Public Employee Press

Cover civilian workers, says 9/11 task force

The September 11 Worker Protection Task Force issued recommendations March 4 that call for expanding the eligibility of public employees for 9/11 compensation.

In its interim report, the group — which includes DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts — concluded that responders to the World Trade Center disaster site have suffered severe health impacts and that the systems in place “may not be configured properly to deal with these aftereffects,” according to state Labor Commissioner M. Patricia Smith.

The task force recommendations would eliminate the requirement for pre-employment physicals, include injured workers whose exposures were limited to the first hours of the attack and workers who suffered significant exposure-related health effects at work locations outside the boundaries of the WTC sites.

Additional recommendations offer the possibility of compensation for others, such as Radio Repair Mechanics who were exposed to toxic dust as they worked on emergency vehicles, and law enforcement officers from outside the city who were deployed to the sites. The 19-member task force spent a year and a half evaluating evidence and hearing testimony.

“Most of the recommendations include our members, while the original legislation only benefited the uniformed services,” Roberts said. “Our safety and political staff did a great job for the members of DC 37 who took huge risks to save lives and help the city recover from the attacks.”

“We offered eight recommendations to the task force, and they adopted seven,” said DC 37 Safety and Health Director Lee Clarke. “Workers’ Comp Attorney Robert Gray deserves credit for the enormous amount of time he contributed to helping us shape these recommendations,” she said.

“The union was instrumental in getting a seat at the table after our members were left out of the original legislation,” said Political Action Director Wanda Williams. “It was critical for us to have a voice in creating this report that will now go to the Legislature and the governor.”