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. Tuesday, January 22, 2002 3:28 PM September 11th Vicitim Compensation Fund January 22, 2002 VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL & FACSIMILE Mr. Kenneth L. Zwick Director, Office of Management Programs Civil Division United States Department of Justice Main Building, Room 3140 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20530-0001 Re: CFR Part 104, Interim Final Rule for the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 Dear Mr. Zwick:            Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees International Union, Local 100 (the â??Unionâ??) represented 43 workers who perished in the tragic events of September 11th. These individuals all worked for Windows on the World, a restaurant located in the World Trade Center. Since September 11th the surviving family members of these 43 workers have looked to our Union for assistance and advice in attempting to put their lives back together. In response to the concerns of the families and based on the Unionâ??s analysis we submit the following comments with respect to the regulations promulgated by the Department of Justice on December 20, 2001, concerning the administration of the September 11th Victims Compensation Fund of 2001 (the â??Fundâ??).            Many of the Unionâ??s concerns arise from the fact that the majority of the families are immigrants and had incomes on the lower end of the economic scale. In general, we fear that the administration of the Fund as contemplated by the regulations will punish those most in need because it proposes a regressive model for determining economic losses.            Below we have outlined the regulations that we believe require significant alteration before our survivorsâ?? families could consider opting into the Fund:            The first concept that needs to be changed is the provision that survivorsâ?? families must waive their rights to proceed in Federal or State Court before opting into the Fund. It is fundamentally unfair to force survivors to waive their rights before they are aware of the amount of compensation they will receive and when they will receive it. There needs to be a mechanism for claimants to receive an advisory opinion from an independent, non-political evaluator regarding the valuation of the award before they are forced to waive their rights to litigate. As it is now drafted, 28 CFR § 104.31 proposes two separate tracks to process claims. A third track should be added in order to provide for such an advisory opinion.            A second crucial area that needs to be addressed relates to immigrant, non-citizen claimants. The Union has grave concerns that the residency status of the claimant will disqualify or delay the distribution of awards to families who are non-citizens. For example, the requirement under 28 CFR § 104.4 that a Personal Administrator must be installed according to the laws of the decedentâ??s domicile will, in New York, preclude an undocumented spouse of a victim to assume the role of Personal Administrator. We believe that this could potentially delay the distribution of funds from the Award months or even years. The regulations should be amended to state explicitly that no regulation therein will cause the disqualification or delay in the payment of awards to undocumented claimants.            Also with regard to this issue of undocumented claimants, the regulations should prohibit the Justice Department from using the data provided in making claims to the Fund as a basis for legal action against the claimants or their families based on citizenship status.            A third key area of concern is the cap on non-economic losses of $250,000 per decedent and $50,000 for each dependent. Because many of the workers our Union represented were low wage workers, their familiesâ?? recovery for economic losses will be significantly smaller than other families. One method to provide a more equitable system would be to increase the amount of non-economic recovery available to all families.            We would also like to take this opportunity to relay to you some individual comments about the Fund from survivorsâ?? families that we would also like to be addressed. First, the definition of dependent as defined in 28 CFR § 104.3(b) is too limited, and should be expanded to include anyone who was financially or emotionally dependent upon the decedent, such as domestic partners.            Another concern is that the manner in which the regulations determine economic losses punishes families in which the decedent was an older worker. If the decedent was a low wage earner the disparity is compounded. It is the Unionâ??s position that this approach discriminates against older workers and the regulations should be rewritten to make for more equitable awards.            Finally, with respect Collateral Sources, 28 CFR § 104.47, many of the victimsâ?? families believe that such income should not be reduced from the overall Award. While under normal circumstances such benefits would have been offset against personal injury recoveries, the Fund has been established in response to extraordinary events and we believe that new rules need to apply. Furthermore, if claimants choose to opt into the Fund, rather than litigate for a more lucrative outcome, they should not be penalized for availing themselves of collateral sources.                                                          Comments by Local 100, H.E.R.E New York, NY September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-01-22 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 dojN002292.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. 2002-01-22