Rockwell to Pay $75,000 to Employee Who Contracted Leukemia

Rockwell International has agreed to pay a $75,000 workers compensation settlement to a former employee who has leukemia and claims to have been routinely exposed to radioactive substances during nearly 20 years on the job.

In settling the case, Rockwell did not admit liability for the illness of Gary Shoop, 52, of Thousand Oaks, who worked as a lab technician at Rockwell’s Canoga Park plant and later at the Rockwell Science Center in Thousand Oaks.

In his compensation claim, Shoop alleged he was exposed to a variety of toxic chemicals and radioactive substances at Rockwell, where he worked from 1961-69 and again from 1979-88.

In the settlement agreement approved last month, attorneys for Rockwell and Shoop said “a bona fide and good-faith issue exists” as to the link between the workplace exposures and leukemia, a cancer of the blood. The settlement was detailed in papers filed with the state Workers Compensation Appeals Board in Ventura.

Shoop worked at the DeSoto plant from 1961-69 for Atomics International, a Rockwell branch that has since been absorbed by the firm’s Canoga Park-based Rocketdyne division. Shoop said his duties included testing the nuclear fuel that Atomics manufactured at the DeSoto plant in the 1960s. During the same period, he was also assigned work with radioactive materials at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory west of Chatsworth, where most of Rockwell’s nuclear work has been done.

After leaving Rockwell for a job as a salesman, Shoop returned in 1979, working at the science center until the end of last year, when he was placed on medical leave because of his illness.

In an interview this week, Shoop said he “definitely had an exposure to” toxic and radioactive materials during his years at Rockwell. But he praised the company for what he called its “caring attitude,” saying “safety . . . is the mind-set” at Rockwell. “Those people tried very hard,” he said.

The $75,000 settlement is a substantial amount for a workers compensation case. Rockwell previously settled five other claims of radiation-induced cancer involving former workers in Canoga Park or Santa Susana, company officials have said. Those settlements ranged from a low of $2,500 to a high of $90,000, according to a company spokesman.

The Shoop settlement provided for payment of $63,750 to Shoop and $11,250 to his lawyer. Shoop also is to receive lifetime medical care and is to be continued on medical leave status until eligible for his retirement pension at the age of 55. Shoop also waived his family’s right to seek death benefits.