Silkwood
The story of one of the most famous worker’s compensation cases, Karen Silkwood vs. Kerr-McGee, was the inspiration for hundreds of articles, several books, televisions shows, and a movie.
In the early 1970s, Silkwood worked as a lab analyst in an Oklahoma Kerr-McGee plant which manufactured plutonium pins used as fuel for nuclear reactors (The Karen Silkwood Story, 2004).. Plutonium, a radioactive chemical element, is known to be highly toxic and carcinogenic. Silkwood, an elected union official and outspoken critic of Kerr-McGee’s health and safety practices, began collecting and recording information to substantiate her charges that employees at the plant were dangerously exposed to toxic chemicals. In early November 1974, Silkwood was found to be contaminated with the chemical (The Karen Silkwood Story, 2004). She discovered this as she was testing herself at the hazardous materials reader as she was exiting the laboratory. During the next week, she investigated the health and safety practices at the plant and was determined to prove that the workplace was unsafe. Nine days later, while enroute to meet with a New York Times reporter and union leader to turn over her documentation of Kerr-McGee’s unsafe working conditions, Silkwood was killed in a car accident with suspicious overtones(The Karen Silkwood Story, 2004). The documentation she was alleged to have had with her was never recovered from the accident scene.
In an obvious attempt to avoid application of the workers ' compensation law, the complaint stated that all exposures originated in Silkwood 's apartment. A pretrial motion for the exclusive application of the workers ' compensation law was properly denied because accurate issues had not been resolved as to how the exposure occurred. The Kerr-McGee assertion that workers ' compensation applied to the personal injuries was reasserted at the conclusion of the case and in the motion for judgment not withstanding verdict. The trial judge 's refusal to
In the early 1970s, Silkwood worked as a lab analyst in an Oklahoma Kerr-McGee plant which manufactured plutonium pins used as fuel for nuclear reactors (The Karen Silkwood Story, 2004).. Plutonium, a radioactive chemical element, is known to be highly toxic and carcinogenic. Silkwood, an elected union official and outspoken critic of Kerr-McGee’s health and safety practices, began collecting and recording information to substantiate her charges that employees at the plant were dangerously exposed to toxic chemicals. In early November 1974, Silkwood was found to be contaminated with the chemical (The Karen Silkwood Story, 2004). She discovered this as she was testing herself at the hazardous materials reader as she was exiting the laboratory. During the next week, she investigated the health and safety practices at the plant and was determined to prove that the workplace was unsafe. Nine days later, while enroute to meet with a New York Times reporter and union leader to turn over her documentation of Kerr-McGee’s unsafe working conditions, Silkwood was killed in a car accident with suspicious overtones(The Karen Silkwood Story, 2004). The documentation she was alleged to have had with her was never recovered from the accident scene.
In an obvious attempt to avoid application of the workers ' compensation law, the complaint stated that all exposures originated in Silkwood 's apartment. A pretrial motion for the exclusive application of the workers ' compensation law was properly denied because accurate issues had not been resolved as to how the exposure occurred. The Kerr-McGee assertion that workers ' compensation applied to the personal injuries was reasserted at the conclusion of the case and in the motion for judgment not withstanding verdict. The trial judge 's refusal to