Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program (EEOICPA)

within 60 days of the date the Recommended Decision is issued; The Final Adjudication Branch may issue a Final Decision adopting the recommendation.^{1, 2}

If a covered employee eligible for payment died before filing a claim, a survivor who may receive payment under the order of precedence may file it.⁴

If the employee or a survivor was alive when the Final Decision issued but died before payment was received, DEEOIC closes that claim administratively, returns any payment issued after the death to the Treasury, and issues a new Recommended Decision to the survivors who have filed.⁶

Part B medical benefits run to the covered employee from the date the claim was filed and do not pass to survivors.⁹

Medical benefits for a RECA Section 5 uranium worker run to the worker for the illness that drew the RECA payment, during the worker's lifetime, not to survivors.⁸

Established beryllium sensitivity alone does not draw the lump sum; that worker receives beryllium sensitivity monitoring instead, a benefit to the living worker only.⁴

DEEOIC does not receive death notifications directly. A survivor claim is what puts the death before the agency.¹⁰

Any written communication requesting survivor benefits is treated as a claim, but DEEOIC cannot fully develop or decide it without a signed Form EE-2.¹

There is no deadline to file a claim or survivor claim. A Part B claim is never treated as filed earlier than July 31, 2001, and a Part E claim never earlier than October 30, 2000.¹

On the Energy Document Portal, Forms EE-1, EE-1A and EE-2 must be filed through the "File a new claim" option with a digital signature; scanned copies are not accepted through the upload option.¹¹

A claims examiner at the District Office with jurisdiction over the worker's last covered employment (Cleveland OH, Denver CO, Jacksonville FL, or Seattle WA) is assigned and contacts the survivor in writing.²

Examiners gather employment and exposure evidence, including a NIOSH dose reconstruction where applicable, and issue a Recommended Decision with findings of fact, conclusions of law and rights of action. The Final Adjudication Branch then issues the Final Decision.²

Special Exposure Cohort membership lets a covered worker be compensated without a completed NIOSH radiation dose reconstruction or a probability-of-causation determination. A member must have at least one of the 22 specified cancers and have worked the required period at an SEC site.¹²

The statute names two cohort classes: 250 aggregate work days before February 1, 1992 at the Paducah, Portsmouth or Oak Ridge gaseous diffusion plants, with dosimetry monitoring or a comparably exposed job; and work before January 1, 1974 on Amchitka Island, Alaska, tied to the Long Shot, Milrow or Cannikin tests.¹³

Within 60 days of the Recommended Decision, state in writing to the Final Adjudication Branch which findings or conclusions you object to, including any NIOSH dose reconstruction, and whether you want a hearing. Objecting without requesting a hearing gets a review of the written record.¹

The objection counts as filed on the postmark date or the date received, whichever is earlier.¹

After a Final Decision, a claimant may request reconsideration or reopening, but is not required to exhaust either before petitioning a U.S. District Court for review of an adverse final decision.²

Under Part B, where there is a surviving spouse and at least one minor child of the employee living at payment who is not the spouse's recognized natural or adopted child, half goes to the spouse and half in equal shares to each such child.⁴

Under Part B, a child includes a recognized natural child, a stepchild who lived with the employee in a regular parent-child relationship, and an adopted child.⁴

Part E reaches no parents, grandchildren or grandparents, and no adult children other than those incapable of self-support. It splits the award half to the covered spouse and half to covered children who are not the spouse's natural or adopted children; the child need not be a minor.⁵

Only one survivor needs to file to start development, but benefits are paid only to eligible survivors who have filed. A survivor must be alive to receive payment; there is no vested right to it.¹

Aggregate Part E compensation on any one individual's illness or death, paid to all persons combined, cannot exceed $250,000, excluding medical benefits. The cap also applies to the election of the employee's unpaid benefits.¹⁴

Part E is limited to DOE contractor and subcontractor employees, RECA Section 5 uranium workers and their survivors, and covers any occupational illness causally linked to toxic exposure: not only radiation, but chemicals, solvents, acids and metals.¹⁵

HHS has exclusive control of radiation dose reconstruction, delegated to NIOSH, and publishes the probability-of-causation guidelines DOL applies. NIOSH is a separate agency from DOL.^{16, 17}

The Secretary of Health and Human Services adds site- and period-specific Special Exposure Cohort classes, and DOL publishes the full list of added classes.^{18, 12}

Radiation dose reconstruction for cancer claims, on behalf of HHS¹⁶

The $100,000 award under Section 5 of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act⁸

Eleven DEEOIC field offices near major DOE sites, in California, Colorado, Idaho, Kentucky, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee and Washington, help workers and survivors file claims at no cost, in person or by phone. Staff help complete forms and transmit documents to the District Offices.²⁰

Who qualifies: Workers and survivors filing EEOICPA claims; you are not limited to the center in your area.

An independent office that provides information, guidance and assistance when problems with claim handling persist. It reports to Congress by July 30 each year on complaints received and difficulties claimants encountered; it does not adjudicate claims.²¹