When your deranged ex-husband threatens to track you down at work, douse you with gasoline and set you on fire, you really ought to be able to take a day off. And if your ex makes good on his threat - and you have to quit your job as a result - the nice thing to do would be to offer you unemployment compensation. This seems like common decency - and it is in some states as well as the District of Columbia. When Yvette Cade was set on fire, she had the misfortune of working in Maryland rather than nearby Washington, D.C. Maryland law offered her no protection from getting fired for failing to show up for work. Although the attack left her with third-degree burns on 60 percent of her body, state law also kept her from collecting unemployment compensation. Victims in Washington state face a similar roadblock. Washington is one of 22 states that fail to recognize domestic violence as a legitimate reason for unemployment insurance. U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., wants to change that on a national level -- Tom Henderson/Lewiston Tribune.

Question: Should the federal government mandate that states allow unemployment insurance to cover victims of domestic violence?

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