Reading Room


Important Legislation for Sick Lab Workers


Since 2001, current and former workers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and Sandia National Laboratory - Livermore (SNL-CA), who believe that they have been made sick by on-the-job exposures to radiation and toxic chemicals, have worked together in a support group established and facilitated by Tri-Valley CAREs to help one another with claims for benefits and compensation brought under the Energy Employee Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA). To date, 1760 LLNL and 187 SNL-CA employees have brought EEOICPA claims. Nearly 200 have participated in the Sick Worker Support Group.

A new bill was recently introduced in both chambers of Congress to improve oversight and quality control issues with EEOICPA's implementation.

The bills, H.R. 2905 & S. 1423 , also known as the Nuclear Workers Health Advisory Board Act, seek to amend the EEOICPA to strengthen the quality control measures for lung disease claims and to establish an Advisory Board on Toxic Substances and Worker Health. These amendments to EEOICPA have the potential to help hundreds of workers from LLNL and SNL-CA, and ensure that their valid claims are being handled in an equitable manner consistent with the original bill's statutory language.

Click here to read our new Sick Worker Newsletter...

Click here to read the text of H.R. 2904...