BP Spill Fund Czar Rules That Cleanup Workers' Wages Can't Be Counted Towards Damages To Their Own Businesses

NEW ORLEANS — The administrator of the fund for victims of the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster says he will waive a requirement that wages earned by spill cleanup workers be subtracted from their claims of lost revenue.

Attorney Kenneth Feinberg, who is doling out the $20 billion fund that BP set up, made the key concession on Monday. He says no wages paid by BP PLC to the workers will be subtracted.

Feinberg says it will help fishermen who have been working on spill response while they couldn't fish.

The Gulf Coast Claims Facility has received more than 68,000 claims since taking over from BP in August, and has paid more than $240 million.

An April 20 rig explosion killed 11 workers, triggering the spill from the well that eventually spewed out more than 200 million gallons of oil.

Comments

[truth67]

11:27 AM on 10/07/2010

ok, so if the goverment's estimate of the leaking oil was off by 2 million barreals a day, do you question their judgement when saying the seafood is safe?

[cirrus7]

10:01 PM on 09/26/2010

All those now laid off BP cleanup workers are sure to need medical treatment for breathing disorders, headaches and awful rashes. Reporters out on the boats reported feeling terrible after only a few hours of exposure to the highly toxic environment. Also was reported by Rikki Ott that CONTRACTORS for BP are hosing every dark patch in the Gulf down with Corexit disperant - nasty stuff.
The former contractors for BP should have every penny of their medical expenses paid by the BP fund no questions asked. Any contractor out in that mess without proper equipment should be paid AGIAN from the fund.

Cheap-ass BP treated them like they treat refinery workers or platform workers: disposable.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/12/gulf-oil-spill-health-eff_n_679251.html

[Cacey]

01:48 PM on 09/21/2010

For the last several months, Glen Beck and his followers have been touting the greatness of President Calvin Coolege, praising his non-involvement in the Great Floods of the Mississippi River which wiped out towns and killed thousands.  They have been stating that Cooledge is the example that should be followed stating that the self reliance of citizens and the nature of private charities alone are what makes this contry great.  And here we have the same Glen Beck and his mignions condemning everything President Obama, Ken Feinberg, Ken Salazar and the rest of the Administration for daring to help Americans and the same Americans griping that they have not been paid enough or swiftly enough.  Given the magnitude of the damage, the complexity of the blow out and the opportunity for grft through false claims, not to mention a political system that has evolved for the good of Americans ever since FDR, we can be proud of what has been accomplished by our government and look back to the days of Cooledge as an historical shame.

[Newsjunqee]

12:21 PM on 09/21/2010

Why aren't the cleanup workers wearing hazmat suits?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Dd9NyeRgVo&feature=player_embedded

[fromdnorth]

09:03 AM on 09/21/2010

Seems logical to me...

[Edward Standley]

08:54 AM on 09/21/2010

BP's next teevee commercial will be touting all the jobs they created in the Gulf area due to the cleanup of their poisonous mess. Also, lots of new medical jobs treating the cleanup worker's new illnesses.

[BrianJDonovan]

08:41 AM on 09/21/2010

Don't be fooled. The Gulf Coast Claims Facility (GCCF) employs the traditional “delay, deny, defend” strategy used by insurance companies.

BP oil spill victims must know their legal rights. Here are two examples:

(a) The GCCF Protocol states, “The GCCF will only pay for harm or damage that is proximately caused by the Spill. The GCCF will take into account, among other things, geographic proximity, nature of industry, and dependence upon injured natural resources.” GCCF’s requirement that a claimant has the increased burden of proving “proximate causation” between his or her damages and the Deepwater Horizon incident is a clear violation of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA). In order to recover damages, a claimant merely needs to show that his or her damages “resulted from” the oil spill; and

(b) In the event that a claim for damages is not paid by the responsible party (BP) within 90 days, the BP oil spill victim may elect to present the claim to the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund or to commence an action in court against BP.

