OWCP News Release: [07/10/2012]
Contact Name: Jesse Lawder

Phone Number: (202) 693-4659
Email Address: lawder.jesse@dol.gov
Release Number: 12-1367-NEW

US Department of Labor to participate in July 17 town hall meeting in Upton, NY, to assist radiological workers

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor and other federal agencies will participate in a town hall meeting on July 17 in Upton, N.Y., to provide former employees of the Brookhaven National Laboratory with information about a new class of employees recently added to the Special Exposure Cohort of the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act. Staff from the department’s Traveling Resource Center will be available the same day to assist individuals with filing claims under the EEOICPA.

The meeting is being hosted by the Joint Outreach Task Group, of which the department’s Division of Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation is a member. Representatives of the group’s other members will be present at the meeting to answer questions. Those include officials from the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the Ombudsman to NIOSH for the EEOICPA, the Labor Department’s Office of the Ombudsman for the EEOICPA and DOE’s Former Worker Medical Screening Program.

The EEOICPA provides compensation and medical benefits to employees who became ill as a result of working in the nuclear weapons industry or with radiological materials. 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 May 11, 2012, 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 DOE, its predecessor agencies, and their contractors and subcontractors who worked at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton from Jan. 1, 1980, through Dec. 31, 1993, 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 June 10, 2012. 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 $110.8 million in EEOICPA compensation and medical benefits has been paid to 1,040 eligible Brookhaven National Laboratory claimants, while more than $8.2 billion has been paid nationwide. For additional information about the upcoming town hall meeting or to schedule an appointment for claim-filing assistance, contact the department’s New York Resource Center toll-free at 800-941-3943. This event is open to the public, and pre-registration is not required. All attendees must bring photo identification and check in with security at the front gate.

TOWN HALL MEETING
DATE/TIME:

Tuesday, July 17
6 p.m. EDT

LOCATION:

Brookhaven National Laboratory
Berkner Hall Auditorium (Building 488)
11 Brookhaven Ave.
Upton, N.Y. 11973

TRAVELING RESOURCE CENTER
ROOMS/TIMES:

9 a.m.-1 p.m. EDT in Brookhaven Center’s South Room
5-8 p.m. EDT in the Berkner Hall Auditorium (Building 488)

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