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The company argued that federal immigration laws superseded the state's workers' compensation system, which provides medical care and disability benefits to injured employees.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.
Pays to live in a socialist state.
I know.
This should be a wake-up call to US employers who choose to hire illegals. What ever happened to the I-9 requirement?
I am agaisnt hiring illegal workers to start with . However you cannot allow a company to hire illegals and then claim they dont have to pay compensation because they are illegal.
IMO this company sucks. They hire illegals pay them low wages and then try to screw them if they are injured. Low life bastards should be prosecuted for hiring illegals to start with.
I agree that companies that hire should be penalized.
Fine by me. However, upon reciept of the application, deport them post hast and fine the daylights out of the company.
Just one more incentive for an employer to scam the system and hire Illegals.
This country is finished. It didn't matter which party held power.
1) Illegals are just that, illegal. Ship them back to mexico for treatment.
2) Jail any employer that knowingly hires illegals (Economic terrorists). Charge the company for the deportation, treatment of said illegal and run a thorough OSHA inspection. OH, and make sure the OSHA inspector is the one going through a nasty divorce and got cut off in traffic on the way to work, spilling hot coffee all over his lap.
Yep, this company and others like it want to have it both ways. Screw them.
I fear you are correct.
Utter insanity.
We should keep the focus on HEAVY penalties for hiring illegals. Then we don't need to make insane rulings like these.
I have a suggestion regarding the judges. However, due to FR rules, it's best I not post such material.
3) If, for any reason, the OSHA inspector failed to spill coffee on his lap, have someone dent his car and then send him out to the parking lot to observe. Cause him to trip on the rug on the way back in.
P.S. I think even God is fed up (i.e., Francis, Jean, Ivan, Katrina, Rita, Wilma......)
When I heard yesterday that the gay/lesbian crew has reading books in Kindergarten promoting their God-awful, disgusting life style, I concluded that it's all over.
An illegal alien should not be eligible for worker's compensation, social security, or any other benefits. An illegal alien is a criminal. All illegal aliens should be notified of this. Anyone applying for a job should be notified that if he/she is an illegal alien, he/she is not eligible for the benefits due the law abiding.
Now that the whole world knows that Rafael Rios is an illegal alien, does anyone think there is even the remotest possibility that he now will be deported?
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