After the Supreme Court vacated a Washington state law aimed at making it easier for workers at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site to claim compensation for job-related illnesses, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said Congress must pass her Toxic Exposure Safety Act.
The high court, an independent branch of the federal government, unanimously ruled last week the state’s 2018 law unconstitutionally discriminated against federal workers and contractors.
Murray and Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) in Congress’ upper chamber, proposed the Toxic Exposure Safety Act of 2021. The legislation was filed in the summer of 2020 following a Seattle Times profile of a worker who suffered seizures after being exposed to toxic substances while working at Hanford’s Plutonium Finishing Plant, Murray said in a June 21 press release.
“My legislation takes the right steps to ensure Hanford workers and those at other nuclear clean-up sites can obtain the full benefits they’re entitled to when they’ve contracted illnesses as a result of workplace exposure,” Murray said in the release.
Hanford workers can currently pursue worker’s compensation through both the Washington state Department of Labor and Industries and DOE’s third-party insurer, Penser. The Toxic Exposure Safety Act would make federal compensation claims easier to access, and allow Hanford workers and workers at similar DOE sites to collect worker’s compensation benefits, Murray said.
