US Department of Labor notifies former Simonds Saw and Steel employees of inclusion in new EEOICPA Special Exposure Cohort designation

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor is notifying all former Simonds Saw and Steel Co. employees who worked at the company's site in Lockport, N.Y., about a new class of employees added to the Special Exposure Cohort of the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act. The EEOICPA provides compensation and medical benefits to workers who became ill as a result of working in the nuclear weapons industry. Survivors of qualified workers may also be entitled to benefits.

A worker 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. On Jan. 6, 2011, the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services designated the following class of employees as an addition to the SEC: all employees who worked at the Simonds Saw and Steel Co., an Atomic Weapons Employer, in Lockport from Jan. 1, 1948, through Dec. 31, 1957, for at least 250 workdays occurring either solely under this employment or in combination with workdays within other classes of employees in the SEC. This designation became effective on Feb. 5. The Labor Department's role is to adjudicate these claims based on the new SEC class definitions as determined and introduced by HHS.

To date, more than $10.4 million in compensation and medical benefits has been paid to 116 eligible Simonds Saw and Steel Co. claimants under the EEOICPA, while more than $6.7 billion in compensation and medical benefits has been paid nationwide. For additional information about the new SEC or to schedule an appointment for claim-filing assistance, contact the department's New York Resource Center toll-free at 800-941-3943.