Free Republic

Omar Santos-Cruz came to the United States illegally from Mexico and went to work building houses in one of Alabama's fanciest neighborhoods before he was seriously injured in March of last year at age 17. A court has now ruled that Santos-Cruz is due workers compensation benefits and medical care for life despite being in the country illegally. The case is a possible legal precedent and a sign of things to come for builders who have come to rely on immigrant laborers in a booming housing market. But the Home Builders Association of Alabama cited the immigration status of Santos-Cruz...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - A state law requiring workers to provide their Social Security numbers when claiming compensation for on-the-job injuries is invalid because it violates federal privacy rights, the Florida Supreme Court decided Thursday. The seven justices unanimously upheld a 1st District Court of Appeal ruling that reinstated benefits for Ricardo Cagnoli, a South Florida man. A compensation claims judge had denied worker compensation benefits to Cagnoli because he had failed to include his Social Security number on his application as required by Florida law. The Federal Privacy Act, however, makes it illegal for any state, federal or local...

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 The company argued that federal immigration laws superseded the state's workers' compensation system, which provides medical care and disability benefits to injured employees.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...

Illegal immigrants injured on the job are entitled to workers' compensation benefits despite their legal status, a California state appeals court ruled. The 2nd District Court of Appeal ruled 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. Farmers Bros. argued that federal immigration laws superseded the state's workers' comp system, which provides medical care and disability benefits to injured employees.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...

The Second District Court of Appeals ruled late yesterday that illegal aliens who obtain employment dishonestly are still entitled to workers comp benefits. The ruling (Farmer Brothers Coffee v. WCAB, Rafael Ruiz) leaves employers, even those who do not knowingly hire illegal aliens, on the hook for the costs of their workers comp benefits both medical and indemnity. The case involves one Rafael Ruiz who was injured in 2002 while working for Farmer Brothers Coffee. During the deposition process Ruiz admitted -- unbeknownst to Farmers Brothers -- to using a false social security and green card to obtain employment. Based...

ESSEX, Md. -- State Delegate Patrick L. McDonough said yesterday he will propose legislation in the upcoming General Assembly to keep illegal aliens from receiving workers compensation. His decision follows a state Court of Appeals ruling Monday that upheld a lower court ruling that such compensation must be paid to illegal aliens. "The federal Immigration Act states you cannot aid or abet an illegal alien," said Mr. McDonough, a Baltimore County Republican. "It's a felony." The panel of seven judges ruled 6-1 that state law does not specify that an illegal alien who is an undocumented worker cannot receive compensation...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's chief spokesman on Wednesday said he unintentionally mischaracterized a payment an insurance company made to one of the governor's companies in 2004. Communications Director Rob Stutzman had said the payment from Zurich American to Schwarzenegger's Oak Productions represented a settlement of a dispute with electronics retailer Best Buy involving the unauthorized use of Schwarzenegger's image. But Stutzman on Wednesday said the payment - characterized on the governor's disclosure forms only as more than $10,000 - did not involve Best Buy. And he said a nondisclosure clause in the settlement prevents him from revealing the identity of the...

The Web log TV Newser, citing "multiple Fox News employees" as its source, is reporting that the company ordered the insecticide diazinon be sprayed in its roach-infested New York newsroom, exposing numerous employees to a chemical that is banned by the EPA for indoor use. One Fox employee wrote that she and her colleagues had decided to go public with the matter because "diazinon -- which disrupts the nervous and endocrine systems -- is highly suspect in one of the female producers here having a child with Down's Syndrome. That is a major liability that no company, however noble their...

State Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi yesterday urged insurers to cut their workers' compensation rates by 18 percent July 1 to reflect the savings they have received from recent regulatory reforms. An insurance industry spokeswoman responded that double-digit reductions are likely, although not necessarily as deep as those Garamendi recommends. "Eighteen percent is not unreasonable," said Nicole Mahrt, public affairs director for the Western Region American Insurance Association. "It's higher than what some companies are able to do, but some companies are already planning cuts higher than that." Twice a year – on Jan. 1 and July 1 – the state...

A journalist friend of mine recently attended a banquet for hundreds of private detective agencies, and was fascinated to hear them, one-by-one, introduce themselves. The fascinating part: roughly one-quarter specialized in investigating Californians who claim to be injured on the job. The fact that California's private dick industry spends so much time probing claims of back strains, pain, and other injuries is testament to the troubles afflicting the most milked, most disastrous workers comp system in the United States. Last year, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed sweeping reform, Senate Bill 899 by Republican State Sen. Charles Poochigian of Fresno, to cleanse...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Rebuffing pleas from groups representing injured workers, a Senate committee Wednesday approved Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's choice to head the Division of Workers' Compensation. The Rules Committee voted 3-2 to confirm the Republican governor's nomination of Andrea Hoch as the division's director despite testimony that regulations she drafted had hurt injured workers and didn't follow sweeping changes lawmakers made in workers' comp law last year. "Every single regulation that comes out is ... interpreted in the worst possible way for injured workers and the best way for employers," said David Schwartz, president of the California Applicants' Attorneys Association,...

