What’s legal and what’s just in Maine

On Jan. 5, 1988, 15-year-old Christopher Girard started working for a trucking company in Caribou. Several hours later, Chris was killed when a garbage truck ran over him.

Since Christopher was hired in violation of child labor laws, his mother sued his employer. The case went to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court which agreed with a lower court ruling which stated that employers are immune from suit due to the Workers’ Compensation Act. “A minor, even though employed in violation of child labor laws, is limited to the remedies provided by the (Workers’ Compensation) act,” according to Chief Justice Vincent McKusick. The remedy under the act is $1,000 and some burial expenses.

This is a classic example of the incongruence between what is legal and what is just. Moral principles of justice are usually defined and justified through a social contract. The idea of a social contract runs into numerous problems when child labor is involved, not the least of which is the question of informed consent in relation to assuming the risks of a job.

Historical evidence supports the notion of moral evolution on a societal level. Abolition of slavery, universal suffrage, civil rights and regulation of child labor are examples. However, we face cognitive dissonance when workers’ rights are examined.

Chris Girard’s case clearly demonstrates that workers have second-class rights. In addition to lesser rights due to Workers’ Compensation, workers’ rights are limited in other areas. For example, although public policy prohibits employers from firing workers who complain to OSHA, attempt to organize unions or report illegal acts of their employers, firings for these activities are commonplace.

How can working people reverse this devolution of rights? Societal change can be made administratively, judicially or legislatively. Given the current administrations in Washington and Augusta, and recognizing that most federal judges are Reagan or Bush appointees, it is clear that working people should exercise one right which is undiluted — their right to vote. Rosemary Baldacci Bangor