OWCP News Release: [09/16/2010]
Contact Name: Jesse Lawder Michael Volpe

Phone Number: (202) 693-4659 (202) 693-3984
Release Number: 10-1291-DAL

 

WASHINGTON —The U.S. Department of Labor will host a traveling resource center on Sept. 21 in Santa Fe, N.M., to provide information about a new class of former employees at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in Los Alamos, N.M., that was recently added to the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act's Special Exposure Cohort. 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 July 13 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 Los Alamos National Laboratory from March 15, 1943, through Dec. 31, 1975, 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 $212 million in compensation and medical benefits has been paid to more than 2,100 eligible Los Alamos National Laboratory claimants under the EEOICPA, while more than $6.1 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 Espanola Resource Center toll-free at 866-272-3622. This event is open to the public and pre-registration is not required.

TRAVELING RESOURCE
CENTER DATE & TIME:

Tuesday, Sept. 21
8 a.m. to 6 p.m. MDT

LOCATION:

The Lodge at Santa Fe
750 N. St. Francis Drive
Santa Fe, NM 87501

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