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The federal government should take steps to make a program for ill nuclear workers easier to understand and to contact more workers or their survivors who might be eligible for compensation, said an annual report to Congress. A large percentage of the people who contact the Office of the Ombudsman for Part E of the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program "simply want assistance processing their claim," said the office in its recently released report on 2008. Others have complaints about the limits placed on benefits to survivors if the worker has died, their treatment by the office that administers the program or about diseases they believe have been incorrectly excluded from the program. Part E of the program offers workers at Hanford and other nuclear sites up to $250,000 for wage loss and impairment caused by exposure to toxic substances, which could include radiation, chemicals, solvents, acids and metals.

The U.S. Department of Labor said it has paid more than $100 million in compensation and medical benefits to Florida residents under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA). The act was created to assist individuals who became ill as a result of working in the atomic weapons industry. Survivors of such individuals may also be eligible for benefits. Since the implementation of the act, the Labor Department has paid 48,510 claimants more than $4.5 billion in compensation and medical benefits nationwide.

The U.S. Department of Labor has announced that all former Vitro Manufacturing workers have now been added to the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act's (EEOICPA) Special Exposure Cohort (SEC). The EEOICPA provides compensation and medical benefits to employees who became ill as a result of working in the nuclear weapons industry. Survivors of qualified employees may also be entitled to benefits. An employee 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. The new SEC class of former employees includes all Atomic Weapons Employer employees who worked at Vitro Manufacturing in Canonsburg, Pa., from August13, 1942, through December 31, 1957, for at least 250 workdays, occurring either solely under this employment or in combination with workdays within one or more other classes of employees in the SEC.

The U.S. Department of Labor today announced that it has paid more than $5 billion in compensation and medical benefits to more than 52,600 claimants nationwide under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA). This milestone coincides with the eighth anniversary of the Labor Department's administration of the EEOICPA, which provides compensation and medical benefits to employees who became ill as a result of working in the nuclear weapons industry. "I am proud to announce that the Labor Department has delivered more than $5 billion in compensation and medical benefits to deserving workers and their families during the eight years it has administered the EEOICPA," said Shelby Hallmark, acting assistant secretary of labor for employment standards. "The department is dedicated to carrying out the vital mission of this program: getting compensation and medical benefits to eligible workers and their survivors as quickly and consistently as possible. We will continue to strengthen the adjudication process, our outreach efforts and claimant services in order to carry out the EEOICPA in a manner that is consistent with the law as enacted by Congress."

The Labor Dept. announced today it had passed the $5 billion mark in compensation to claimants under the sick nuclear workers compensation program, coinciding with the 8th anniversary of DOL's administration of the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program. Despite those milestones, there continue to be complaints about the management of the program, as well as calls for legislative reform to make it easier for those made sick by the Cold War nuclear workplace to collect money and benefits. Worker advocates have raised continuing issues regarding adminstration of the federal program and still say the Labor Dept. is throwing roadblocks at claimants. Some advocates recently had a teleconference call with Labor official Rachel Leiton, but that reportedly did not resolve any ongoing issues.

On the eighth anniversary of a program to compensate ill Hanford workers or their survivors, the federal government has paid out $472 million for Hanford and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory claims. Nationwide the program has paid out $5 billion in compensation and medical claims for illnesses in World War II and Cold War workers in the nuclear weapons industry. At Hanford $389 million has been paid in compensation plus $12 million for medical bills. At PNNL $68 million has been paid in compensation and $2 million for medical bills. The Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act pays compensation of $150,000 for employees with cancer or beryllium disease believed to be caused by radiation exposure on the job. A second part of the program pays compensation up to $250,000 for a wider range of illnesses believed caused by exposure to radiation or hazardous chemicals. For more information, call the Hanford Resource Center at 946-3333 or 888-654-0014.

New legislation introduced this year could prevent problems Paul Bell, and many other former Iowa Army Ammunition Plant workers have had over the years trying to get compensation through the EEOICPA. Advertisement The Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act was passed in 2000. While amendments have been made -- and responsibility for the program has shifted from the Department of Energy to the Department of Labor -- still fewer than a third of applicants receive compensation. That's why the presidents of construction and metal trades unions and the University of Iowa Atomic Energy Commission Plant-Former Workers Program are supporting the Charlie Wolf Nuclear Employees Compensation Act that can help former workers get the payment they're due.

The Labor Dept. today released information on three more employee groups with "special exposure cohort" designations, which should make it easier for them to gain compensation under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act. In statements distributed to the news media, the Labor Dept. said it had notified the employees or their survivors of the designation, which includes a "presumption" that workplace explosure caused their illness if they were diagnosed with any of the 22 specified cancers. The newly designated special exposure cohorts were:

On the same day that the Labor Dept. announced that Tennessee had passed the $1 billion milestone in compensation and medical benefits from the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program, the federal agency announced that more than $500 milion had been paid to current and former employees (or their surviving relatives) at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Kentucky. In the release distributed to the media, it was noted that the Paducah plant over its history enriched more than 1 million tons of uranium. "We hope this aid has assisted in easing the hardships experienced by this community," Rachel Leiton of DOE said in a prepared statement.

