WV Chamber of Commerce Push to Deny Workers Compensation Benefits to Widows
In an repulsive move by the Chamber of Commerce in West Virginia, state legislation that would strip benefits from widows of coal mine workers who died from occupationally caused respiratory failure is being pushed. Within months of the tragic coal mine disaster in that state, the Chamber wants to limits the amount of benefits that would pass to a deceased workers spouse and children. Just another example of how the rights of the common American are being attacked everyday.
Current WV law states that workers' compensastion benefits pass to a dependent widow or widower until heath or remarriage. The Chamber is hanging their hat on a provision added in 2004 which states that the benefits should end when the worker would have reached retirement age. This provision was never approved by the state legislature, and never supported by the Governor.
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