Workers' Compensation And WTC Clean-up

Julie Ferguson at Workers’ Comp Insider brings my attention to an AP article from PhillyBurbs.com. The article points out that the government does not look highly upon workers’ compensation claims arising from the clean-up of the 9-11 tragedy:

of the 485 federal employees to file for workers compensation claiming injuries from the aftermath at ground zero… virtually all of those claims, some 478, were either rejected by the government or abandoned. Of the claims stemming from the day of the attacks, the government approved nearly all 987 of those.

Julie goes on to explain that when workers’ compesation does not provide for employees in cases such as this, toxic torts often arise. This is due to that fact that illnesses arising from occupational hazards are harder to prove than an injury that arises from a single event.