Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. Uniformed Firefighters Association of Greater New York Local 94 I.A.F.F. AFL-CIO New York, N.Y. December 12, 2001 Mr. Kenneth L. Zwick Director Office of Management Programs Civil Division U.S. Department of Justice Main Building-Room 3140 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20530 Re: September 11th Victim Compensation Fund Dear Director Zwick: I am the President of the Uniformed Firefighter's Association, the union representing more than 9,000 New York City firefighters. As I am sure your are aware, the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center of September 11, 2001 resulted in the death of 343 New York City firefighters and fire officers. Scores of additional firefighters and fire officers were injured. Moreover, thousands of firefighters have worked tirelessly in the rescue/recovery effort, and have been exposed to substantial amounts of toxic materials, including asbestos, the full affects of which are not currently known. Accordingly, I am writing to express my thoughts on the above-noted Legislation and the regulations to be promulgated pursuant to the statute. The statute defines a claimant as an individual who was "present" at the World Trade Center, Pentagon or the Pennsylvania crash site, "at the time, or in the immediate aftermath" of the terrorist crashes of September 11, 2001. It is obvious that any individual, be it a firefighter or civilian, who suffered physical harm in close proximity to the World Trade Center Towers should be included within that definition. For example, an individual struck by debris who was several blocks away from the Trade Center site should be able to file a claim. It is equally important to have a broad definition of the phrase "immediate aftermath." As I write this letter, hundreds of firefighters are still working daily at the site to recover the remains of their fallen brothers. They are accompanied by numerous police officer, construction workers and other brave rescue personnel. We do not know what deleterious affect the exposure to smoke and toxins emanating from the site will have upon these rescue personnel in the near or long-term future. To the extent that they develop diseases or illnesses, they are very much "victims" f the terrorists attacks. I submit, therefore, that they should be included as potential claimants under the statute. Moreover, I note that the statute was recently amended to cap the liability of New York City for all claims arising out of the crashes of September 11, 2001 at $350,000,000.00. That language would seem to protect the City from any claim by a rescue worker that he was not given appropriate protective equipment during the rescue effort. If the City is to receive the benefit of this liability cap to be used against rescue workers, I submit that it is only logical and fair that rescue workers be included within the ambit of the Victims Compensation Fund. I am also concerned with the two-year limitation period running from the promulgation of regulations. If rescue workers are included in the ambit of protection, it is very possible that they will not know the extent of these damages for many years. The statute should provide some remedy beyond the two-year limitation period for people in that situation. For example, the two-year limitation period should not commence until a claimant knew, or should have known, of his injury. I also note the statute provides no rights of appeal once the Special Master renders a decision. I respectfully suggest that there should be some provision in the law or regulations giving claimants the right to contest a proposed award before a final decision is made. Such a provision would allow the Special Master the leeway to correct possible mistakes or misunderstandings regarding evidence and provide a claimant with a method to point out such mistakes before a final resolution is achieved. I also submit that charitable gifts to the families of those killed in the attacks should not serve as a "collateral source" to reduce the damage award made to a claimant. It is beyond dispute that when people made charitable contributions for the victims and their families, they never intended those contributions to serve to reduce the commitment of the government under the Victim Compensation Fund. The gifts were not intended as government subsidies, but rather to benefit those who suffered such horrendous losses. Finally, serious consideration should be given to the manner in which the collateral source reductions are made. For example, in many cases people who are killed are survived by a spouse and children. If a spouse receives significant collateral source payments, such as pensions and government awards, those payments should not reduce a child's claim for loss of parental care and guidance or for the grief the child has suffered. In other words, the collateral source reductions should be directed to specific claims, rather than being an "across the board" reduction of any award. I hope the above comments are of some assistance to you in the formulating of appropriate regulations. Thank you for your consideration. Very truly yours, Comment by: UNIFORMED FIREFIGHTERS ASSOCIATION New York, NY September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-12-12 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource dojA005538.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2001-12-12