Office of Compensation Analysis and Support (OCAS)

Special Exposure Cohort (SEC)

The SEC was established by The Act and allows eligible claims to be compensated without the completion of a radiation dose reconstruction or determination of the probability of causation. To qualify for compensation under the SEC, a covered employee must have at least one of 22 "specified cancers" and worked for a specified period of time at one of the SEC work sites.

In addition to establishing the SEC, Congress allowed for additional classes of employees to be added to the SEC under certain circumstances. The responsibility for adding classes of employees to the SEC was assigned to the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). HHS used rulemaking procedures, which included the opportunity for the public to provide comments, to establish procedures for HHS to make decisions on whether to add classes of employees to the SEC. OCAS is responsible for collecting and evaluating petitions for the Secretary of HHS' consideration when determining whether or not to add groups of employees to the SEC.

SEC Petition Counselor

NIOSH is responsible for accepting petitions to add classes of employees to the SEC under EEOICPA. NIOSH is aware that the SEC process can sometimes seem complex. In order to make the petitioning process as understandable as possible, NIOSH has named Laurie Breyer (formerly Ishak) as the SEC Petition Counselor.

Ms. Breyer has been the NIOSH SEC Counselor since July 2006. As the SEC Petition Counselor, Ms. Breyer provides advice to individuals who wish to submit an SEC petition. She assists the petitioner(s) in understanding the development, submission, qualification, evaluation, and Board deliberation processes that their petition will undergo. It is NIOSH's goal to help individuals understand the complete petition process as outlined in the SEC Rule (42 C.F.R. Part 83) and Ms. Breyer works with petitioners in overcoming any frustrations or confusion that they may feel when submitting an SEC petition.

Ms. Breyer has a Juris Doctorate from the University of Tennessee and a Masters in Communication from Wichita State University. She has been with NIOSH since August 2004.

You can contact Ms. Breyer if you have any general questions about the SEC, the SEC process, or how to submit an SEC petition.

If you are interested in filing an SEC petition or have any general questions about the SEC, the SEC process, or how to submit an SEC petition, the SEC Petition Counselor, Ms. Laurie Breyer, can be contacted via email at ocas@cdc.gov or by calling 513-533-6800 or toll-free at 1-877-222-7570. Information on filing an SEC petition can also be found on our How to Submit an SEC Petition Web page.

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Ombudsman to NIOSH under EEOICPA

Denise Brock has been newly appointed as a Consultant/Ombudsman to NIOSH under EEOICPA. Ms. Brock will be working with individuals with respect to the SEC process as well as the dose reconstruction process for claims that have been filed under Subpart B of the Act.

Ms. Brock will directly assist petitioners in compiling materials, information, and documentation needed to file an SEC petition. She will also assist petitioners in preparing and presenting comments to the Advisory Board on Radiation Worker Health. Ms. Brock will be available to help petitioners who may be having difficulties within their current petition.

In some cases, NIOSH will refer certain Subtitle B claims which have undergone dose reconstruction, and in where the claimant may be experiencing some difficulty, to Ms. Brock, for her involvement.

Ms. Brock has been an outspoken and effective advocate for workers for many years. She is the daughter of former uranium workers from the Mallinckrodt Chemical Plant in St. Louis, Missouri. She was the Founder/Director of The United Nuclear Weapons Workers advocacy group. Ms. Brock has extensive experience and expertise in preparing and filing SEC petitions for classes of workers. In fact, Ms. Brock filed the first SEC petition to add a class of workers to the EEOICPA. Ms. Brock was a strong force in organizing former workers and providing necessary information to the Board to push forward the SEC petition.

The SEC petition was approved and a class of Mallinckrodt workers were added. This covered workers who were employed during the time frame of 1942 through 1957, had worked at least 250 days and had at least one of the twenty-two listed cancers. Ms. Brock has acted as not only a worker advocate but as a consultant to several law firms which were assisting EEOICPA claimants. She has been recognized for her experience and was asked to testify before the Judiciary Committee on Immigration, Border Security and Claims, U.S. House of Representatives, Hearing on Implementation of Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act in an effort to bring forward ideas to help change the program to better serve the needs of the Workers.

You may contact Ms. Brock by calling toll-free at 1-888-272-7430.

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Requests for SEC Outreach Meetings

NIOSH is looking into conducting a series of SEC outreach meetings across the country. The goal of the SEC outreach meetings will be to help individuals understand the SEC and the SEC petitioning process. These meetings will be open to the public and will last approximately half a day.

