The Knoxville News Sentinel

Sick workers program moved
Congress agrees to shift process to Labor Department

By RICHARD POWELSON, powelsonr@shns.com
October 9, 2004

WASHINGTON - Congressional leaders, unhappy with the Department of Energy's
slow process for helping its sick, former contract employees to win
workers' compensation, have agreed to move the program to the Department of
Labor.

Over three years, DOE had helped only 31 of nearly 25,000 applicants to
complete the process and get compensation, according to a report in August.
Of those, 12 formerly worked at Oak Ridge weapons plants, DOE reported
earlier.

 The House planned to approve the plan late Friday as part of a defense
bill. The Senate expects to pass it soon.

Sick worker advocates in Tennessee hailed the agreement in Congress, which
guarantees federal payments approved by the Labor Department.

"We're very pleased with this," said Janet Michel, who has multiple health
problems and blames her disability on her former work at Oak Ridge's K-25
plant. She has traveled to Washington twice in the past year, attending
about 30 meetings, to lobby staff and members of Congress to take the
program away from DOE.

"This eliminates the adversarial process," Michel said. "The Department of
Labor is not going to be defensive" with DOE's former contract workers.

U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., was among strong promoters of the
change despite opposition from DOE and elsewhere in the Bush Administration.

"There are more than 4,800 (Cold War) veterans in Tennessee who are sick
and have been getting the run-around from the Department of Energy,"
Alexander said. "The Department of Labor currently runs several workers'
compensation programs and is well-equipped to handle these claims."

The new law will use a disability formula to determine how much
compensation to pay sick workers for long-term illnesses or diseases blamed
on their exposure to toxic or radioactive materials at federal plants. The
payment limit for the most severely disabled person (or one's survivor)
during usual employment years (before age 65) is $250,000.

Only two Tennessee members, Reps. Zach Wamp and John J. Duncan Jr., had
taken a stand to keep the program at DOE with changes to speed up claims.

Wamp, a Chattanooga Republican whose district includes Oak Ridge, said DOE
administrators had "so pathetic" a record early in the program that recent
improvements were too late to shift the tide in Congress.

"I really hope this helps" workers, Wamp said. "I'm going to try my best to
make it work. This is one of those things that could be very good, but
you're not really going to know for some time."

In talking to DOE and the Labor Department, he said, both are cooperating
with the expected transition. He said the Labor Department believes some
claims will be paid faster than in the past.

Duncan, a Knoxville Republican, said his goal was simply to speed up
claims. "I will certainly work with the Department of Labor to ensure
workers receive the best service possible."

Richard Miller, a policy analyst with the Government Accountability Project
in Washington, has worked for many years, including formerly with Oak Ridge
unions, to win benefits for sick workers.

"I'm very happy with this" congressional agreement, Miller said. "This is a
big deal. This is 80 percent of what we wanted. This salvages the program
in a way that provides equity and provides a simple way to administer it."

Harry Williams, a disabled former security worker from Oak Ridge's K-25
plant and an activist to help other sick ex-employees, said Friday he was
studying the agreement. "It's a step in the right direction to take it away
from DOE and to the Labor Department. There's a lot of good-hearted thought
in this, which we (sick workers) appreciate."

Richard Powelson may be reached at 202-408-2727.

Copyright 2004, KnoxNews. All Rights Reserved.