Long-latency diseases let industry avoid compensating retired workers

Evidence

Silicosis takes many years to develop. Symptoms may not appear until after a worker has retired. Corporations ignored the progressive nature of the disease and required workers to demonstrate an inability to work before they could be compensated. Using this criterion of disability, the industry absolved itself of responsibility for the health of workers who had retired, many of them due to the progressing silicosis itself: “The committee points out that since silicosis may be present without any demonstrable symptoms, silicosis per se should not carry with it a liability for compensation, but rather liability should attach only when the disease results in wage loss” (U.S. Department of Labor, 1937). — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1796 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Latent disease enables employers to shift compensation burden onto retired workers.; Corporations exploited silicosis’ latency to deny compensation to retired workers — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 1796; Corporate spokesmen blamed workers’ own lifestyle choices for occupational disease — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 1794 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Latent disease enables employers to shift compensation burden onto retired workers. #expands (0.97)
• Corporations exploited silicosis’ latency to deny compensation to retired workers #exemplifies (0.95) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1796