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August Deadline For 9/11 Rescue Workers’ Claims If you aided in the rescue, recovery or cleanup efforts of the World Trade Center ruins, it is important that you register no later than August 13, 2008, with the New York State Workers’ Compensation Board. By registering, you will preserve your right to file a workers’ compensation claim, in case you get sick in the future. Without a second thought, tens of thousands of people rushed to help after the terrorist attacks. Thousands of others worked at the site in the year after 9/11 – and now, over six years later, many of those responders are becoming sick and some are dying. Under New York State’s Workers’ Compensa-tion Law, most workers would be barred from filing a claim, two years after an injury. Last summer, the Workers’ Compensation Law was changed to allow workers and volunteers who worked in the World Trade Center’s vicinity to file a claim for workers’ compensation if they have or develop in the future a 9/11 related illness. But to do so, rescue, recovery and cleanup workers and volunteers must register with the Workers’ Compensation Board no later than August 13, 2008. However, to date, only about 40,000 people of the over 100,000 who qualify have registered. Workers and volunteers who engaged in rescue, recovery and cleanup work should register now. People who were exposed to the toxic dust or psychological trauma should protect their right to file a claim. If you are in doubt about whether or not you qualify, you should just register. The law applies to those who worked in lower Manhattan south of Canal or Pike Streets, between Sept. 11, 2001 and Sept. 12, 2002. It also applies to those who worked at the Staten Island landfill, the barge operation between Man-hattan and Staten Island or the New York City morgue (or any of the temporary morgues set up during that period). For detailed information, contact your union, visit the NYCOSH website at www.nycosh.org, or call the toll-free, 24-hour hotline, 1-866- WTC-2556. Information is available in Spanish and English. Find out about registration requirements now, before it’s too late.
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