9/11 Responders Urged to Sign Up for Benefits

9/11 Responders Urged to Sign Up for Benefits


Alarmed by the growing number of Sept. 11 responders suffering serious health problems, a coalition of major unions, health-care providers, civic organizations, safety and health organizations and religious groups launched a 10-month campaign Oct. 18 to publicize a state law that allows non-uniformed responders to preserve their right to Workers' Compensation benefits if they become ill.

Those who assisted in rescue and recovery operations on Sept. 11 and in the days after now have until Aug. 14, 2007 to register for benefits. Registering will ensure that if they ever become ill as a result of their work, all medical expenses will be covered.

Widespread Problems

The importance of the new law was underlined in early September, when the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine published a study showing that more than 70 percent of 9,500 Sept. 11 workers and volunteers who had been examined developed potentially serious respiratory illness.

Many workers and volunteers have been prevented from getting compensation because they showed signs of illness only after the two-year deadline for filing a claim. Others who were exposed to the toxic atmosphere in lower Manhattan are healthy now, but may develop a 9/11-related disease in the future. Under the old rules, they would also have been prevented from receiving benefits.

The law applies to most people who did paid or unpaid rescue, recovery or cleanup work in lower Manhattan south of Canal or Pike Sts. between Sept. 11, 2001 and Sept. 12, 2002. It also applies to those who worked at the Staten Island landfill, the barge operation between Manhattan and Staten Island or the city morgue.

Exclusions Not Total

The only workers not covered are those who are not in the Workers' Compensation system: firefighters, police officers, sanitation workers, public-school teachers and Federal employees.

But even those workers are eligible if they also performed any off-duty rescue, recovery or cleanup work, as many of them did.

Anyone who has already filed a claim for 9/11-related Workers' Compensation and been turned down because the claim was filed after the two-year filing deadline had passed can register and file a claim under the new law.

Workers who have already filed for Workers' Compensation for injuries suffered during the rescue, recovery or cleanup operation should also register under this program in case they develop a 9/11-related condition that is different from the basis of their established claim.

For complete information and to obtain all the necessary forms for registration, visit http://www.nycosh.org or call (toll-free) 866-WTC-2556.