Posted on 10/21/2005 3:50:45 AM PDT by pitinkie
Undocumented workers who are hurt on the job are entitled to workers' compensation benefits, a state appeals court ruled.
The 2nd District Court of Appeal made the finding in a case involving Torrance-based coffee roaster Farmer Bros. Co., which had tried to deny workers' comp benefits to an employee who was in the country illegally.
The company argued that federal immigration laws superseded the state's workers' compensation system, which provides medical care and disability benefits to injured employees.
The court disagreed, upholding an earlier decision against Farmer Bros. by the state Workers' Compensation Appeals Board.
"California law has expressly declared immigration status irrelevant to the issue of liability to pay compensation to an injured worker," the three-judge panel said in a unanimous ruling issued late Monday.
A Farmer Bros. spokesman did not immediately return a message left after hours at the company's corporate headquarters.
Experts said the ruling marked the first time a California appeals court confirmed that illegal immigrants have a right to workers' comp benefits.
The plaintiff in the case, Rafael Ruiz, 35, claimed he injured his shoulders, back, neck and hands by repeatedly lifting heavy sacks of coffee beans, according to his attorney's case file.
San Leandro attorney Kari Krogseng, who filed a brief on behalf of the California Applicants' Attorneys Association, which represents injured workers, said the decision affirms "both the common sense application of California law and what every other court in the country has routinely found: that federal immigration law does not pre-empt state workers' compensation laws."
Advocates for tougher immigration control criticized the ruling.
"We can't reward people for breaking the law," said Andy Ramirez, a spokesman for Friends of the Border Patrol, a Covina-based group that sends members to patrol the U.S. border with Mexico.
"Employers of illegal aliens should be charged and prosecuted to the full extent of the law."
The state Department of Finance estimated that 2.6 million illegal immigrants live in California.
Not a chance.
I agree.
I heard Hannity ranting about this yesterday. I think he was dead wrong.
Workers Comp is insurance paid for by the employer. The employer should be responsible for all their employees, legal or not.
I think I will go to all of the local worksites here in FL and put up a flyer stating that CA courts have ruled that illegal aliens can now collect workers compensation. Maybe with any luck we will have a mass exodus here. The taxpayers of CA will soon find how how much money in fraudulant claims that they can add to their monthly "illegal alien bill". Looks like alot of hard working tax paying CA residents will be looking for a second job just to subsidize people who have no business being in this country.
Good. It's about time felon employers ante up the costs they are responsible for helping illegals inflicting. Walmart's having been sued for OT & back wages, now this - maybe the liberal courts can be used for some good. Now, if they'll swing around and prosecute the employer on applicable felony charges we'll be making further progress.
A company pays into Workers Comp based upon the claims made against it, this is why the coffee company fought this guy's claims.
Therefore, it isn't all bad that IA's can collect Work Comp, because now the company has lost one economic incentive to hire the undocumented worker.
Absolutely.
A voice of reason. I have worked in a foreign country. One of my American colleagues was detained by the host government for not having the proper paperwork. Fortunately, the foreign company running the project stepped forward and had the paperwork corrected. I imagine that oftentimes the illegal workers here in the USA are smuggled in with the cooperation of CBP/ICE, yet there are are situations where paperwork and beaurocracy are the thin line between legal and illegal. Worker safety and protection should not be denied, else there would be abuse here and in foreign countries where Americans can work. It goes both ways. Some Americans are content to never see the rest of the world (and make some great money while doing so). It is obvious that there is not a simple solution to illegal immigration and shady hiring practices.
They are ILLEGAL ALIENS. Undocumented workers assumes that they're all here to work, they are not.
You say it Illeagals keep the price of lettuce down. But they also drive up medical expences, forces hospitals to close, increased law and prison cost, crime and gang violence, a slow erosion of US law and culture in the areas where Illeagals are prominent, and the activists who believe they can regain the west coast for Mexico if thier is a large population there (like sudentenland in the late 1930's). Is that worth cheap lettuce ??
My understanding is tht WC is charged to employers by the state at a rate for a given job. Employers are charged much more for drilling & blating than clerical work, and "benefits" are paid from an industry-wide pool. Having more incidents, all employers, not just the one in question, have to pay more. (Purposely skipped the EMR talk).
I wish I could disagree with you. Although, not yet finished we're definately circling the drain.
damn my "</s>" tag got cut off when i posted...maybe i should actually preview my post instead of just clicking the button :)
"This country is finished"
Only if the citzenry give in to the Librels who are misguided. It is up to us that have sense to lead the senseless, or at least minimize thier damaging effects.
At some point, I think that a judge will somehow restrict either Homeland Security or the Border Patrol and that in some way that's going to allow in a terrorist with a dirty bomb. Literally, all hell will break loose.
The only candidates with a hope of winning in 2008 are those who are on the right side of the illegals debate, but this will also touch on judges who rule the right way.
And you are leaving when?
PMSing females would work, too.
I say, pay 'em only if you deport them. That's the best of both worlds. It penalizes the company two ways for hiring an illegal and does not completely reward the illegal.
Instead, I see the truly big explosion (and I mean this literally) as coming from a lib court that releases some terrorist who comes in via Me-hee-co and was picked up; and who detonates some large weapon on our soil. This will be the "perfect storm" of judicial activism, terrorism, and illegal immigration that I warned about in a column here months ago.
The I-9?!? (LOL) Its still there.
But and it's a BIG but, take a stroll (if you have a couple hours) over to the Dept of Labor's website, the Immigrant Rights Special Prosecutor Division of the DOJ, and last but not least the EEOC website.
You will note one common thread - especially at the DOJ. ALL employers are WARNED that just because an I-9 comes back with 'no name matching SS number' it does NOT give the Employer cause or the 'right' to dismiss the employee. And if the employee happens to be a legal resident alien and is dismissed, the EMPLOYER will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.A few month's back (on a Saturday) I went to all those sites and followed the links and came to the conclusion that an employer would be out of his mind to deny employment to anybody even with the phoniest of phony looking ID's. The risk of being prosecuted AND sued into oblivion is too great.And over at the EEOC they have Toll Free numbers for the poor 'immigrant' who was wrongly dismissed to assist in suing the evil b*stard who fired them - just because he had reason to believe that all of 'Juan's' ID was phony and the I-9 came back with a 'no match' to boot, and as such was attempting in good faith to comply with the law by not hiring or dismissing an illegal alien.
And back to the I-9 form - On the DOL website that too has more warnings to employers of what they better NOT and CAN'T do regarding doubtful ID presented, than instructions on filling the form out.
Granted many some employers knowingly hire illegals, but for the honest law abiding one, he's between a rock and a hard place. It's a Gubmint setup and a virtual Catch-22 and until the burden is shifted from "Immigrant Rights" to "Employer Rights", the illegals will continue to be employed as they have the upper hand now.
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