US Department of Labor to host Traveling Resource Center in Joliet, Ill., Nov. 16 to assist Nuclear Weapons Workers

OWCP News Release: [11/09/2010]
Contact Name: Jesse Lawder Michael Volpe
Phone Number: (202) 693-4659 (202) 693-3984
Release Number: 10-1561-CHI

WASHINGTON — Former employees of Blockson Chemical Co. in Joliet, Ill., who were recently added to the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act’s Special Exposure Cohort can obtain claims-filing assistance from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Traveling Resource Center visiting Joliet on Nov. 16. Stationary resource centers are based in 11 locations nationwide and provide in-person and telephone-based assistance to serve individuals regardless of where they live. The department’s Traveling Resource Center takes these services on the road to assist workers in the EEOICPA claim-filing process.

The EEOICPA provides compensation and medical benefits to employees who became ill as a result of working in the nuclear weapons industry. A worker who is included in a designated SEC class of employees, and who is diagnosed with one of 22 specified cancers, may receive a presumption of causation under the EEOICPA. On Sept. 3, the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services designated the following class of employees as an addition to the SEC: all employees who worked at the Blockson Chemical Co. facility, an Atomic Weapons Employer, between March 1, 1951, and June 30, 1960, for at least 250 workdays occurring either solely under this employment or in combination with workdays within other classes of employees in the SEC. This designation became effective on Oct. 3. The Labor Department’s role is to adjudicate these claims based on the new SEC class definition as determined and introduced by HHS.

To date, more than $8.2 million in compensation and medical benefits has been paid to more than 100 eligible Blockson Chemical Co. claimants under the EEOICPA, while more than $6.3 billion has been paid nationwide. For additional information about the upcoming Traveling Resource Center or to schedule an appointment for claim-filing assistance, please contact the department’s Paducah Resource Center in Kentucky toll-free at 866-534-0599. This event is open to the public, and pre-registration is not required.

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