The pressure intensified Monday on workers' compensation insurance carriers to step up and deliver significantly lower rates to employers and improved benefit payments to workers. The questions that loom over California's struggling workers' comp system came into sharp focus at a hearing Monday held by Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi. The hearing was the start of a process to establish a benchmark for workers' comp rates during the second half of 2005. Garamendi expressed dismay that the workers' comp reforms of recent years have primarily served to reduce medical and disability benefit payments to workers without a meaningful cut in premiums...

Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez threatened Tuesday to hold up budget talks unless Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration reworks rules to carry out last year's workers' compensation legislation. "Democrats would have never signed onto a deal that puts injured workers in harm's way," Núñez told more than 500 workers and labor union advocates during a rally on the east lawn of the Capitol. Marking the one-year anniversary of the enactment of the workers' compensation law, SB 899, Núñez joined a parade of Democratic lawmakers, union leaders and workers accusing Schwarzenegger of breaking a pledge to protect benefits and medical treatment for those...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - A year ago, when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed sweeping changes in the state's workers' compensation system, he promised the legislation would protect workers, save billions of dollars and root out fraud and waste. On Tuesday, unions and other groups representing injured workers will mark the first anniversary of those changes with rallies at the Capitol and Schwarzenegger's Los Angeles office. They'll be protesting, not celebrating. The changes, they say, have made things worse for employees who suffer job-related injuries, particularly in the way the administration has been implementing the new law. "The biggest issue we are going...

AUSTIN — This time, leading Republicans and Democrats agreed. They joined together at the Texas Capitol on Thursday to proclaim that they don't want an expansion of gambling. "Empty promises to get rich quick do nothing but bring devastation and addiction," said Tina Benkiser, chairwoman of the Texas Republican Party. "We're being asked to gamble away our children's future in the biggest con game of all times." Legislators looking to cut property taxes while giving more money to schools are considering more than 20 gambling proposals, including video slot machines at racetracks and Las Vegas-style casinos. Conservative Republicans and a...

After two years of major overhauls, California's workers' compensation system remains high on lawmakers' radar screens. More than three dozen workers' compensation bills have been introduced this session in the Assembly and Senate, touching on subjects such as insurance rate regulation and doctors' fees. More important, many bills are considered placeholders for future legislation in what could reignite debate over reforming the state-run program, observers say. "You would like to think (after) a major reform effort like SB 899 (last year) all would be calm. People are trying to protect or defend different areas. They don't go away," said Willie...

I hope it's dawning on the governor that truly big reform -- broad, complex changes in the way Sacramento spends our taxes -- has never been an easy sell. Californians prefer glitzy, one-hit wonders over policy. We're a Proposition 13, term-limits, "three strikes, you're out," gubernatorial-recall kind of state. Arnold Schwarzenegger is taking a page from the playbook of former Gov. Ronald Reagan, who some 30 years ago tried to address rising taxes and legislative overspending with sweeping ballot reform. Reagan was popular and telegenic, like Schwarzenegger. But his complex plan, fought by entrenched interests, was defeated. He didn't give...

As one state department pursued a fraud case against a former prison correctional officer who it claimed had exaggerated his workplace injuries, the state's retirement system granted him a special pension for life. The Department of Corrections, Greg Nelson's one-time employer, says that at age 47 he claimed he hurt his back and neck in a workplace fall, only to find a new job operating heavy machinery at forest fires for as long as 14 hours at a stretch. But as investigators assembled their case against Nelson, the state's retirement system awarded him a medical pension, agreeing that his injuries...

Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata on Friday postponed a confirmation hearing for a state official tapped by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to carry out the overhaul of the California workers' compensation system. Influential labor and legal organizations are pressuring Democratic lawmakers to oust Andrea Hoch, the administrative director of the Division of Workers' Compensation. Her critics, including Perata and other Democratic legislators, assert that new formulas she crafted to determine permanent disability benefits would cut payments by up to 70 percent and reduce medical care for severely injured workers. Hoch declined comment Friday. A Schwarzenegger spokesman indicated the governor will...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - One of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's appointees is facing a tough confirmation fight because of regulations that opponents say go beyond the sweeping changes lawmakers adopted last year in the state's workers' compensation system. The Republican governor's nomination of Andrea Hoch as director of the Division of Workers' Compensation has drawn strong opposition from labor unions and groups that represent injured workers and workers' attorneys. And a lobbyist for one of Hoch's biggest supporters, the California Chamber of Commerce, says the appointment may be in trouble. "It's in question right now," said Charles Bacchi. "It's hanging in the...