Racial killing at Dollar Tree leads to new law

[Kadie]

Racial killing at Dollar Tree leads to new law
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

(10-14) 12:27 PDT SACRAMENTO -- The case of a murdered African American store clerk, whose family was initially denied workers' compensation benefits because her killer allegedly acted on racial motives, has led to a change in California law.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill Sunday that will prohibit insurers from denying workers' compensation claims on the grounds that the employee's attacker was motivated by prejudice.

The measure, AB1093 by Assemblywoman Mariko Yamada, D-Davis, was prompted by the case of Taneka Talley, a clerk at a Dollar Tree store in Fairfield.

snip...
At a March 2007 hearing on the defendant's mental competency to stand trial, a defense psychiatrist testified that Thompson had told him he stabbed Talley because she was black.

Thompson, who is white, was eventually convicted of murder and sentenced to 51 years to life in prison. Prosecutors did not accuse him of a hate crime, and the motive for the killing was not an issue in his trial.

But while the trial was pending, Dollar Tree's insurers denied benefits to Talley's 11-year-old son. In a letter to the family's lawyer, an attorney for the insurer said the child wasn't entitled to benefits because his mother had been attacked for racial reasons, as shown by the psychiatrist's testimony.



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/14/BAO61A58PO.DTL&tsp=1#ixzz0Twq2mdVA

[Swamp Rat]

1. BOOOOOO!!! Dollar Tree!!!

What a shitty excuse to deny a child compensation. Fucking evil insurance "people"! :grr:

[imdjh]

3. If it had been her ex, would it have been OK?

It appears that is what the exclusion is aimed at, but I was just wondering if you considered that to be legit, or if the company should pay regardless of why a person was killed.

[Swamp Rat]

4. Huh?

:shrug:

[Gormy Cuss]

13. State law allows insurers to deny claims for workplace deaths caused by domestic partners.

That's more or less the idea behind denying it based on racial motivation because the insurer is taking the stand that it wasn't related to the employment but to external factors.

Of course in the case in question the insurer was also trolling for an excuse and came up with the racial motivation even though the man wasn't charged with a race hate crime.

[Demoiselle]

8. See my response below...

That question occurred to me, but as I say farther down....maybe our employers need to take more responsibility for our safety while we're on their premises working for them.

[Hepburn]

14. Welcome to my Ignore list.

Your posts are disgusting, IMO.

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[paulsby]

6. blame the right organization

it wasn't dollar tree's fault. it was the insurance company's fault.

and i strongly applaud this new law to prevent insurance companies from pulling this crap

[Demoiselle]

9. You're right.

(Forgive me, DUer's for posting three different responses. I should have read everybody else's first!)

[Swamp Rat]

10. Good point

But damn Dollar Tree anyway. They sell cheap crap. :D

[paulsby]

11. lol. nt

[tabasco]

2. Same rat bastards in charge of our health "insurance."

Almost as low as the rotten scum murderers.

[Swamp Rat]

5. Leave us rats out if it!

[Demoiselle]

7. WHAT!?

Is that because her color was a pre-existing condition?
I'm sorry if that sounded flip...but...this woman worked for the store and she was murdered in the store and if she hadn't been working in the store
she wouldn't have been murdered1
This guy didn't kill her because he knew her and he hated her (ie. a "personal" reason as stated in the statute.) She was a stranger!
And aside from all that...shouldn't all employees feel their safety is reasonably guaranteed in their place of employment?
In this crazy world, maybe our employers need to frisk "visitors" a little more.
(I know, now I sound like a police state advocate....still....

[Hepburn]

12. I am boycotting Dollar Tree...

...this is TOTAL bullshit.

The victim was killed on the job ~~ by a customer. The motive, IMO, is irrelevant since there was NO other relationship between the victim and the perp. If he had been her ex ~~ yeah, no relationship to the job.

JMHO

[MadMaddie]

16. Dollar Tree and other companies like it are a pox on communities

They should be made illegal.

I am glad that the law has changed, this is just another case of a company trying to get out of paying what's rightfully owed.