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. Congress of the United States Washington, DC 20515 January 11, 2002 Kenneth L. Zwick Director, Office of Management Programs Civil Division U.S. Department of Justice Main Building, Room 3140 950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20530 Dear Mr. Zwick: We write to express concerns with the Interim Final Rule(the Rule) published on December 21, 2001. Although the Rule makes a good attempt at setting forth regulations that would implement the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund which was included in the Air Transportation Safety and System Stabilization Act(P.L. 107-42), the Rule contains procedures that are discriminatory to women and should therefore be revised before becoming final on January 22, 2002. Firstly, the use of outdated data to calculate compensation will negatively impact the families of women who perished or were severely injured on September 11th. The National Association of Forensic Economics (NAFE), an organization of economists and other professionals who measure damages and/or proof of liability in litigation, suggested recently that "[t]he worklife tables used [in the Interim Final Rule] in projections are out of date, and especially inappropriate in the case of loss earnings for women." "Worklife estimates" are an estimate of the number of years equal to the average expected work life of a person. We understand that these statistics will be used, in part, to determine amounts of compensation for the families therefore, reliable and timely data will be essential for accurate calculations. Yet, the Special Master proposes to use the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics' (BLS), "Worklife Estimates" which are outdated charts. These estimates were made in 1979 and will show women working on average five years less than men, a gap that has narrowed over time. The Bureau of Labor Statistics' Worklife estimates are, according to the experts, widely considered as "invalid" and out of date." We call on the Special Master to use more widely-accepted, gender-neutral actuarial practices in his calculations. Secondly, in the Rule the Special Master does not take into account household services performed by the working person for the family, such as child care and household upkeep, when determining compensation. For women, replacement of lost services can be significant. The National Association of Forensic Economics' Dr. John Ward, has said that on average, women contribute 25 hours to housework compared to 10 hours for men. For the victim's family, this could mean up to $300,000 in a lifetime. According to press accounts, approximately 25, percent of those killed in the September 11th attacks were women. We strongly urge the Special Master to abandon the use of outdated worklife tables that underestimate the time women spend in the workforce. In addition, the Special Master should compensate victim's families for lost household services. Without these changes, families of women who perished or were injured on September 11th will likely be under-compensated. We realize that the Department is receiving commentary(including comments from some of us who have signed this letter) regarding numerous other aspects of the Rule. This letter is not comprehensive, but is intended to highlight these particular problems. We trust that you will give our comments every consideration when finalizing the regulations to implement the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. Sincerely, CAROLYN B. MALONEY PETER KING Member of Congress Member of Congress EDOLPHUS TOWNS CAROLYN MCCARTHY Member of Congress Member of Congress STEVE J. ISRAEL FELIX J. GRUCCI, JR. Member of Congress Member of Congress NYDIA VELZQUEZ BENJAMIN A. GILMAN Member of Congress Member of Congress JERROLD NADLER MAURICE HINCHEY Member of Congress Member of Congress JOSE E. SERRANO GREGORY W. MEEKS Member of Congress Member of Congress 1. 12-21-01 fr 66273-66291 2. P.23," An introduction and Critique by John O. Ward," Chair and Professor of Economics, University of Missouri-Kansas City, delivered to the National Association of Forensic Economics, January 4, 2002 3. p.2, Presumed Loss Calculations Tables Before any Collateral Offsets, listed on the U.S. Department of Justice's September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 website 4. "Less for Women?; Work life Statistics May Limit Sept. 11 Fund Payouts to Victims," Newsday, January 4, 2002 5. p. 19 "An Introduction and Critique by John O. Ward," Chair and Professor of Economics, University of Missouri-Kansas City, delivered to the National Association of Forensic Economics, January 4, 2002 6. "Less for Women?; Work Life Statistics May Limit Sept. 11 Fund Payouts to Victims," Newsday, January 4, 2002 September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-01-11 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 dojN002430.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. 2002-01-11