Posted on 11/15/2006 3:59:23 AM PST by NativeNewYorker
Illegal immigrants injured on construction jobs can sue for the future income they would have earned in this country at American wage levels, a federal appeals court ruled yesterday.
The ruling does not apply to illegal immigrants who use false documents or otherwise lie about their immigration status to get jobs. But the decision, by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, says illegal immigrants are covered under New York's "scaffold law." The law allows injured workers to sue contractors over unsafe work environments.
The decision upholds a $638,671.63 jury award to an illegal immigrant from Brazil. Of that amount,$230,000 was for future lost earnings. The immigrant, Jose Raimundo Madeira, was earning $15 an hour and working long weeks as a construction worker in 2001 when he fell from a building at a job site in Monroe, N.Y. In granting the award, the jury considered Mr. Madeira's earning potential in this country and the likelihood he would stay, according to the decision.
(Excerpt) Read more at nysun.com ...
Good. I've been predicting for years that one day they will sue for reparations. This is a start.
That statement was so illogical, I had to re-boot my PC.
Only if they survive... (just kidding)
This might actually be a good thing. If the workers are covered under the employer's worker's comp coverage, insurance companies might start putting provisions in their policies denying coverage to people not legally allowed to work in the US. If illegals aren't covered, these lawsuits will be settled out of the employer's pocket, essentially putting their businesses on the line? Would you be lackadaisical about hiring illegals if you knew you might lose everything?
Bttt!
No, he didn't use false documents. Nor did he lie about his status. His employer new he was illegal and hired him anyway (without any documents ever being submitted by the illegal). That means it's the employer who broke federal law, not the worker. *If* the illegal alien had submitted false documents, that would be a violation of federal law, and the court likely would have decided differently. The onus is on Congress to rewrite the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) such that 1. IRCA makes it a federal crime for an illegal alien to work even when the illegal alien obtains employment *without* any sort of fraud, and 2. IRCA clearly and explicitly preempts state labor laws.
This statement of yours is false. The worker broke federal law by being here ILLEGALLY, as such any thing that happened to him is his own fault. This does not excuse the employer and he should be fined and jailed for his part in the operation, AND I will lay odds that the illegal had false documents as well for getting around in his daily life, they all do. This illegal is guilty of breaking the law and should not be awarded anything and should have no legal grounds for law suit, for everything that happens to someone who enters a country illegally can be laid directly to the person entering illegally. No amount of BS and spin can change that.
No it's not. I'm telling you exactly why the court decided the way it did. I read the opinion, so I know the man did not submit false documents and his employer hired him knowing he was illegal.
The worker broke federal law by being here ILLEGALLY,
I don't think that's a federal crime. Even if it is a federal crime, it has no relevance to case at hand, which concerned whether IRCA preempts New York's labor law. IRCA does not criminalize being in the U.S. illegally. It doesn't even criminalize an illegal alien's working in the U.S. unless the illegal submitted fraudulent documents to get the job.
AND I will lay odds that the illegal had false documents
He did not use false documents to obtain employment. That was determined by the jury at trial. The federal appeals court was not free to redetermine the facts of the case. The court's sole purpose was to decide the preemption question.
This illegal is guilty of breaking the law
Actually he's not. That's why the jury decided in his favor. Remember, this was a state trial based on state law.
THIS IS GREAT NEWS! The scumbag companies who hire illegals deserve to get screwed this way.
Excellent News - now make 'em pay for health care for their anchor babies too ...
The judge was simply wrong if he thinks the illegal broke no laws, not only wrong but a complete idiot.
This sounds strange to me- Illegal alien workers have already used false documentation to get a job-
EVERY new employee since the early 1990's or late 1980's have had to fill out a Federal form called an I-9. As a bookkeeper, I have seen lots of them. They are NOT new.
You are supposed to fill it out IN FRONT of the interviewer, and you are supposed to present 2-3 kinds of various documents to prove you are eligible for employment in the USA.
If the "employer" chose to skip the I-9, throw the book at them, and put them out of business.
I see ablolutely no reason for an illegal intruder to collect anything except a portion of time in prison, then deportation back to country of origin.
As I said, that's irrelevant to the case at hand, which concerns NY state law and whether that state law is preempted by *one specific* federal law, IRCA.
All illegals in this country deserve what ever happens to them because they are law breakers and brought their problems onto themselves by being here illegally.
That may be your opinion, but it's not the law in the state of New York.
Whether he lied to his employer or not, he was employed illegally, thereby breaking federal law.
Again, that's your opinion as to what federal law *should* be. But that's not what the federal law actually *is*. Like I said, it's Congress's duty--not the court's--to change the law.
The judge was simply wrong if he thinks the illegal broke no laws, not only wrong but a complete idiot.
You might want to actually read the decision instead of jumping to erroneous conclusions. Just a thought.
So now we have Giuliani favoring "sanctuary" and McCain favoring "amnesty" (by another name)...vying for the Repub nomination...what a bunch.
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