Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte (D-Flatbush, Ditmas Park) and Sate Sen. James Sanders Jr. (D-Queens) announced they will introduce a bill at the start of the 2018 State Legislative session tomorrow that allows for widows and dependents of workers who died as a result of cancer caused by diesel exposure a one-time opportunity to file a worker’s compensation claim for death benefits.
Dubbed the ‘The Nigro Bill’ the measure is named for Anthony Nigro, who died of lung cancer after a long career as a Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) bus mechanic on Jan. 5, 2012, .
Over the course of his job, Nigro was regularly exposed to the harmful diesel exhaust. Although his widow filed a timely claim for death benefits, other widows/widowers and dependents of workers who died of cancer due to diesel exhaust exposure are barred from filing claims for workers’ compensation benefits because the statute of limitations expired before scientific proof of diesel exhaust as a Class 1 carcinogen became available.
The bill, which Transport Workers Union (TWU) Local 100 Legislative Director Marvin Holland has championed, follows a settlement awarded to the widow of Nigro after a worker’s compensation judge found Nigro’s 28-year exposure to diesel fumes partly led to the MTA mechanic’s cancer diagnosis.
In 2014, Nigro’s widow, Dorota Nigro, was awarded $775 a month as well as $100,000 in retroactive from the time of his death.
Not everyone whose loss of a family member resulted from toxic fumes was able to claim death benefits. As it stands, worker’s compensation prohibits family members from claiming benefits more than two years after the death of the insured.
“It is with pleasure to introduce this bill on behalf of all the transit workers families who were treated unjustly,” said Bichotte.
Nigro’s award came on the heels of a second study linking diesel fumes to cancer. In 2012, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) of the World Health Organization (WHO) officially recognized diesel exhaust as a Class 1 carcinogen.
“As society’s understanding grows, so must our responsibility,” said Sanders. “It used to be a time when people didn’t understand that asbestos and other dangerous substances that they work with were cancer causing. As society learned the danger, they stop using these things and tried making the families of these impacted workers whole.”
Growing concerns of diesel pollution were amplified in 2015 when more than 100 MTA union workers and retirees gathered in Brooklyn to bring awareness to the health implications of diesel fuel. Workers called for MTA management to switch from diesel-powered equipment to hybrids in order to reduce emissions in bus depots, repair barns and subway tunnels.
“I am in full support of this legislation and will be introducing a resolution in support in the City Council as soon as possible,” said City Councilman Rafael Espinal (D-Bushwick, East New York), Chair of Consumer Affairs Committee.
“This is further proof that the MTA needs to use the L line closure as the opportunity to introduce as many electrical buses as possible and be a leader in switching to clean energy. It’s also begin to advance the training of TWU Local 100 members on clean technology with funding and resources to support these initiatives,” added Espinal.
