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No Comp for Crack Dealer

Now that I have your attention...Who says state supreme courts never have any fun? Check out this story from Workforce Management magazine:

Continually selling crack cocaine amounts to employment and thus is sufficient cause to terminate permanent total disability compensation, Ohio?s Supreme Court has ruled.

The high court?s decision December 21 in State ex rel. Lynch vs. Industrial Commission of Ohio upheld a March 1998 finding by Ohio?s Industrial Commission that Henry Lynch?s ongoing crack-cocaine enterprise constituted ?sustained remunerative employment.?

When Lynch was arrested for selling crack, the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation found out and stripped him of his disability benefits. This raises a number of interesting legal questions:

1. How much crack does one have to sell to be classified as a full-time crack dealer? Apparently, the bar is set pretty low. Lynch earned between $300 and $500 a week. I can see why he fought this case all the way to the state supreme court. It's not like he was the Donald Trump of crack dealers. Lynch should have moved to Washington, D.C. Marion Barry alone would double Lynch's income.

2. Does the IRS now get involved? Now that Mr. Lynch enterprise has been ruled "sustained remunerative employment" does that mean he needs to file as a small business with the IRS? Has he paid his Social Security taxes?

3. Why is the state picking on this guy? It's not fair that this struggling small-business owner should lose valuable income, when Ol' Dirty Bastard can drive up to a welfare office in a limousine to collect his check, while profiting off a top-ten album. (N.B. that is probably the only hip-hop reference you will ever see on this blog, so enjoy it!)

Full post as published by Supreme Dicta on January 14, 2008 (boomark / email).