Letter: State senator wrong to seek workers’ comp

Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2001 | 9:21 a.m.

Congratulations to the Las Vegas Sun and reporter Cy Ryan for exposing Sen. Maurice Washington's hypocritical workers' compensation claim. Ryan reported about two weeks ago that Washington wanted workers' compensation to pay for an injury he sustained at a charity basketball game, even though he was unwilling to purchase the legally mandated insurance for employees of his day care center.

There are enough outrageous elements of the story to fill three editorials. As a member of the state Senate, Washington should have had better judgment and a better sense of the law. As a member of the clergy, he should have held himself to a higher standard in his relationship with his workers.

He certainly should not have excused his behavior by suggesting his day care employees -- paid in the $7-an-hour range -- qualified for an exemption from mandatory coverage as members of the clergy. But perhaps the most outrageous element of the story was that Washington forced his own injured worker to choose between being reimbursed for medical care or lost wages, but not both. Workers' compensation would have covered both medical care and lost wages.

Perhaps we should not be surprised by Washington's behavior. After all, the Las Vegas Sun and reporter Launce Rake previously covered Washington's efforts to weaken penalties for construction companies that fail to provide fall protection equipment to their workers.

With leadership of Washington's caliber, it is no wonder that we have a community in which contractors demand kickbacks from their workers, employers flout laws protecting workers' rights to organize, and a quarter of working Nevadans take home poverty-level wages.

MICHAEL SLATER Executive Director, Las Vegas Interfaith Council