U.S.DepartmentofLabor 

SEP 17 1ogg 

Employment Standards Administration 

Office or Workers· Compensation Programs 

Division or Longshore and 

Hdrbor Workers' Compensation 

Washington, D.C. 20210 

File Number: 

Notice No. 90 

NOTICE TO INSURANCE CARRIERS AND SELF-INSURED EMPLOYERS UNDER 

THE LONGSHORE AND HARBOR WORKERS' COMPENSATION ACT 

SUBJECT: Y2K Contingency Plan 

The Longshore & Harbor Workers' Compensation Division bas developed a detailed 

Business Continuity and Contingency Plan to assure that stakeholder services are 

minimally affected - if at all - by Y2K system compliance problems. The plan calls for 

certifying that our automated systems are Y2K compliant, testing for risk of failure, and 

devising contingency back-up plans in case any of our systems, or related systems, fail 

Our systems have been certified to be Y2K compliant, rated as a low risk of failure, and we 

have almost completed the testing phase of the plan. 

This notice is to inform you about the back-up contingencies, to solicit your suggestions for 

improving our plan, to offer our assistance with your own Y2K compliance plans for your 

benefit delivery systems, and to request a statement about your company's Y2K 

preparedness. 

We have identified five critical functions of our office that may be impacted by a Y2K 

system failure. These are: 

• Paying benefits 

• Collecting assessments 

• Resolving disputes 

• Monitoring reporting compliance 

• '.\tonitoring insurance 

Our back-up plans for each of these critical functions rely on the paper documents 

submitted to the District Office regarding claims, and to the National Office regarding 

insurance. 

Paving Benefits 

The final benefit period of 1999 falls in the last week of the year, so we will prepare that 

benefit payment run during that week and will send it to the Treasury Department before 

the end of the year. We have also developed an alternative to the present process of Special 

Fund payments, and this back-up has been tested and found to work properly. Should we 

encounter any system problems, future benefit periods will be processed by taking the 

working for Americ.a 's Workfon:-e 
records from the back-up tape, adding new claims from paperwork submitted by the 

District Offices, and submitting the refreshed tape to the Treasury Department. We are 

able to operate in this "back-up mode" until any Y2K system problems are corrected. 

Collecting Assessments 

Assessments to the Special Fund are made in January and in July each year. The January 

2000 assessment will be calculated in late December, 1999 and prepared for mailing during 

either the last week of December or the first week of January. In this way, the automated 

processing will be completed before January 1, and will not be repeated for another six 

months. 

Resolving Disputes 

The District Offices will continue to receive forms, requests for Informal Conferences, and 

other paper documentation. The Informal Conference process will continue to operate, 

and the data from the documents filed in the Claims Files will be entered into the 

automated Longshore Case Management System following the resolution of any Y2K 

problems with that system. The paperwork will serve as the back-up to the system. 

Monitoring Reporting Compliance 

As in the dispute resolution process, the District Offices will rely on the submission of the 

standard reporting forms to monitor stakeholders' compliance. The entry of the data from 

these documents into the automated system will be delayed until any Y2K problems in the 

Longshore Case Management System are resolved. Here, too, the documents serve to back 

up the automated system. 

Monitoring Insurance 

The ~ational Office is responsible for monitoring the securities deposited by insurers and 

self-insured employers. This responsibility is eritical during a time of potential system 

disruption. We have tested our systems by hiring outside vendors to certify Y2K 

compliance and our systems have received a low risk rating for any Y2K failures. To back 

up our system of monitoring and maintaining the securities, we will make tape copies of the 

securities data in the system, and maintain those back-up files in a secure location away 

from the system. We will be able to immediately restore the information from these backup files should there be any data deterioration. 

The Longshore & Harbor Workers' Compensation Program is responsible for regulating 

the timely delivery of benefits to injured workers. The potential for Y2K problems in 

automated benefit delivery systems threatens this. To ensure that Longshore and Harbor 

Workers' Compensation Program insurers and self-insured employers are preparing to 

protect the benefit delivery processes within their organizations, we are requesting that you 

submit a statement about your organization's Y2K compliance readiness. The attached 

sheet contains a number of descriptive statements about your Y2K preparedness. Please 

check the appropriate statement(s) indicating to us the status of your automated systems 

and whether you have contingency plans in place to deliver benefits and to submit reports 

in compliance with the statute. This statement must be signed by a corporate officer, and 

must include the name and telephone number of your Y2K program director. 
Contact 

We will be pleased to discuss our Business Continuity and Contingency Plan with you in 

more detail, and to provide assistance to your company's plan development. Please call 

John Curley, Branch Chief, at (202) 693-0843 for additional information, to offer 

suggestions about our plan, or to seek our assistance with your Y2K initiatives. You should 

submit your Y2K compliance statement to Mr. Curley at our business address above. We 

request that theses tements be submitted to us not later than September 30, 1999. /( .. 

/4/L /'--

,,,t;.,. ,._/ CHAEL NISS 

Director, Division of 

Longshore and Barbor 

Workers' Compensation 

Attachment 
U.S. Department of Labor 

Division of Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation 

One responsibility of the Longshore Division is the regulation of the delivery of workers' 

compensation benefits to injured workers covered by the Longshore and Harbor 

Workers' Compensation Act and its extensions. To ensure that insurers and self-insured 

employemare prepared to protect their claimant benefit payment systems from Y2K risk, 

we are asking that you submit the following infonnation about your preparedness for the 

January I, 2000 date problem. 

Please check the appropriate line(s), have the form signed by a corporate offieer, and 

return this statement by September 30, 1999 to: 

U.S. Department of Labor 

Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Division 

Office ofY2K Compliance 

200 Constitution Ave. NW Suite C-43 I 5 

Washington, DC 20210 

Thank you for your reply. Please let us know if we can provide any assistance to help 

your company prepare for Y2K certification. 

Company name __________________ _ 

Our Y2K Compliance Officer is 

Name: ________________ Telephone: _____ _ 

_ Our benefit delivery system is now Y2K compliant. 

_Our benefit system is not yet Y2K compliant, but will be Y2K compliant 

by ______ .1999, 

_ We have contingency plans in place in case our system should fail despite our 

Y2K compliance efforts. 

_Wedo not have contingency plans in place, but will by _____ , 1999. 

Signed: Date: ------------- --------

Printed or typed name _____________ Title: _______ _