OWCP News Release: [09/07/2010]
Contact Name: Jesse Lawder Michael Volpe

Phone Number: (202) 693-4659 (202) 693-3984
Release Number: 10-1250-NEW

 

WASHINGTON —The U.S. Department of Labor is notifying all former University of Rochester Atomic Energy Project employees who worked at the Rochester, N.Y., site for a period of time between 1943 and 1971 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 July 13, 2010, 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 of the U.S. Department of Energy, its predecessor agencies, and their contractors and subcontractors who worked at the University of Rochester Atomic Energy Project in Rochester from Sept. 1, 1943, through Oct. 30, 1971, 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 Aug. 12, 2010. 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 billion in compensation and medical benefits has been paid nationwide under the EEOICPA. For additional information about the new SEC at the University of Rochester Atomic Energy Project site or to schedule an appointment for claim-filing assistance, contact the Labor Department’s New York Resource Center toll-free at 800-941-3943.

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