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Below are the head notes for the FAB decisions and orders relating to the topic heading, Special Exposure Cohort. The head notes are grouped under the following subheadings: Designation by HHS, Membership not found, Specific employment requirements, and Specified cancers. To view a particular decision or order in its entirety, click on the hyperlink for that decision or order at the end of the head note.

Designation by HHS

  • On April 11, 2005, the Secretary of HHS designated all employees who worked in the Uranium Division at the Mallinckrodt Destrehan Street facility between the years 1942-1948 as members of the SEC. The designation was effective as of May 12, 2005. EEOICPA Fin. Dec. No. 787-2005 (Dep’t of Labor, June 29, 2005).
  • HHS designated two classes of employees at the Rocky Flats Plant as additions to the SEC. The new SEC classes cover employment from April 1, 1952 through December 31, 1958 and from January 1, 1959 through December 31, 1966, and became effective on September 5, 2007. EEOICPA Fin. Dec. No. 18528-2006 (Dep’t of Labor, February 8, 2008); EEOICPA Fin. Dec. No. 25854-2006 (Dep’t of Labor, January 14, 2008).
  • On February 16, 2007, the Secretary of HHS designated a new class of employees as members of the SEC, consisting of atomic weapons employees who were or should have been monitored for exposure to ionizing radiation at any number of specifically enumerated buildings and locations within the General Atomics facility in La Jolla, California, from January 1, 1960 through December 31, 1969. The standard 250-work-day requirement applies. The new class became effective on March 18, 2007. EEOICPA Fin. Dec. No. 41882-2007 (Dep’t of Labor, December 21, 2007).
  • On March 3, 2008, the Secretary of HHS designated the following class of employees for addition to the SEC: Employees of DOE, its predecessor agencies and DOE contractors or subcontractors who were monitored for radiation exposure while working at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory from January 1, 1950 through December 31, 1973 for a number of work days aggregating at least 250 work days or in combination with work days within the parameters established for one or more other classes of employees in the SEC. This addition to the SEC became effective April 2, 2008. EEOICPA Fin. Dec. No. 47148-2006 (Dep’t of Labor, May 16, 2008).
  • On June 26, 2006, the Secretary of HHS designated a class of employees as an addition to the SEC, consisting of DOE employees or DOE contractor employees who worked at the Nevada Test Site from January 27, 1951 through December 31, 1962, for a number of work days aggregating at least 250 work days, either solely under this employment or in combination with other employment within the parameters established for other classes of employees included in the SEC (excluding work day requirements), and who were monitored or should have been monitored. This designation became effective on July 26, 2006. EEOICPA Fin. Dec. No. 50784-2007 (Dep’t of Labor, November 22, 2006); EEOICPA Fin. Dec. No. 72816-2007 (Dep’t of Labor, April 7, 2008); EEOICPA Fin. Dec. No. 75271-2007 (Dep’t of Labor, August 29, 2007).
  • HHS designated a class of employees at Hanford as an addition to the SEC. The new SEC class covers employment from September 1, 1946 through December 31, 1961 in the 300 area, and from January 1, 1949 through December 31, 1968 in the 200 areas (East and West), and became effective on June 29, 2008. EEOICPA Fin. Dec. No. 55286-2006 (Dep’t of Labor, August 22, 2008).
  • On August 8, 2006, the Secretary of HHS designated as members of the SEC all DOE employees or DOE contractor or subcontractor employees who worked at the Ames Laboratory in Chemistry Annex 1 (also known as the old women’s gymnasium and Little Ankeny), Chemistry Annex 2, Chemistry Building (also known as Gilman Hall), Research Building, or the Metallurgical Building (also known as Harley Wilhelm Hall) from 1942 through 1948 for a number of work days aggregating at least 250 work days, or in combination with work days within the parameters (excluding aggregate work day requirements) established for one or more classes of employees in the SEC, and who were monitored or should have been monitored. The Secretary’s designation was effective as of September 7, 2006. EEOICPA Fin. Dec. No. 59466-2007 (Dep’t of Labor, December 15, 2006).
  • The Secretary of HHS designated all employees who worked in the Uranium Division of the Destrehan Street Facility of Mallinckrodt Chemical Works from 1949 to 1957 as members of the SEC. Employees must have worked during the specified time frame and been employed for a number of days aggregating at least 250 work days, either solely under this employment or in combination with the parameters of work established for other classes of employees included in the SEC. EEOICPA Fin. Dec. No. 71273-2006 (Dep’t of Labor, July 14, 2006).
  • On June 22, 2007, the Secretary of HHS designated a new class of employees as an addition to the SEC, consisting of DOE employees or DOE contractor or subcontractor employees who were monitored or should have been monitored for radiological exposures while working in operational Technical Areas with a history of radioactive material use at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) for a number of work days aggregating at least 250 work days from March 15, 1943 through December 31, 1975, or in combination with work days within the parameters established for one or more classes of employees in the SEC. The new SEC class became effective on July 22, 2007. EEOICPA Fin. Dec. No. 82961-2008 (Dep’t of Labor, March 27, 2008).

