Firefighter cancer presumption in New Hampshire
In New Hampshire, the law presumes a cancer is job-related if it's linked to firefighter exposures and you've served 10 years.
The law involved: N.H. Revised Stat. § 281-A:17. Workers' comp is what it's used for.
Presumed means the law assumes your job caused the cancer, so your employer has to show it came from something else. Workers' comp (workers' compensation) is the insurance that pays medical bills and part of your lost pay when work makes you sick.
Conditions under New Hampshire's law
- Your service lasted at least 10 years.
- Coverage also extends to fire department members who volunteer, serve on call, or have retired.
- You must have lived without tobacco. That means no tobacco 4 or more times a week during the past 6 months.
- An NFPA 1582 exam report must show the cancer wasn't there when your department hired you.
- Without the NFPA 1582 exam at your department, exposure must be shown with after action reports, and no presumption applies to the cancer.
- Once you retire, you have to accept the medical exams your employer asks for, and your coverage continues for 20 years past retirement.
Your employer may claim something other than the job caused your cancer.
Questions about your diagnosis, your service record or your deadline go to the claims line: +1 833 853 0496
Cancers New Hampshire covers
Any cancer is covered once you've done 10 years, stayed tobacco-free, had a clean hiring exam, and your employer keeps an equipment cleaning policy.
Examples of cancers that qualify include:
- Cancer of the bladder
- Cancer of the brain
- Cancer of the breast
- Colon cancer or cancer of the rectum
- Cancer of the esophagus
- Cancer of the kidney
- Leukemia
- Cancer of the liver
- Cancer of the lung
- Mesothelioma
- The disease known as multiple myeloma
- Lymphoma, non-Hodgkin type
- Cancer of the ovaries, cervix, or uterus
- Cancer of the pancreas
- Cancer of the prostate
- Skin cancer, including melanoma
- Cancer of the stomach
- Cancer of the testicles
- Cancer of the throat or mouth
- Cancer of the thyroid
How does a firefighter in New Hampshire file a workers' comp claim for cancer?
- Put it in writing to your department: you have cancer, and you believe the job caused it. Save a copy for yourself.
- Submit your claim to the New Hampshire Department of Labor, Workers' Compensation Division, or to your employer's insurer, and cite the law (N.H. Revised Statutes § 281-A:17) on your claim form.
- Collect your diagnosis, the dates you were hired and served, any physical exam results, and your records of fires and exposures.
- Start soon. Workers' comp claims have time limits for telling your employer and for filing, and some are short.