Welcome
In 2000 the United States Congress admitted that the government had put Cold War nuclear weapons workers in harm’s way as they did their vital work. Congress passed the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA) to compensate these workers, or their survivors, for the harm done. Unfortunately, pursuing a claim under EEOICPA is a cumbersome and difficult process. Many claimants who should be paid give up when their claim is denied incorrectly. The Energy Employees Claimants Assistance Project, a non-profit organization, assists claimants with the process.
What's New at EECAP!
On October 11-13, 2011 several ANWAG members visited Congress and attended a meeting with DOL to discuss problems with EEOICPA. ANWAG reports on the DOL meeting.
On May 11, 2010 EECAP filed a Freedom of Information Act request with Department of Labor(DOL) for their Claims Examiner Training Manual. The manual was received on August 25, 2011 and is available on EECAP's website. Advocates were dismayed by the use of the names of violent fictitious characters for claimants and doctors. DOL issued a statement on September 27 stating that the training manual was prepared by a former contractor several years ago and that the contractor had used poor judgment in the use of the names.
DOL also stated that the names in question could be perceived as insensitive and had been removed from the manual. DOL promised to send revised chapters for EECAP's website. As of December 4, 2011 EECAP had not received these. The chapters containing the offending language will remain on EECAP's website until DOL provides us with the replacements and we can verify the changes have been made.
EECAP is pleased that DOL has removed these possibly prejudicial names from the material they use to train Claims Examiners and the Final Adjudication Branch. However, there seems to be some confusion on whether the contractor or DOL added the names in question. Metadata from the chapters containing the offending names indicate that the author of the two chapters is the Branch of Outreach and Training (BOTA), which is an internal DOL department and the last two people to modify those chapters are DOL employees. Hopefully, DOL will clarify this.
On September 30 Congressman Ed Whitfield of Kentucky, whose district encompasses the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion plant, issued a press release on the DOL Basic Claims Examiner Training Manual controversy . He also sent a letter to Secretary Solis on the issue and the need for greater oversight, transparency and accountability for EEOICPA.
EECAP News Stories on the Name Controversy
| Atomic workers ridiculed in training manual-Dayton Daily News September 27, 2011 |
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Advocates for US atomic workers aghast at fake names in
manual; 'Nightmare's' Krueger appears-Washington Post
September 27, 2011 Atomic worker advocates aghast at names in manual-Updated by the Associated Press September 27, 2011 Test site claimants depicted as horror movie characters in training manual-Las Vegas Review-Journal September 28, 2011 Labor edits its training manual-Dayton Daily News September 28, 2011 |
NEW! Interactive Maps
After years of trying EECAP is now beginning to use interactive maps to display EEOICPA data on payments, claimants and facilities. A picture is worth a thousand words. Try it out!
Donate to EECAP Online
Has EECAP helped you with your claim? Do you appreciate the work EECAP is doing? Please make a donation so we can continue to help these workers who sacrificed their health, and the families of those who sacrificed their lives, in the U.S. nuclear weapons program. Together we can help these heroes.
Click the Donate button below to make a contribution to EECAP with a secure PayPal transaction. You don not need to have a PayPal account to use this service. Donations are tax deductible. Be sure to include your name and address so we can mail you a receipt.
You may also mail a contribution to EECAP, P.O. Box 552, Yellow Springs, Ohio 45387.
Thanks so much!
Photos courtesy of Department of Energy