Please note that NIOSH will consider all submissions but may not be able to honor all requests for an SEC outreach meeting. The decision to hold a meeting will be based on the availability of NIOSH personnel, the number of requests received, and public interest in a geographical area. If your request is approved then you will be contacted with further details.

If you are interested in having an SEC outreach meeting for your facility or location, please contact either Laurie Breyer or Denise Brock with your request. Ms. Laurie Breyer, the SEC Petition Counselor, can be contacted via email at ocas@cdc.gov or by calling 513-533-6800 (direct) or toll-free at 1-877-222-7570. Ms. Denise Brock, the Ombudsman to NIOSH under EEOICPA, can be contacted toll-free at 1-888-272-7430.

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Classes of Employees Currently Included in the SEC

A "class of employees" is defined in the SEC rule as a group of employees who work or worked at the same DOE facility or AWE facility, and for whom the availability of information and recorded data on radiation exposures is comparable with respect to the informational needs required to complete a radiation dose reconstruction as required under The Act.

The sites listed below currently have classes of employees in the SEC. Please click on the links below to view the specific details of the class definition and petition information.

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List of Qualifying Cancers for the SEC

In addition to having worked for a specified period of time at one of the SEC work sites, to qualify for compensation, a covered employee must also have at least one of the following types of cancer:

• Bone cancer
  
  
• Renal cancers
  
  
• Leukemia (other than chronic lymphocytic leukemia) provided the onset of the disease was at least two years after first exposure
  
  
• Lung cancer (other than in-situ lung cancer that is discovered during or after a post-mortem exam)
  
  
• The following diseases provided onset was at least five years after first exposure:
  • Multiple myeloma
  • Lymphomas (other than Hodgkin's disease)
  • Primary cancer of the:
    • Bile ducts
    • Brain
    • Breast (female)
    • Breast (male)
    • Colon
    • Esophagus
    • Gall bladder
    • Liver (except if cirrhosis or hepatitis B is indicated)
    • Ovary
    • Pancreas
    • Pharynx
    • Salivary gland
    • Small intestine
    • Stomach
    • Thyroid
    • Urinary bladder

NOTE: The Department of Labor has published EEOICP Final Bulletins to address various EEIOCPA issues. There are some bulletins that address information for some of the cancers listed above and some of the bulletins address how SEC claims are processed.

DOL EEOICP Final Bulletins
External Link: http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/owcp/eeoicp/PolicyandProcedures/FinalBulletinshtml.htm

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Petitions Currently Qualified for Evaluation

The petitioners and the Advisory Board will be notified when a petition meets the minimum requirements and NIOSH will proceed with an evaluation of the petition. The results of the evaluation will be given to the Advisory Board for review. During one of its regular meetings, the Advisory Board will evaluate the review, hear from the petitioners if they choose, and review any other information the Advisory Board determines is appropriate for the petition. The Advisory Board will then submit a recommendation (to accept or deny the petition) to the Secretary of HHS.

The Director of NIOSH will prepare a proposed decision for the Secretary of HHS, taking into consideration the NIOSH findings, and the Board's recommendation. The petitioners will be notified of the proposed decision and can contest a proposed decision to deny the class or a proposed decision to define health endangerment such that members of the class are limited to those employees who have been employed for at least 250 days in writing within 30 calendar days.

The final decision to add or deny a class to the SEC will be made by the Secretary of HHS, after considering information and recommendations provided by NIOSH, the Advisory Board, and from the review, if applicable. The Secretary will then submit any final decision to add a class to the SEC to Congress for review. If Congress takes no action that reverses or expedites the Secretary's decision, it will take effect 30 calendar days after the date the Secretary's report is submitted to Congress. The Secretary will provide a report to DOL and the petitioners containing the definition of the class and either the addition of the class to the SEC or the result of any action by Congress to reverse or expedite the decision.

The sites listed below have SEC petitions that have qualified for evaluation and are currently active in the SEC petitioning process. Please click on the links below to view the specific details of the class definition and petition information.

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Petitions Not Added to the SEC

Listed below are sites representing SEC petitions that have completed the SEC petitioning process and were not added as an additional class to the SEC. Please click on the links below to view the specific details for why the class was not added to the SEC.

• Iowa Ordnance Plant (IOP)
  
  
• National Bureau of Standards, Van Ness Street
  
  
• Sandia National Laboratory--Livermore
  
  
• Y-12 Plant (Statisticians)
  
  

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