OWCP News Release: [02/01/2012]
Contact Name: Mary Brandenberger Egan Reich
Phone Number: (202) 693-4651 (202) 693-4960
Email Address: Brandenberger.Mary@dol.gov Reich.Egan.2@dol.gov
Release Number: 12-0171-PHI
US Department of Labor notifies former New Jersey nuclear weapons employees of energy workers’ compensation program
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor is notifying former workers of 26 New Jersey facilities about benefits that may be available to them under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act administered by the department’s Division of Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation. Survivors of qualified workers also may be entitled to benefits.
Former employees of the following sites may be eligible for EEOICPA compensation and medical benefits if they worked at the facility during a period of covered employment: International Nickel Co., Bayonne Laboratories in Bayonne, Westinghouse Electric Corp. and Bloomfield Tool Co. in Bloomfield, U.S. Pipe and Foundry in Burlington, Aluminum Co. of America in Garwood, National Beryllia in Haskell, Kellex/Pierpont in Jersey City, Chemical Construction Co. and Standard Oil Development Co. of N. J. in Linden, Middlesex Municipal Landfill, Middlesex Sampling Plant , and United Lead Co. in Middlesex, Bell Telephone Laboratories in Murray Hill, New Brunswick Laboratory in New Brunswick, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory in Princeton, Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, Maywood Chemical Works in Maywood, American Peddinghaus Corp. in Moonachle, Baker and Williams Co. and Wykoff Steel Co. in Newark, Bowen Laboratory in North Branch, J. T. Baker Chemical Co. in Phillipsburg, Callite Tungsten Co. in Union City, Tube Reducing Co. in Wallington, Rare Earths/W. R. Grace in Wayne, and Vitro Corp. of American in West Orange.
The department urges all potential eligible former workers and their survivors to contact its New York Resource Center at 800-941-3943 or visit DEEOIC’s website at http://www.dol.gov/owcp/energy/ for more information.
On July 31, 2001, the Department of Labor began administering Part B of the EEOICPA. Part B covers current and former workers diagnosed with cancer, beryllium disease or silicosis caused by exposure to radiation, beryllium or silica while working directly for the U.S. Department of Energy, that department’s contractors or subcontractors, a designated Atomic Weapons Employer or a beryllium vendor. Individuals or their survivors found eligible under Part B may receive a lump sum compensation payment of $150,000 and medical expenses for their covered conditions. Part E, created by an amendment to the EEOICPA on Oct. 28, 2004, and administered by the Labor Department, provides federal compensation and medical benefits to DOE contractors and subcontractors who worked at covered facilities during a covered time period and sustained an illness as a result of exposure to toxic substances.
In support of the department’s implementation of the EEOICPA, DOE maintains a list of covered facilities under the EEOICPA, which is periodically updated and published in the Federal Register. DOE also maintains a searchable covered facility database, which contains additional information pertaining to each of the facilities, including years of covered activity and an overview of the type of work performed. The database can be accessed online at http://www.hss.doe.gov/healthsafety/fwsp/advocacy/faclist/findfacility.cfm.
It is the Department of Labor’s goal to disseminate information concerning EEOICPA benefits to potentially eligible claimants across the country. To aid in this effort, the department maintains 11 resource centers nationwide to provide in-person and telephone-based assistance to individuals regardless of where they live. To date, the department has delivered more than $10 million in EEOICPA compensation and medical benefits to 114 eligible claimants living in N. J., and more than $7.7 billion nationwide.
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