Ark. Court Strikes Down Discriminatory Benefits Law

An Arkansas law that halts total disability benefits to injured workers when they reach age 65 is unconstitutional, an appeals court ruled this week. The 2nd Division Court of Appeals on Wednesday said that Arkansas Code Annotated section 11-9-522(f) violates the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution, a position the court took late last year in a similar case. "In Osborne v. Bekaert Corp. (issued Dec. 13, 2006), which presented a similar challenge to this statute, we held that it was an unconstitutional violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitutio...