A general view of the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington D.C. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
(Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday said the state of Washington could not in a 2018 law lower the bar for federal contractors who work at a decomissioned nuclear weapons plant to receive workers' compensation benefits.
Justice Stephen Breyer wrote for the unanimous court that the state could not single out the Hanford, Washington facility in the law because the federal government had not explicitly waived its typical immunity from discriminatory state laws with respect to workers' compensation.
The law created a presumption that certain medical conditions of workers at the U.S. Department of Energy facility were caused by their employment there, making it easier for them to qualify for workers' compensation benefits.
Washington passed the law after news reports revealed that dozens of workers at the Hanford, Washington nuclear facility had become ill and were denied workers' compensation because of their status as federal contractors.
The Hanford site was used to manufacture weapons-grade plutonium from 1944 to 1989 and cleanup operations are expected to last another six decades.
Federal law permits states to extend their generally applicable workers' compensation laws to federal contractors who work within their borders.
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