Firm denies workers' comp in racial killing (Dollar Tree store)

Taneka Talley was stabbed to death in March 2006 while she was working as a clerk at a Dollar Tree store in Fairfield. Her killer's only motive, prosecutors say, is that she was African American.

That's also the reason the store's workers' compensation insurer is denying $250,000 in death benefits to Talley's 11-year-old son.

The boy's grandmother, the child's legal guardian, said Specialty Risk Services is taking the position that a racially motivated killing is personal, not work-related - even though the man charged with killing Talley had never met her before. The insurance company, Dollar Tree and their lawyers aren't talking publicly about the case but are defending their position before a state appeals board that hears workers' compensation disputes.

"I think it's unfair. It's discrimination," said Carol Frazier of Vallejo, who gained custody of her grandson, Larry Olden, after her daughter's death and is challenging the insurer's refusal to pay in a case that eventually could go to court.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/12/03/MN1514DSB4.DTL