BP oil spill victims must be proactive. Merely reacting to GCCF is playing into BP's strategy. BP oil spill victims must be prepared to act on "Day 91."

Source:
http://donovanlawgroup.wordpress.com/2010/08/23/the-gulf-coast-claims-facility-limits-bps-liability-and-guarantees-the-oil-companys-continued-operation-in-the-gulf-of-mexico/

[new beginning]

08:38 AM on 09/21/2010

So it is ok to double "dip"? These people deserve compensation for their losses. But to be cavalier spending someone else's money and claiming "entitlements" that aren't there seems to be dishonest.

[PlatoSunTsu]

10:03 AM on 09/21/2010

Wrong, They're not 'double dipping' they sustained losses and had to get other work to make ends meet, where that other work occurred (BP or McDonalds) is irrelevant.

[makeck]

12:23 PM on 09/21/2010

I thought this was off base until I thought of the alternative. They can't earn their primary livelihood, so the answer is to take a job working to clean up the BP spill, or go on unemployment. To not allow at least some type of "double dipping" would in fact penalize the people who went out and worked instead of just asking the governmnet for a check.

And I am not saying that everyone who got an unemployment check SHOULD have been working. Just saying reward the people who did more than sit at home and fish.

[Aldyth]

08:22 AM on 09/21/2010

Good.

[MaybeMilo]

07:27 AM on 09/21/2010

Sounds good to me.

[ibsteve2u]

03:59 AM on 09/21/2010

That's good...especially since BP probably blew 10 or 20 times their collective wages in advertising designed to....what? Make my brain coredump and forget their environmental record?

[cyoohoos]

03:02 AM on 09/21/2010

"he will waive a requirement that wages earned by spill cleanup workers be subtracted from their claims of lost revenue"

so let me get this straight. If I earned 5,000/mo before the spill. and I was working in the clean up effort to the tune of 3,000/mo, I can STILL file for reimbursment for the full 5,000/mo I would have made if I was fishing bringing my earnings up to 8,000/mo for that period?

[makeck]

09:49 AM on 09/21/2010

Yeah, but if you think about it, people who went out and worked instead of going on unemployment should be rewarded. If you could make just as much money playing golf as by working, why work? I can't say its wrong to give them an incentive to get out and work.

More important to me is whether the people who file claims and get paid who WEREN'T working were collecting unemployment. Shouldn't they have to pay the unemployment back?

Just saying, the person who actually works and trys to make things better deserves a little bonus and support. If your just sitting on your butt doing nothing to improve your place in life (or your community for that matter), then I am less inclined that is a good use of taxpayer dollars.

[3dtrix]

02:49 AM on 09/21/2010

Great! The playing field has been leveled at last!

Score:

BP - 678,654

Gulf residents - 1

This game is almost tied!

[RubalKhali]

01:52 AM on 09/21/2010

I hate the whole Czar thing. Whose idea was it to name the head of a democratic government bureau a Czar? Czar, from Cesar, ruled by devine right, was infallible, and answered to no one.

[Tokie]

02:17 AM on 09/21/2010

I think you are missing the point... the one thing this guy shouldn't answer to is BP. Should BP be held accountable for cleaning up the mess they created or should it be taken from the damages funds that was set aside for the fisherman and tourism industry?

[henrypapillon]

12:56 AM on 09/21/2010

I hope people are still staying away from BP.

[PlatoSunTsu]

10:05 AM on 09/21/2010

I never use their products anymore....

[henrypapillon]

12:13 PM on 09/21/2010

I never did before. Their gas was  always a penny or 2 above the others, always, and then I have a Shell and a Marathon charge card where I get 5% discount on all gas I buy from those stations plus the Marathon pays 1% on all other purchases with it and Shell will give 1/2 % but now they have restricted the amount you get rebated per month so I slide everything toward Marathon that I can.