The onset of the Great Depression in 1929 thrust the Federal Employees' Compensation Program into uncharted waters.
Section 3 of the act, entitled "An act for the relief of unemployment through the performance of useful public work, and for other purposes," approved March 31, 1933, extended the provisions of the Federal Employees' Compensation Act to enrollees in the Civilian Conservation Corps and other persons employed under that emergency legislation.
21) This legislation was an appropriations act that "included statutory authority extending the provisions of the Federal Employees' Compensation Act of September 7, 1916, subject to certain conditions and limitations, to employees of the Civil Works Administration.
While the level of funding for the emergency programs was modest in the early years, it was the clear intention of Congress not to commingle the "regular" Federal Employees' Compensation Program with the several emergency programs.
As the Commission had repeatedly observed throughout most of the depression years, the beneficiaries of the Federal Employees' Compensation Act of 1916 that were
Injuries and fatalities paid for under the Federal Employees' Compensation Act, 1941-45
Employees' Compensation Commission (Washington, DC, Government Printing Office, various years).
After three decades of administration by the Employees' Compensation Commission, the Federal workers' compensation program moved twice within the next 4 years.
Not long after the Bureau of Employees' Compensation was created by the Federal Security Agency, President Truman created the Hoover Commission to study the structure of the executive branch and provide him with recommendations to strengthen and improve its efficiency.
This area of responsibility was important because "through the 1949 amendments to the Federal Employees' Compensation Act, the Bureau of Employees' Compensation was given increased responsibilities with respect to accident prevention and safety.
The 1949 amendments to the Federal Employees' Compensation Act launched the workers' compensation program in a new direction.
There was also the ongoing problem of maintaining parity between changes in the economy and the level of benefits under the Federal Employees' Compensation Act.
