With the twenty-fifth anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, New York employers may want to note that state law requires practicable efforts to notify employees who worked near the World Trade Center towers during and after the attacks of their eligibility for two victim compensation funds.
Quick Hits
- The 9/11 Notice Act and regulations require employers to notify “where practicable” current and former employees who worked in affected areas of Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn of potential eligibility for federal compensation funds.
- The funds are not limited to first responders but apply to those helped with the clean-up and construction or lived, worked, or went to school in the affected areas during and after the attacks.
A quarter century after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the effects of the tragedy continue to linger, especially in New York City. Recently, Mayor Zohran Mamdani declared September 11 an official “Citywide Day of Remembrance and Service” to honor victims, first responders, survivors, workers, and affected families.
In May 2025, New York’s Empire State Department (ESD) finalized regulations under the 9/11 Notice Act requiring employers to notify “where practicable” current and former employees who worked in Lower Manhattan and Western Brooklyn during and in the months after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks of their potential eligibility for the September Eleventh Victim Compensation Fund (VCF) and the World Trade Center (WTC) Health Program.
The VCF, which continues to receive 750 new claims each month, provides compensation to individuals (or representatives of deceased individuals) present at one of the three plane crash sites (New York City, the Pentagon, and Shanksville, Pennsylvania) and who have since been diagnosed with a 9/11-related illness. The fund is not limited to first responders and is open to those who worked at the sites, including journalists and those who worked or volunteered in construction, cleanup, and debris removal, as well as those who lived, worked, visited, or went to school in the NYC Exposure Zone…