Democratic Underground Latest Greatest Lobby Journals Search Options Help Login
Google

Race, age, gender bias hits workers across state

Printer-friendly format Printer-friendly format
Printer-friendly format Email this thread to a friend
Printer-friendly format Bookmark this thread
Home » Discuss » Topic Forums » Race/Equality Donate to DU
 
flashl Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Feb-19-08 09:37 PM
Original message
Race, age, gender bias hits workers across state
(California) In an age when an African-American, a woman and a senior citizen each has a pretty good shot of becoming president, you'd think that this country is finally evolving beyond discrimination based on race, gender and age.

But there's one area where such discrimination appears to be perfectly allowable: workers' compensation insurance.

Since Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger successfully pushed his workers' comp reform package in 2004, some medical examiners have decided that they not only have the right but the state-mandated duty to pare down claims based on the race, gender or age of the worker.

The problem stems from the portion of the law dealing with “apportionment,” which requires employer-approved medical examiners to review injuries and determine to what extent they are related to unspecified “other factors” beyond the employee's working conditions.

The vagueness of the “other factors” phrase has allowed the medical examiners to use race, age and sex when determining how much the company is liable for the injury.

SignOn San Diego
Refresh | +1 Recommendations Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top

Home » Discuss » Topic Forums » Race/Equality Donate to DU

Powered by DCForum+ Version 1.1 Copyright 1997-2002 DCScripts.com
Software has been extensively modified by the DU administrators


Important Notices: By participating on this discussion board, visitors agree to abide by the rules outlined on our Rules page. Messages posted on the Democratic Underground Discussion Forums are the opinions of the individuals who post them, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Democratic Underground, LLC.

Home  |  Discussion Forums  |  Journals |  Store  |  Donate

About DU  |  Contact Us  |  Privacy Policy

Got a message for Democratic Underground? Click here to send us a message.

© 2001 - 2011 Democratic Underground, LLC