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Zadroga ActVictim Compensation Fund

Lower Manhattan Restaurant and Hospitality Workers Also Eligible for 9/11 Health Care and Compensation

June 16, 2021 | Michael Barasch

Lower Manhattan has an extraordinary variety of restaurants and other hospitality venues, from steakhouses to hundreds of coffee shops, sandwich counters, and street carts.

The thousands of people working at these establishments in the months after September 11, 2001 breathed the same 9/11 toxins as the first responders,  office workers, residents, and students and teachers who were at Ground Zero .

As a result of their exposure, these Lower Manhattan hospitality workers are now at risk of 68 different types of cancer and many respiratory illnesses.

Unfortunately, many of these workers are unaware of the free health care and compensation they may be entitled to from the World Trade Center Health Program and the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund (VCF). Only about 7% of 9/11 survivors have registered with the programs, compared with nearly 80% of 9/11 first responders.

We are quickly approaching a July 29, 2021 deadline to register cancer, respiratory illness, or wrongful death claims that had missed the previous two-year deadline for 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund claims.

Workers in the hospitality sector – which typically experiences high levels of turnover and where many venues have closed since 9/11 – could miss the opportunity to access health care and compensation simply because they did not know about these resources.

Our attorneys and staff are working tirelessly to inform hospitality workers and other 9/11 first responders and survivors who are entitled to help. 

Help us  spread the word to the entire 9/11 community, including restaurant and hospitality workers who might not know about the health care and compensation available.

You still have time to register a claim. But after July 29, the two-year deadline for many claims will return.

Ordinarily, first responders and survivors with 9/11-related health conditions must register with the VCF within two years of the World Trade Center Health Program certifying their condition. Similarly, the families of 9/11 victims must register within two years of their loved one’s passing.

Don’t wait. Call 212-385-8000 or visit 911victims.com today.

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