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Membership not found

  • A Department of the Army civilian employee who worked at IAAP for at least 250 work days on Line 1 during the period March 1949 through 1974 and was diagnosed with a specified cancer was nevertheless not a member of the SEC because there was insufficient evidence to support that the Army was a DOE contractor or subcontractor at the IAAP. EEOICPA Fin. Dec. No. 87969-2008 (Dep’t of Labor, November 19, 2008).

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Specific employment requirements

  • Employee of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers who provided services on Amchitka Island was not a member of the statutory class of employees in the SEC because he provided services in conjunction with a Department of Defense venture, the Blair Lake Project, and not pursuant to a contract between DOE and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. EEOICPA Fin. Dec. No. 366-2002 (Dep’t of Labor, June 3, 2003)
  • In the professional opinion of a certified health physicist employed by DEEOIC, the exposure period during which an employee who worked on Amchitka Island could have been exposed to ionizing radiation from the Long Shot test, thereby satisfying the requirement for membership in the SEC that the employee was exposed to ionizing radiation in the performance of duty related to the Long Shot, Milrow or Cannikin tests, is from approximately a month after the detonation on October 29, 1965 through January 1, 1974. EEOICPA Fin. Dec. No. 1400-2002 (Dep’t of Labor, January 22, 2002); EEOICPA Fin. Dec. No. 28766-2003 (Dep’t of Labor, June 20, 2003)
  • Where the claimant provided no evidence concerning dosimetry badges, the requirement that a DOE contractor employee employed at the Oak Ridge gaseous diffusion plant be monitored for exposure to radiation through the use of dosimetry badges was satisfied by: (1) a DOE-sponsored report entitled Recycled Uranium Mass Balance Project Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant Site Report, released in June 2000, describing the issuance of film badges at Oak Ridge; and (2) verification by DOE that the employee worked intermittently at Oak Ridge from 1969 through 1984. EEOICPA Fin. Dec. No. 2960-2002 (Dep’t of Labor, December 12, 2001).
  • Employee who worked 42 workweeks at the K-25 gaseous diffusion plant met the 250-workday requirement for SEC membership based on co-worker affidavits stating that workweeks at the plant were six days long during the mid 1950’s. EEOICPA Fin. Dec. No. 3092-2002 (Dep’t of Labor, October 7, 2004).
  • Employee worked at Y-12 Plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee for a year as a “laboratory assistant and analyst.” Although job title was not listed in EEOICPA Bulletin No. 06-04 (issued November 21, 2005), which provides guidance for processing claims involving the first SEC class at Y-12, other evidence indicated that it was reasonable to find that the employee was employed in position covered by the SEC designation. EEOICPA Fin. Dec. No. 15100-2006 (Dep’t of Labor, June 22, 2006).
  • Employees who worked at the Portsmouth gaseous diffusion plant between September 1, 1954 and February 1, 1992 performed work comparable to a job that was monitored through the use of dosimetry badges, thereby satisfying the dosimetry badge requirement for SEC membership. EEOICPA Fin. Dec. No. 17556-2003 (Dep’t of Labor, September 27, 2004); EEOICPA Fin. Dec. No. 59055-2004 (Dep’t of Labor, September 17, 2004).
  • Where membership in the SEC required employee to have been “monitored for neutron exposures while working at the Rocky Flats Plant,” inclusion of employee’s name on the Neutron Dose Report compiled as part of The Rocky Flats Neutron Dosimetry Reconstruction Project was sufficient evidence to satisfy the monitoring requirement. EEOICPA Fin. Dec. No. 18528-2006 (Dep’t of Labor, February 8, 2008); EEOICPA Fin. Dec. No. 25854-2006 (Dep’t of Labor, January 14, 2008).