Federal cover-up blamed for state denying workers' comp Nancy Meadows is a Cold War widow. Her husband worked at the uranium-enrichment plant near Piketon from 1955 to 1996, handling stuff that ended up in nuclear weapons. Joe Meadows and thousands of others toiled for decades amid radiation while the federal government knew -- but publicly denied -- that it was poisoning its work force. In 1999, after years of gobbling aspirin and seldom complaining, Joe Meadows died of cancer at age 60. More than two years later, federal officials admitted having exposed workers to radiation at the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant. Mrs. Meadows and other survivors of dead workers later received $150,000 each in federal compensation.

"The U.S. Department of Labor is notifying certain former Oak Ridge Hospital employees about compensation and medical benefits they may be eligible to receive. It involves all former employees who worked at the hospital between May 15, 1950, and December 31, 1959. The Department of Labor says a new class of employees has been added to the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act's (EEOICPA) Special Exposure Cohort (SEC). The EEOICPA provides compensation and medical benefits to workers who became ill due to working in the nuclear weapons industry. Survivors of qualified workers may also be entitled to benefits. "

"Three meetings have been scheduled in Kennewick to explain changes in a compensation program for ill Hanford nuclear reservation workers or their survivors. A recent change to the program should make more Hanford workers, retirees or their survivors eligible for $150,000 compensation and coverage of some medical expenses related to cancer or certain lung diseases. The meetings also will give an overview of the entire program, which provides compensation for illnesses caused by radiation or hazardous chemicals. Staff from the Hanford Resource Center will be available to help people file claims. The Department of Labor meetings are planned at 7 p.m. March 16 and at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. March 17 at the Red Lion Hotel, N. 2201 Columbia Center Blvd., Kennewick. "

"Some ill nuclear workers and their survivors continue to struggle with the claims process for compensation from the federal government, according to the annual report from the ombudsman for the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program. The report was issued a week before town hall meetings are planned in Kennewick by the U.S. Department of Labor to help ill Hanford or Pacific Northwest National Laboratory workers and their survivors. The program pays $150,000 to workers with cancer because of radiation exposure at Hanford or other Department of Energy nuclear sites and up to $250,000 for lost wages or impairment due to illnesses caused by hazardous chemical exposure. Medical costs also are covered."

"The Department of Labor has done the initial screening of about 1,200 cases that may be newly eligible for compensation because of illnesses caused by exposure to radiation at Hanford. Those include cases that had previously been denied in the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program and claims that were pending, said Rachel Leiton, director of the program division at the Department of Labor on Tuesday. "We want to make sure if (a claim) can be accepted, it's accepted as quickly as possible," she said. She spoke at the first of three meetings Tuesday and today in Kennewick to provide information about the compensation program, including new eased rules for workers with cancer or their survivors. About 125 people attended."

"The Alliance of Nuclear Worker Advocacy Groups applauded the Government Accountability Office's recommendation of an indepdendent advisory board to oversee the Dept. of Labor work in carrying out the goverment's sick nuclear work compensation program. But spokespeople within the network of advoacy groups said more needs to be done. Here is a link to the GAO report, "Energy Employees Compensation: Additional Independent Oversight and Transparency Would Improve Program's Credibility." The Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program has the subject of contention and controversy from its creation a decade ago. In a statement, Scott Yundt of Tri-Valley CARES, said: "The GAO's call for scientific oversight of Part E is no small matter. It challenges the current program leadership's understanding of the complexity of the issues and highlights their unwillingness to assure the scientific integrity of the decision. GAO's recommendations support ANWAG's contention that program decisions are often arbitrary and capricious, and without scientific basis. Moreover, it supports the advocates' concerns and those of the program's last medical director, who was forced out of his job when he raised these very issues."

"The Labor Department has released more information on toxic substances at many of the government's historic nuclear weapons facilities, and that info is expected to make it easier for sick nuclear workers and their families and advocates to research claims for compensation under EEOICPA (Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act). What's being termed an "enhanced" Site Exposure Matrices website is available by clicking here. The Alliance for Nuclear Worker Advocacy Groups issued a press release saying it was "encouraged" by the release of the exposure data, which has been used to rule on some of the claims under Part E of the program. The group is pushing for an independent oversight board to evaluate the accuracy of aspects of the proram, including the Site Exposure Matrices."

In what is being called a rare victory for whistle blowers, a U.S. Department of Labor appeals panel has ruled that a Tennessee Valley Authority contractor violated the federal whistle-blower law when it fired a Tuscumbia man 2004. In a decision that was made public today, the Department of Labor's review board ruled that James Speegle was improperly dismissed from his job as a painting foreman for Louisiana-based Stone and Webster Construction Inc., while working at Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant near Athens after reporting safety concerns to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

In what is being called a rare victory for whistle blowers, a U.S. Department of Labor appeals panel has ruled that a Tennessee Valley Authority contractor violated the federal whistle-blower law when it fired a Tuscumbia man 2004. In a decision that was made public today, the Department of Labor's review board ruled that James Speegle was improperly dismissed from his job as a painting foreman for Louisiana-based Stone and Webster Construction Inc., while working at Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant near Athens after reporting safety concerns to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.