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.
The WTC Health Program provides monitoring and treatment for certain conditions to eligible first responders and also provides benefits to eligible survivors who lived, worked, went to school, attended childcare, or attended adult day care in a specified area affected by the dust and debris from the collapse of the World Trade Center towers.
The New York regulations state that employers’ notifications must be made by email, text, electronic messaging system, postal mail, or facsimile, and entities providing such notifications must maintain a duplicate copy for not less than three years. Additionally, the state has urged, but not required, dissemination through social media.
The regulations specify that the notification obligations apply to those employees in specified affected areas. The WTC Health Program area covers Lower Manhattan south of Houston Street and any blocks in Brooklyn within a 1.5-mile radius of the former World Trade Center site, including Dumbo and Brooklyn Heights. The VCF area covers the immediate blocks around the World Trade Center and “any area related to or along the routes of debris removal, such as barges and the Fresh Kills landfill.”
Next Steps
While the regulations do not specify any express requirements regarding the timing of the notices, New York employers that had employees in the affected areas on September 11, if they have not already, may want to identify current and former employees who worked in the affected areas and immediately begin notifying those individuals.
Ogletree Deakins’ New York office will continue to monitor developments and will provide updates on the Employment Law, Hospitality, New York, and Retail blogs as additional information becomes available.
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