Firefighter cancer presumption in Oklahoma
In Oklahoma, a cancer tied to firefighter exposures is presumed job-related.
Oklahoma's law here is Okla. Stat. tit. 11, § 49-110. It applies to disability retirement and to pensions.
Presumed means the law assumes your job caused the cancer, so your employer has to show it came from something else. Oklahoma's cancer law is separate from workers' comp, which is the insurance that pays medical bills and lost pay when work makes you sick.
Conditions under Oklahoma's law
- Cancer has left you disabled.
- When you joined the fire department, you passed a physical exam, and you have proof that you did.
- When you passed the physical exam to join, that exam did not find the cancer.
- Certificates of your disability are on file with the State Board.
Your employer may claim something else caused your cancer, but solid evidence is needed to do that.
Questions about your diagnosis, your service record or your deadline go to the claims line: +1 833 853 0496
Cancers Oklahoma's law covers
Any cancer is covered, provided the physical you passed at hiring showed no sign of it.
Among the cancers this includes:
- Bladder cancer
- Brain cancer
- Breast cancer
- Colon or rectal cancer
- Esophagus cancer
- Kidney cancer
- Leukemia
- Liver cancer
- Lung cancer
- Mesothelioma
- Multiple myeloma
- Non-Hodgkin lymphoma
- Ovarian, cervical or uterine cancer
- Pancreatic cancer
- Prostate cancer
- Skin cancer, melanoma included
- Stomach cancer
- Testicular cancer
- Throat or mouth cancer
- Thyroid cancer
Filing a firefighter cancer claim in Oklahoma: how does it work?
- To apply for disability retirement and pensions, ask your department or its pension or benefit board, and name the law that applies (Okla. Stat. tit. 11, § 49-110). That board is the office that decides retirement and disability pay for your department.
- You can also file a workers' comp claim, which is a second claim with the Oklahoma Workers' Compensation Commission. Oklahoma's cancer law does not help with that one, so your doctor has to say in writing that your work caused the cancer.
- Get your hire and service dates ready, along with your diagnosis, any physical exam results, and records of your fires and exposures.
- Try to start soon, because time limits apply. Ask your department or the board how long you have to apply. A workers' comp claim has its own deadlines.