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Below are the head notes for the FAB decisions and orders relating to the topic heading, Atomic Weapons Employers. The head notes are grouped under the following subheadings: Contractors and subcontractors, Designation by DOE, Employees during period of residual contamination, and Subsidiaries. To view a particular decision or order in its entirety, click on the hyperlink for that decision or order at the end of the head note.

Contractors and subcontractors

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Designation by DOE

  • Employee who was employed at the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) facility on Van Ness Street in Washington, DC from 1931 to 1948 was not a “covered employee” under Part B. Although NBS was initially designated as an AWE facility by DOE, its designation was removed in a notice published in the Federal Register on November 30, 2005. EEOICPA Fin. Dec. No. 10083-2007 (Dep’t of Labor, June 6, 2007).

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Employees during period of residual contamination

  • Only employees hired directly by a subsequent owner or operator of an AWE facility during a period of residual contamination are covered under Part B of the Act. Employees of contractors and subcontractors of a subsequent owner or operator are therefore not entitled to compensation under Part B. EEOICPA Fin. Dec. No. 2158-2003 (Dep’t of Labor, July 11, 2008).
  • Employee did not meet the definition of an atomic weapons employee because his employment at the facility occurred subsequent to the covered period during which weapons-related production occurred. Also, NIOSH’s report on residual contamination at AWE facilities did not support a covered employment period during which there was potential for significant residual contamination at the facility. EEOICPA Fin. Dec. No. 4898-2004 (Dep’t of Labor, March 8, 2005).
  • Only employees who worked at the Bethlehem Steel facility from 1949 through 1952, which is the period it processed or produced material that emitted radiation and was used in the production of an atomic weapon, meet the definition of atomic weapons employees. NIOSH has determined in its reports on residual radiation contamination at AWE facilities that there is no potential for significant residual radioactive contamination at the Bethlehem Steel facility after 1952. EEOICPA Fin. Dec. No. 114870-2011 (Dep’t of Labor, July 1, 2011).

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Subsidiaries

  • Due to the separate and distinct nature of a wholly-owned subsidiary and the strict regulatory and statutory definition of an AWE facility, a wholly-owned subsidiary of a DOE-designated AWE that is not itself designated as an AWE by the DOE cannot be considered an AWE. EEOICPA Fin. Dec. No. 4898-2004 (Dep’t of Labor, March 8, 2005).