Quote of the day
"We continue to seek ways to further improve the claim process."
Michael Biddle, spokesman for the bureaucracy-hobbled Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act, which is intended to compensate former nuclear weapons workers who are now ill due to radiation exposure.
Former Miss Atomic Bomb Contestant Describes Bureaucratic Hell
A cancer-stricken 82-year-old former Tennessee nuclear weapons worker—a “Miss Atomic Bomb” pageant contestant, no less—and others like her talk about their long struggle to collect medical benefits from the federal Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program. By Frank Munger, Knoxville News Sentinel [With Photos and Video] Go to the Full Story…
NIOSH Recommends Adding Former Iowa Lab Workers to Rolls
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health recommends adding former workers at an Ames, Iowa laboratory to the group of scientists and other lab employees who were deemed highly exposed to radioactive residual thorium between 1942 and 1955. The designation could allow them to apply for federal compensation. By AP via WQAD-TV (Moline, Ill.)
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Celebrated Alabama Librarian Gets Another Shot at Workers’ Comp
An Alabama appellate court orders a lower court to review part of its ruling on a workers’ compensation case involving a retired, 42-year Huntsville librarian who was among the first black employees to integrate the staff of the city-county library system. By Bob Lowry, Huntsville Times
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Soldiers’ Advocates Unhappy with Disability Benefits
So far this fiscal year, 328 U.S. Army Europe soldiers have had their workers’ comp claims reviewed by officials to determine whether the soldiers can return to duty and what compensation they may be owed. Many reportedly believe they are not being paid what they deserve. By Nancy Montgomery, Stars and Stripes
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PPD Payments Up in Washington State
In Washington, payments for permanent partial disability to workers and pension benefits have increased to reflect higher average Washington wages, which rose from $776 a week in 2005 to $818 a week in 2006. By Pratik Joshi, Tri-City Herald (Kennewick, Wash.)
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Jurors Award Teacher Workers’ Comp for Mold Exposure
A Washington, D.C.-area teacher who claims she developed so many physical and neurological problems as a result of mold in a portable classroom that she had to leave her job, can collect workers’ compensation from the state of Maryland, jurors conclude. The Maryland Workers’ Compensation Commission last year ruled that she did not have an occupational disease. By Daniel de Vise, Washington Post
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