Nuclear weapons workers get chance at compensation

[seemslikeadream]

Posted on Mon, Nov. 15, 2004

Associated Press


ST. LOUIS - Thousands of former nuclear weapons workers in Missouri and Kansas have another shot at compensation for illnesses resulting from radiation exposure under a reformed federal program.

Those workers now may be eligible for $250,000 compensation under a revision to the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Act.

Last month, Congress tweaked the program and moved it from the Department of Energy to the Department of Labor, in response to criticisms that the program was ineffective, sluggish, and not keeping pace with applications for compensation.

The changes also require the government, not contractors who ran the nuclear sites, to pay the bills.

Worker advocates say some people deemed eligible for compensation were not getting paid because the contractors are long gone. In other cases, the government could not compel contractors to pay because they are privately insured.

more
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/10189194.htm