Groups: DOE part of sick worker plan failing

[MORTARDUDE]

Source:
http://www.oakridger.com/stories/022...40227050.shtml
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February 27, 2004


Groups: DOE part of sick worker plan failing


COALITION MEMBER: 'DOE has had plenty of time to do the job correctly and has
failed.'

By: Paul Parson | Oak Ridger Staff
paul.parson@oakridger.com

The Department of Energy's plan to repair its procedure for processing claims
in a compensation program for job-sickened nuclear workers isn't cutting it,
according to a just-released document.

Thursday night, the Alliance of Nuclear Worker Advocacy Groups and the
Government Accountability Project announced they were issuing a paper highlighting
the strengths and weaknesses of what is officially known as the Energy
Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act.

DOE was assigned responsibility to implement several parts of the program,
but the agency has processed less than 1 percent of the 22,600 claims it has
received, according to information released by the worker advocacy group.
Statistics as of Feb. 13 show that only 217 have been processed with 95 decisions
positive and 122 negative, the group also reported.

The compensation effort has two primary programs. The Labor Department runs
one that pays lump sum benefits plus continuing medical coverage for former
workers with diseases potentially related to radiation exposure, silicosis and
chronic beryllium disease.

The program that DOE administers provides no direct benefits, but assists
workers in pursuing claims with state workers' compensation programs. This second
program covers a much broader array of medical conditions and requires
extensive employment history development to provide the workers with the best
opportunity for claim defense.

"DOE has had plenty of time to do the job correctly and has failed," said
Harry Williams of the Coalition for a Healthy Environment - a local watchdog
group for sick worker issues and a member of the Alliance of Nuclear Worker
Advocacy Groups.

"The time for changing the operations of this program from DOE to the
Department of Labor is now. One of the problems with the program is that DOE's claims
processing contractor, Science Engineering Associates Inc., which has been
provided over $20 million so far through a non-competitive contract ? has no
experience in workers' compensation claims development."

Janet Michel, who is also a member of the Coalition for a Healthy
Environment, said people would not expect the Labor Department to manufacture nuclear
weapons, so no one should expect DOE to run a sick worker compensation program.

Last August, DOE commissioned an independent review of the administration of
the workers' compensation program by the Hays Companies. That study identified
areas for improvement in processing workers' claims and the federal agency
has worked to improve those issues, according to DOE officials.

However, many sick workers are not satisfied with measures taken by DOE.

"DOE's plan calls for rewarding Science Engineering Associates'
underperformance by extending their contract with another $30 to $50 million, and allowing
them to hire more case managers to process claims in a system DOE's consultant
found to suffer from design flaws," Williams said.