Sometimes it can feel like one gives his or her life to their work. For most workers, that might simply mean that they devote a lot of time to their job. For others, unfortunately, it might mean that they literally lose quality of their life because of their work.
evere In the cases of hundreds of workers who devoted their time to working in the Rocky Flats nuclear weapon facility years ago, their day-to-day duties at the Colorado plant cost them a great deal. The former employees worked around an unsafe level of radiation and suffered greatly, some gravely, for it.
The medical damage by radiation was done to the Colorado workers who worked at the facility between the years of 1952 and 1983. As crazy as it might sound, only now will some of the impacted workers and their families secure some compensation for the loss that they’ve suffered.
CBS Denver reports that federal authorities have taken over the workers’ compensation cause. The feds have made a decision to help sick victims and families who have lost loved ones to the work-related illnesses caused by radiation at the facility.
As if suffering from cancer isn’t stressful enough, victims of the work danger have been denied benefits and/or asked to jump through hurdle after hurdle to prove that their medical conditions are the result of radiation related to their work. Now, plaintiffs seeking compensation for their illnesses must simply show that they suffer from a condition on a list of cancers and that they worked at the Colorado facility during certain time periods.
The workers’ compensation claim process is not always simplified for plaintiffs. Even if it is, a workers’ comp attorney can only make the process easier and safer for someone. And as this Colorado story shows, fighting for justice following a work-related illness or injury can be worth the time, even the decades, that it takes to get what a victim needs.
Source: CBS Denver, “Colorado Rocky Flats Workers Get Benefit Details,” Feb. 20, 2014
