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Gov. David Paterson said Friday that he has reached an agreement with New York state legislative leaders to extend health benefits to hundreds of workers who toiled at the World Trade Center site after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
More than 8,800 New York City workers applied for a “presumptive accidental disability retirement benefit” for illnesses they developed after working at ground zero after the attacks.
Paterson says the legislation will benefit more than 1,000 workers who were turned down because they didn’t get physical exams before they were hired, which had been a requirement to obtain the benefit.
The new law gives them benefits if they provide access to medical records and demonstrate they didn’t have the health problems beforehand.
