OWCP News Release: [03/01/2011]
Contact Name: Jesse Lawder Michael Volpe
Phone Number: (202) 693-4659 (202) 693-3984
Release Number: 11-0255-DAL
WASHINGTON —The U.S. Department of Labor is notifying all former Texas City Chemicals Inc. employees who worked at the site in Texas City, Texas, about a new class of employees added to the Special Exposure Cohort of the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act. The EEOICPA provides compensation and medical benefits to workers who became ill as a result of working in the nuclear weapons industry. Survivors of qualified workers may also be entitled to benefits.
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 Jan. 6, 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 Texas City Chemicals Inc., an Atomic Weapons Employer, in Texas City from Oct. 5, 1953, through Sept. 30, 1955, 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 Feb. 5. The Labor Department's role is to adjudicate these claims based on the new SEC class definitions as determined and introduced by HHS.
To date, more than $6.7 billion in compensation and medical benefits has been paid nationwide under the EEOICPA. For additional information about the new SEC or to schedule an appointment for claim-filing assistance, contact the department's Espanola Resource Center toll-free at 866-272-3622.
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