Public Employee Press

Workers’ Comp and pension deadlines loom for 9/11 workers

Two deadlines loom for city employees who participated in the rescue, recovery and cleanup after the attack on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

The first deadline is June 13.

With less than two months to go, it is imperative that our members who participated in this work file a form with the New York City Employees’ Retirement System (NYCERS) by the June 13 deadline, said Dennis Deahn, director of field services and pension adviser for the DC 37 Health and Security Plan.

NYCERS form 622, which must be filed by June 13, is titled “Notice of Participation in WTC Rescue, Recovery or Clean-up Operations.”

The second deadline is Aug. 14.

“Members must register with the Workers’ Compensation system to preserve their rights to file claims if they develop a 9/11-related illness in the future,” said Lee Clarke, director of the DC 37 Safety and Health Dept. “They have to file now or lose their rights in the future,” said Clarke. The Workers’ Compensation form that must be filed by Aug. 14 is WTC-12.

“History teaches us lessons, and the unfortunate lesson of 9/11 is that there was something there that is making people very sick,” said James Tucciarelli, president of Sewage Treatment Workers Local 1320 and chair of the DC 37 Pension Committee.

“My question is: What will happen to all those who worked there and haven’t yet shown symptoms?” he asked.

File for the future
The answer to his question is that to protect their pension and Workers’ Compensation rights in case they become ill in the future, members must file these two forms.

“They must take these steps to protect themselves and even more so, to protect their families,” said Tucciarelli.

Uniformed EMS Officers Local 3621 President Thomas Eppinger described the efforts his local has taken to ensure that members protect their future should they become ill. “We have enrolled people at our meetings, providing stamps, envelopes and notaries. We have done a great deal of outreach, and the forms are also available on the local’s Web site,” he said.

“We just had a forum at the Dept. of Design and Construction and over 90 people signed up,” said Mike Kenny, Chapter 4 delegate for Local 375. He cautioned members to act now. “Don’t delay, because we were there when the city needed us. We showed up and we’d hate to be forever locked out of reserving our rights,” he said.

The forms are available by clicking the banner at the top of the home page of the DC 37 Web site at www.dc37.net.