By KRWG News
New Mexico – ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRWG) The U.S. Department of Labor is hosting two town hall meetings for former nuclear weapons workers who are eligible for federal benefits under an expanded occupational illness compensation program.
Labor officials have scheduled the meetings Tuesday in Albuquerque to provide former Sandia National Laboratories workers with information about the program.
The program provides compensation and medical benefits to employees who became ill as a result of working in the nuclear weapons industry.
All U.S. Department of Energy employees along with agency contractors who worked at Sandia from Jan. 1, 1949, through Dec. 31, 1962, for at least 250 days were added to the compensation program earlier this year.
Labor officials say to date, $44 million in compensation and benefits have been paid to 355 claimants who worked at Sandia labs.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. KRWG