Department of Labor has meetings Wednesday for nuclear weapons workers

The U.S. Department of Labor will host three town hall meetings on Wednesday in Oak Ridge to provide information about the medical benefits provided under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act.

The EEOICPA provides compensation and medical benefits to employees who became ill as a result of working in the nuclear weapons industry. At the meetings, specific information will be discussed concerning home health care services, the Privacy Act, and how to better serve EEOICPA claimants.

The meetings are scheduled for 9:30 a.m., 4 p.m., and 6 p.m. Wednesday.

An additional town hall meeting at noon the same day will provide former Oak Ridge National Laboratory (X-10) employees with information about a new class of employees recently added to the Special Exposure Cohort of the EEOICPA. 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 act.

On Dec. 7, 2012, 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 of the U.S. Department of Energy, its predecessor agencies, and their contractors and subcontractors who worked in any area at ORNL or X-10 in Oak Ridge from June 17, 1943, through July 31, 1955, for at least 250 work days occurring either solely under this employment or in combination with work days within other classes of employees in the SEC. This designation became effective on Jan. 6, 2013. The Labor Department’s role is to adjudicate these claims based on the new SEC designation as determined and introduced by HHS.

So far, $497.6 million in EEOICPA compensation and medical benefits has been paid to 3,886 ORNL or X-10 claimants, while more than $1.6 billion has been paid to claimants living in Tennessee.

For additional information about the upcoming town hall meetings or to schedule an appointment for claim-filing assistance, contact the department’s Oak Ridge Resource Center toll-free at (866) 481-0411. These meetings are open to the public, and pre-registration is not required. Space is limited and seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis.

The medical benefits town hall meetings are scheduled at 9:30 a.m., 4 p.m., and 6 p.m. Wednesday at the New Hope Center at the Y-12 National Security Complex, 602 Scarboro Road.

The SEC town hall starts at noon at New Hope Center.