, paid by your federal agency for up to 45 calendar days after a traumatic work injury. To get it, file Form CA-1 within 30 days of the injury, start losing time from work within 45 days, and get medical proof of disability to your agency within 10 calendar days.

A sudden work injury raises a scary question fast: how will I get paid while I heal? For many federal employees, the first answer is continuation of pay, or COP. It keeps your regular paycheck coming for a limited time, but only if you meet a few deadlines. Here is how it works for federal workers in McAllen, Harlingen and across the Rio Grande Valley.

What continuation of pay is

Under the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act (FECA), most employees who suffer a traumatic injury on the job keep getting their regular pay during resulting time off, for up to 45 calendar days (20 CFR 10.200(a)). A few key points:

• Your agency pays it, not the Department of Labor’s Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP).
• It is taxed like normal pay, with all your regular payroll deductions.
• Your agency can’t make you use sick or annual leave instead, unless one of the exceptions in the rules applies (20 CFR 10.200(b)).

Who qualifies for COP

To be eligible, you must (20 CFR 10.205):

1. Have a job-related traumatic injury that causes disability or lost time for medical care.
2. File Form CA-1 within 30 days of the injury.
3. Start losing time from work within 45 days of the injury.

COP is only for traumatic injuries. If your condition developed over time, such as a repetitive strain, it is an occupational disease filed on a CA-2, and COP does not apply (20 CFR 10.220(a)). Not sure which one fits? Read the difference between a CA-1 and a CA-2.

USPS employees: Postal workers do not get COP for the first three days of temporary disability. You can use leave for those days, and if the disability lasts more than 14 days, that leave may be restored (20 CFR 10.200(c)).

Your to-do list to keep COP coming

The rules put several jobs on you (20 CFR 10.210):

• Turn in your CA-1 as soon as possible, and no later than 30 days after the injury.
• Get medical proof to your agency within 10 calendar days of filing your COP claim. It must support your disability and say when you can return to your regular job.
• Make sure your doctor lists your work limits and sends them to your agency or OWCP.
• If your agency offers you a different job, share the description with your doctor and make sure the doctor answers quickly about whether you can do it.

The 10-day medical deadline is a big one. If medical evidence supporting disability doesn’t arrive within 10 calendar days, your agency may stop COP. If the evidence comes in later, COP is supposed to be restored back to the date it stopped (20 CFR 10.222(a)(1)).

How COP days are counted

All 45 days are calendar days, not work days (20 CFR 10.215):

• Time lost on the day or shift you were hurt does not count. Your agency keeps you in pay status for that time.
• Any part of a later day counts as a full COP day.
• Regular days off count if COP was used on the work days right before or after them and medical evidence supports disability.
• Leave you take while COP is payable still counts toward the 45 days.

If you go back to work and the injury flares up within 45 days of returning, you may be able to use your leftover COP days. You would file a CA-2a and choose to receive regular pay (20 CFR 10.207).

When an agency can refuse or stop COP

Your agency can refuse COP only for specific reasons, such as no written claim within 30 days, a disability not caused by a traumatic injury, or work that didn’t stop until more than 45 days after the injury (20 CFR 10.220). It can stop COP that has already started only for reasons listed in 20 CFR 10.222, such as your doctor saying you can do your regular job, or the 45 days running out.

Your agency can also “controvert,” or challenge, your COP claim while still paying you. Either way, OWCP has the final say (20 CFR 10.200(b)).

What happens after day 45

COP ends after 45 days. If you still can’t work, you’ll need to claim wage loss on Form CA-7. Your agency should give you the CA-7 by day 30 of COP and send it to OWCP by day 40 (20 CFR 10.111(b)). Our guide to what a CA-7 form is explains the next steps.

For Valley federal workers

Border Patrol agents, CBP officers at the Hidalgo, Pharr, Anzalduas and Progreso crossings, USPS carriers and clerks, TSA officers at the airports, and VA staff are all covered by FECA. The COP rules are the same no matter which agency you work for, with the USPS waiting-period exception above.

How Alivio can help

Getting the right medical proof to your agency on time is where a prompt visit makes a difference. Our federal workers’ comp doctors see injured federal employees at our McAllen clinic and our Harlingen clinic, with Dr. Peter Ruiz, MD, reviewing and signing FECA medical reports. Call (956) 679-3451 for a free consultation and free OWCP forms help.

Medically reviewed by Peter Ruiz, MD, Medical Director. MD · Family Medicine · Texas Medical Board license N2270
Last reviewed October 16, 2026 · How we review content