FEDERAL EMPLOYEES ALLOWED FEDERAL COURT REVIEW OF RADIATION CLAIMS

Thousands of federal employees who were sickened or have died due to their exposure to radiation and radioactive materials at certain federal nuclear weapons plants are allowed to pursue their claims into federal court once those claims have been fully denied by the US Department of Labor (USDOL).  The USDOL is the responsible federal agency charged with administering compensation benefits to those employees.  That federal program is called the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act or EEOICPA.

Generally under the EEOICPA those federal employees or their survivors are entitled to a lump sum compensation payment of $150,000 and medical expenses.  Almost the entire claims process is within the exclusive control of the USDOL Office of Workers' Compensation Program; otherwise known as the OWCP.

The OWCP is also the same government agency that processes all the job injury claims for all other federal employees.  However for all those other federal employees, they are in turn barred by federal law from any right to take their injury claim to a federal court of law if the OWCP denies their claims.

That law does not apply to EEOICPA claims; the radiation claims.  Federal employees claiming compensation for radiation illnesses or death are specifically permitted to appeal their claims to a federal court of law if the OWCP denies their claims.  To do so, the federal employee or their survivors must file their appeal in a federal court within 60 days of the final OWCP decision on their claim. Title 42 U.S.C. 7385s-6 provides that the employee can file in their choice of the district in which the injury was sustained, the employee lives, the survivor lives, or the District of Columbia.

Neither the USDOL nor the US Congress provides any clear explanation why one group of federal employees injured on the job are allowed to go to federal court on their claims if denied by OWCP, but another group of similarly situated federal employees injured on the job are not permitted to go to federal court on their claims if denied by OWCP.

The fact that a certain group of federal employees covered under the OWCP are allowed to take their claims to federal court while a large majority of federal employees are not, is also apparently not widely known.  As of May 10, 2007 almost 146,000 radiation claims had been filed with the vast majority or approximately 116,000 radiation claims being denied by the OWCP.  A subsequent review of reported federal courts show that of those 116,000 claims denied by the OWCP, only three (3) have been reported as appealed to a federal court.  Of those 3 federal appeals; two of the claimants tried to file without benefit of an attorney and their appeals were thrown out of federal court upon request of the OWCP.  Of the remaining one federal appeal reported, that claimant was represented by an attorney.  The OWCP also tried to have that claim thrown out as well; however the court refused and allowed the represented federal employee to proceed with his appeal.

Federal employees who have been sickened or have died as result of their on the job radiation exposures face a difficult, complicated, uphill battle in order to prove their claims for compensation. (See also the prior news reports linking the USDOL Secretary of Labor and the White House in a scheme to limit OWCP payouts to thousands of sick and dying federal weapons workers. Rocky Mountain News March 10, 2007)

If denied, federal workers face an equally daunting task of filing in federal court.  An improper filing can result in their claims being thrown out of court.  If you or soemone you know have question regarding your radiation claim or other OWCP federal workers' compensation claims, please feel free to contact me for assistance.