Labor Department to Explain Recent Changes Expanding Compensation for Energy Employee Illnesses

INDEPENDENCE, Ohio -- U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) officials will answer questions about recent amendments to the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA) at a town hall meeting April 26 at the Holiday Inn in Independence, Ohio.

Claimants may now be eligible for compensation even if they worked outside the period of weapons-related production originally covered under Part B of the act.  Recent EEOICPA amendments expand coverage under Part B to claimants who worked at certain facilities identified by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) as having potential for the existence of significant residual radiation contamination.  Information will be provided on reopening cases originally denied under Part B based on employment dates now considered covered under the new program amendments.

Atomic Weapons Employer (AWE) sites identified by NIOSH as having significant residual radioactive contamination include the following facilities in Ohio:  Alba Craft Shop; Associated Aircraft Tool and Manufacturing Co.; B & T Metals; Baker Brothers; Battelle Laboratories (West Jefferson); Brush Beryllium (Cleveland); General Electric Co.; Harshaw Chemical Co.; Herring-Hall-Marvin Safe Co.; Horizons, Inc.; Magnus Brass Co.; McKinney Tool and Manufacturing Co.; Monsanto Chemical Co.; Painesville Site (Diamond Magnesium Co.); and Tocco Induction Heating Division.