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Friday, April 27, 2012

Be careful when posting anything online

When you have a work related injury, OWCP and employing agency investigators will conduct surveillance to see if your activities are consistent with your medical restrictions. Such investigations will include viewing your web page, blog, Facebook account, My Space account, and any other content you place on the internet.

They are  looking for anything they can use against you. For example, dancing, participating in sports, horsing around, or other hazardous, physical and/or embarrassing activities.       

Unlike other types of injury systems, there is never a settlement of an OWCP case. For so long as you wish to receive these benefits, be very aware of what you put on the internet and how it may look to others. If you feel that you must engage in online media, I strongly recommend that blogs, web pages and internet accounts (i.e., Face Book, My Space, networking pages and any other personal internet pages) be set to “private” or “by invitation only” so that the general public cannot readily access these accounts, web pages or blogs.

However, just because a page is “private” does not stop federal law enforcement personnel from gaining access to your content. Please be careful what you post or say online!