If you’ve been exposed to radiation or toxic substances at work and got ill as a result, you may be entitled to compensation.
The financial consequences of a radiation-related illness can be devastating. Fortunately, the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Act (EEOICPA) provides benefits to eligible workers who fall under the Special Exposure Cohort (SEC) classification. Don’t fret if you’ve been denied on your first application for benefits. Our lawyers are standing by to gather the required evidence and appeal the decision.
What is the Special Exposure Cohort?
Under the EEOICPA, there is a specific class of employees eligible to receive benefits without undergoing the dose reconstruction process. This class is referred to as the Special Exposure Cohort.
The SEC covers employees who have at least one of the 22 SEC Cancers and have worked for a given period at any SEC facility.
What Are the 22 SEC Cancers?
The SEC Cancers include bone cancer, renal cancer, leukemia (excluding chronic lymphocytic leukemia), provided the onset of the disease was at least two years after first exposure, and lung cancer (excluding lung cancer discovered during or after a post-mortem exam).
For the following diseases, their onset must be within at least five years after the first exposure:
- Multiple myeloma
- Lymphomas (other than Hodgkin’s disease)
- Primary cancer of the:
- Bile ducts
- Brain
- Breast (female or male)
- Colon
- Esophagus
- Gall bladder
- Liver (except if cirrhosis or hepatitis B is indicated)
- Ovary
- Pancreas
- Pharynx
- Salivary gland
- Small intestine
- Stomach
- Thyroid
- Urinary bladder
What Are the SEC Facilities?
The SEC Facilities are the sites where you worked, as a result of which you got one of the 22 SEC Cancers enumerated above. They are:
- Allied Chemical Corporation
- Amchitka Island Nuclear Explosion Site
- Ames Laboratory
- Area IV of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory
- Argonne National Laboratory-West
- Baker Brothers
- Battelle Laboratories – King Avenue
- Bethlehem Steel Company
- Blockson Chemical Company
- Brookhaven National Laboratory
- BWX Technologies, Inc. (Virginia)
- Canoga Avenue Facility
- Clarksville Modification Center (formerly Clarksville Facility)
- Clinton Engineer Works (CEW)
- Combustion Engineering
- Connecticut Aircraft Nuclear Engine Laboratory (CANEL)
- De Soto Avenue Facility
- Dow Chemical Company (Pittsburg, CA)
- Dow Chemical Corporation (Madison Site)
- Downey Facility
- Electro Metallurgical
- Feed Materials Production Center (FMPC)
- General Atomics
- General Electric Company (Ohio)
- Grand Junction Facilities
- Hanford
- Harshaw Chemical Company
- Hood Building
- Hooker Electrochemical
- Horizons, Inc.
- Idaho National Laboratory
- Iowa Ordnance Plant
- Joslyn Manufacturing and Supply Co.
- Kellex/Pierpont
- Lake Ontario Ordnance Works
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
- Linde Ceramics Plant
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL)
- Mallinckrodt Chemical Works, Destrehan Street Facility
- Medina Modification Center (formerly Medina Facility)
- Metallurgical Laboratory
- Metals and Controls Corp.
- Monsanto Chemical Company (now listed as The Dayton Project)
- Mound Plant
- Nevada Test Site (NTS)
- Norton Co.
- Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corp. (NUMEC)–Apollo
- Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corp. (NUMEC)–Parks Township
- Nuclear Metals, Inc.
- Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant (K-25 Site)
- Oak Ridge Hospital
- Oak Ridge Institute for Nuclear Studies (Oak Ridge Institute for Science Education or ORISE)
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL/X-10)
- Pacific Proving Grounds
- Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant
- Pantex Plant
- Piqua Organic Moderated Reactor
- Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant
- Revere Copper and Brass
- Rocky Flats Plant
- S-50 Oak Ridge Thermal Diffusion Plant
- SAM Laboratories, Columbia University
- Sandia National Laboratories (Livermore, California)
- Sandia National Laboratories (New Mexico)
- Savannah River Site
- Simonds Saw and Steel Co.
- Spencer Chemical Co., Jayhawks Works
- St. Louis Airport Storage Site (SLAPS)
- Standard Oil Development Co. of NJ
- Texas City Chemicals, Inc.
- Tyson Valley Powder Farm
- University of Rochester Atomic Energy Project
- Ventron Corporation
- Vitro Manufacturing (Canonsburg)
- W. R. Grace (Erwin, Tennessee)
- W.R. Grace and Company (Curtis Bay, Maryland)
- Wah Chang
- West Valley Demonstration Project
- Westinghouse Electric Corp. (New Jersey)
- Winchester Engineering and Analytical Center
- Y-12 Plant
How Can an Attorney Help You Claim Benefits under the SEC?
If you can prove that you got one of the 22 cancers and worked at any of the SEC facilities, the law already raises a presumption of causation. This means that you don’t need to prove that your employment caused cancer separately.
At Stephens & Stephens, our EEOICPA attorneys can help take care of the complicated legal, procedural, and technical matters so you can focus on making a full recovery from your illness. Feel free to call us anytime at 716-852-7590 for a quick review of your case!