Gulf fund czar: No pay earned for spill cleanup to be subtracted from lost revenue claims

BP fund czar: No deduction for spill cleanup wages

NEW ORLEANS — The administrator of the fund for victims of the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster says he will waive a requirement that BP PLC wages earned by spill cleanup be subtracted from workers’ claims for lost revenue.

Attorney Kenneth Feinberg, who is doling out the $20 billion, said Monday he would not deduct the earnings from any claims workers are eventually paid.

Feinberg says it will help fishermen who have been working on spill response while they couldn’t fish.

The Gulf Coast Claims Facility has received more than 68,000 claims since taking over from BP in August, and has paid more than $240 million.

An April 20 rig explosion killed 11 workers, triggering the spill from the well that eventually spewed out more than 200 million gallons of oil.