| U.S. Department of Labor | Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs Division of Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Washington, DC 20210 |  |
SUBJECT: Ames Laboratory Special Exposure Cohort (SEC) Class from January 1, 1971 through December 31, 1989.
The purpose of this Circular is to notify all Division of Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation (DEEOIC) staff of the SEC class designation for the Ames Laboratory located in Ames, Iowa.
Pursuant to the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 (EEOICPA) and 42 C.F.R. Part 83, a petition was filed on behalf of workers at the Ames Laboratory in Ames, Iowa to be added to the SEC.
The decision to initiate this petition occurred after the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) determined that it could not reconstruct a dose under 42 C.F.R. § 83.13. NIOSH submitted its findings to the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health (“the Board”) on December 13, 2017. On January 3, 2018, the Acting Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) received the Board’s recommendation to add to the SEC a class of employees who worked at the Ames Laboratory in Ames, Iowa.
On February 1, 2018, the Acting Secretary of HHS designated the following class for addition to the SEC in a report to Congress:
All employees of the Department of Energy, its predecessor agencies, and their contractors and subcontractors who worked in any area of the Ames Laboratory in Ames, Iowa during the period of January 1, 1971 through December 31, 1989, for a number of work days aggregating at least 250 work days, occurring solely under this employment, or in combination with work days within the parameters established for one or more other classes of employees in the Special Exposure Cohort.
A copy of the Acting Secretary’s letter to Congress recommending the designation is included as Attachment 1. Although Congress had the authority to reject the recommendation within a 30-day time frame, Congress took no action. Therefore, the SEC designation for this class became effective as of March 3, 2018, which was 30 days after the Acting Secretary of HHS designated the class for addition to the SEC in the report to Congress.
This is the fifth SEC class for workers at the Ames Laboratory. Prior classes were the subject of EEOICPA Bulletin Nos. 07-01, 08-06, and 11-02 as well as EEOICPA Circular No. 12-03. All three bulletins are subsumed under EEOICPA Circular NO. 12-03, which covers employees who worked at the site from August 13, 1942 through December 31, 1970. This circular is to be used in conjunction with all prior guidance.
If the employee does not have 250 work days at the Ames Laboratory during the period noted, the case file must be reviewed to determine if additional days in the SEC can be found by combining days from employment meeting the criteria for other SEC classes and aggregating them together to meet the 250-workday requirement.
While a new SEC class has been added for employees who worked at the Ames Laboratory, NIOSH intends to use any available internal and external monitoring data that is available for an individual claim (and that can be interpreted using existing NIOSH dose reconstruction processes or procedures). This means that for claims that do not satisfy the SEC membership criteria, a partial dose reconstruction is to be performed by NIOSH.
A copy of the NIOSH letter to affected employees at the facility is included as Attachment 2.
This Circular should be used in conjunction with the Federal (EEOICPA) Procedure Manual (PM) Chapter 14.8. A screening worksheet is included as Attachment 3.
As outlined in the Federal (EEOICPA) PM, the district offices and Final Adjudication Branch (FAB) offices are to use the comprehensive list provided as the basis for an initial screening of cases associated with all SEC classes. For screening only, the results reflected on the initial screening worksheet must be recorded in ECS using the Screening (SEC/PER/Other) Navigation Panel. From the Screening (SEC/PER/Other) Navigation Panel on the case, select the ‘Create’ button. Based on the result of the review and in accordance with the ‘SEC Class Screening Worksheet’, select the appropriate result of “Likely” if the case is likely an SEC, “Unlikely” if it is unlikely that the case will be an SEC or “Development Needed” if development is needed. The date of the signed worksheet is recorded in the “Date” field. The reason associated with the SEC is selected in the “Reason” field. For this SEC, the reason is “Rvwd per Circular 18-03, Ames Laboratory (1/1/1971 – 12/31/1989).” If the District Office and FAB staff determine that the case is going to be awarded based on an SEC, a positive SEC causation path must created in the Causation tab found under Development Components in ECS. In the SEC causation path, select the SER and SEF blocks, and enter the dates and the SER Reason and SEF Reason “Rvwd per Circular 18-03, Ames Laboratory (1/1/1971 – 12/31/1989)”
RACHEL P. LEITON
Director, Division of Energy Employees
Occupational Illness Compensation
Attachments
Distribution List No. 1: Claims Examiners, Supervisory Claims Examiners, Technical Assistants, Customer Service Representatives, Fiscal Officers, FAB District Managers, Operation Chiefs, Hearing Representatives, District Office Mail & File Section