  • Under the first SEC designation for the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant (IAAP), the term “Line 1” means AEC operations. Other areas of the IAAP, however, that were not part of Line 1 or any other line were also involved in AEC operations, those being: Yard C, Yard G, Yard L, Firing Site Area, Burning Site Area, Burning Field “B” and Storage Sites for Pits and Weapons including Buildings 73 and 77. EEOICPA Fin. Dec. No. 20772-2006 (Dep’t of Labor, January 10, 2006).
  • Employee of the state of Alaska on assignment to Amchitka Island as the governor of Alaska’s representative to witness the Long Shot and Milrow tests was not a member of the SEC because he was not a DOE contractor employee since he provided services on Amchitka for the state and not pursuant to a contract between DOE and the state for the purpose of accomplishing one or more services for DOE. EEOICPA Fin. Dec. No. 27798-2003 (Dep’t of Labor, June 20, 2003).
  • Although claimant’s job titles were not listed in EEOICPA Bulletin No. 06-11 (issued June 5, 2006), which provides supplemental guidance for processing claims involving the first SEC class at the Y-12 plant, there was sufficient evidence in the record to substantiate that the employee worked in a position or location linked to uranium operations or other radiological activities. EEOICPA Fin. Dec. No. 37277-2006 (Dep’t of Labor, June 27, 2006).
  • Effective June 19, 2005, the following class of employees at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant (IAAP) was added to the SEC: employees of the DOE or DOE contractors or subcontractors employed during the period March 1949 through 1974 who were employed for a number of workdays aggregating at least 250 workdays either solely under this employment or in combination with workdays within the parameters established for other classes of employees in the SEC. This class of employees has been further defined as including all workers who performed activities for the AEC at IAAP. EEOICPA Order No. 48688-2005 (Dep’t of Labor, September 14, 2005).
  • Claimant did not establish employment in AEC operations at the IAAP since there was no evidence that the duties she performed on Line 3A, Line 6 or Line 7 at the IAAP involved AEC activities as required by the SEC designation for that facility. EEOICPA Order No. 48688-2005 (Dep’t of Labor, September 14, 2005).
  • Where the record lacked evidence that employee was monitored through the use of dosimetry badges but employee worked at the Paducah gaseous diffusion plant during a time period when, according to a DOE-sponsored report, some or all employees were issued dosimetry badges, the dosimetry badge requirement for SEC membership was satisfied. EEOICPA Fin. Dec. No. 54503-2004 (Dep’t of Labor, September 23, 2004).
  • The evidence showed that employee worked six eight-hour shifts per week at the Y-12 facility, from November 1944 through October 31, 1945. This period of employment equals more than 250 workdays at Y-12 between March 1943 and December 1947. In addition, the employee worked in a job analyzing uranium content and wore a dosimetry badge. This evidence was sufficient to show that the employee qualified as a member of the first SEC class at the Y-12 facility. EEOICPA Fin. Dec. No. 72524-2006 (Dep’t of Labor, April 13, 2006).
  • Employee who lived and worked at the NTS for 24 hours each day for a total of 101 calendar days during the SEC period was credited with three 8-hour work days for each of those 101 days. Thus, FAB concluded that employee satisfied the 250-work-day requirement of the NTS SEC. EEOICPA Fin. Dec. No. 72816-2007 (Dep’t of Labor, April 7, 2008).
  • Based on his job category as security guard, employee was considered to be an eligible member of the class of employees who worked at LANL from March 15, 1943 through December 31, 1975 that was added to the SEC. EEOICPA Fin. Dec. No. 82961-2008 (Dep’t of Labor, March 27, 2008).

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Specified cancers

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