Wages BP pays fishermen to help with cleanup to be deducted from their claims against company

BP cleanup wages to be deducted from spill claims

NEW ORLEANS — The federal administrator of a $20 billion Gulf oil spill compensation fund says the wages earned by people working on BP’s cleanup will be deducted from their claims against the company.

Kenneth Feinberg told The Associated Press on Sunday the fund is designed to compensate fishermen and others for their lost income. If BP PLC is already paying someone to help skim oil and perform other cleanup work, those wages will be subtracted from the amount they’re eligible to claim from the fund.

Feinberg says the rule is “very fair” and shouldn’t eliminate an incentive for boat captains to participate in BP’s vessel of opportunity cleanup program.

BP is paying vessel owners between $1,200 and $3,000 a day to help with the cleanup.