Legislation granting disability retirement benefits to federal firefighters who contract certain illnesses on the job has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives.

H.R. 1142, the Federal Firefighters Fairness Act, was introduced by Reps. Lois Capps (D-Calif.) and Jo Ann Davis (R-Va.). The bill creates a rebuttal presumption that federal firefighters who become disabled by heart disease, lung disease, certain cancers and certain infectious diseases contracted such illnesses on the job.

To date, more than 40 states have recognized that these illnesses are occupational hazards of firefighting and have enacted laws presuming that such illnesses are job-related for the purposes of workers compensation and disability retirement unless proven otherwise.

"The current burden of proof federal firefighters must meet to qualify for disability benefits is almost insurmountable," said IAFF General President Harold Schaitberger in a press release. "Federal firefighters hold some of the most hazardous and sensitive jobs in the country, and they deserve the same occupational safeguards and benefits that the majority of their municipal brothers and sisters enjoy."

A Senate version of the legislation is expected to be introduced in the coming weeks.