(a) In general, an employee will not be considered to have
experienced a compensable recurrence of disability as defined in
Sec. 10.5(x) merely because his or her employer has eliminated the
employee's light-duty position in a reduction-in-force or some other
form of downsizing. When this occurs, OWCP will determine the employee's
wage-earning capacity based on his or her actual earnings in such light-
duty position if this determination is appropriate on the basis that
such earnings fairly and reasonably represent the employee's wage-
earning capacity and such a determination has not already been made.
(b) For the purposes of this section only, a light-duty position
means a classified position to which the injured employee has been
formally reassigned that conforms to the established physical
limitations of the injured employee and for which the employer has
already prepared a written position description such that the position
constitutes ``regular'' Federal employment. In the absence of a ``light-
duty position'' as described in this paragraph, OWCP will assume that
the employee was instead engaged in non-competitive employment which
does not represent the employee's wage-earning capacity, i.e., work of
the type provided to injured employees who cannot otherwise be employed
by the Federal Government or in any well-known branch of the general
labor market.
Return to Work--Employee's Responsibilities
