The Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 provides compensation and the payment of medical expenses for employees, former employees, or survivors of deceased employees of the Department of Energy (DOE). The Act was created in recognition of the fact that there was a lack of uniformity in providing adequate compensation for the occupational illnesses noted below among state workers' compensation programs. The amount of compensation and eligibility for benefits turns on the status of the individual's work and the nature of the illness.
Employees who have radiation-related cancer may receive $ 150,000 as well as payment for their medical expenses if 1) the cancer developed after working at a DOE facility or a facility of a DOE contractor or subcontractor, 2) the employee's cancer is at least as likely as not to be related to such work, or 3) the employee worked for a given amount of time at one of three gaseous diffusion plants or was exposed to radiation from underground nuclear tests, and thereafter developed cancer. These benefits are also available to employees of the DOE or its contractors or subcontractors who were exposed to beryllium that was produced or processed for the DOE and who thereafter developed Chronic Beryllium Disease. Finally, employees of the DOE or its contractors or subcontractors, who developed Chronic Silicosis after working during the mining of tunnels at underground nuclear weapons test sites, may receive compensation of $150,000 plus the payment of medical expenses.
The Act provides $50,000 in compensation and the payment of medical expenses for uranium employees who have already received lump sum payments from the Department of Justice pursuant to the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act. Medical monitoring will be provided to employees of the DOE or its contractors or subcontractors who were exposed to beryllium while on the job.
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