Thread: CA Court Says Illegal Aliens Get Benefits

http://www.wcexec.com/vdata/5/nl/12/eve ... 18_123.htm

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 on his immigration status Farmer Brothers denied employment of Ruiz and thus benefits, invoking both the Federal Immigration Reform Control Act (IRCA) and specific sections of the California Insurance Code.

The Second District ruled IRCA is meant to sanction employers for employing illegal aliens, “not diminish in any way labor protections in existing law, or to limit the powers of federal or state…or labor standards agencies.�

The court says that California has made it clear that an employee’s immigration status is not a bar to receiving benefits or unscrupulous employers would be encouraged to hire illegal aliens, thus relying on the feds to believe their good faith statements that the employees’ documents were genuine. The Workers’ Comp Appeals Board, the court reasons, would then be thrust into the role of enforcing federal law and determining an injured worker’s immigration status.

In a technical ruling, the court says that Ruiz did not violate the California Insurance Code by using false documentation to obtain workers’ comp benefits because the documents were used to obtain employment, not benefits. Only if Ruiz had been previously convicted for using fraudulent documents could he be denied benefits, the court rules.

Dishonest employers who knowingly employ illegal aliens to put them in harm’s way should be fined, and the court points out that an employer is required to terminate an illegal once the immigration status becomes known. But according to the law, the court concludes, an employer is still obligated to pay a benefitâ€â€

As long as they prosecute the alien for the crimes committed, I see little in the way of negativity for our movement from this ruling. If, however, the state attorney does not file fraud charges against the alien for supplying false identification, there should be hell to pay.

Ayatollah, did you catch this part?

In a technical ruling, the court says that Ruiz did not violate the California Insurance Code by using false documentation to obtain workers’ comp benefits because the documents were used to obtain employment, not benefits. Only if Ruiz had been previously convicted for using fraudulent documents could he be denied benefits, the court rules.

Yes, but I don't see where that would prevent the heavy hand of the EDD investigation team, and the attorney general from charging him with violating those documents laws once they were discovered. The insurance code kept him from being prosecuted by the insurance commissioners authority only, although that would still fall under the AG's domain since it was a WC case.
The EDD has every opportunity at their beck and call to research documents, the use of them and to initiate investigations of them at the state level. They don't need any immigration authority to do so, since all of the necessary tools for prosecution are already in thier tool box. There is little need for federal intervention or even a requirement, as long as the state diesn't attempt to actually prosecute him for immigration crimes.
In California, the documentation that enables a person to work, also enables the enforcement of the deadbeat dad collection and enforcement laws. When they passed that law, they hoped to close a hole that would drive all of those who skirted their family responsabilities back above board. With 5 million illegal aliens using false SSN's or none at all (under the table) many spouses will find that hole will turn into a chasm where the state will not put their best foot forward on tracking down working non-paying spouses due to the ever burdgeoning use of Matricula consular cards to open bank accounts, identity theft or "loan", ITIN numbers in lieu of SSN's, or a failure to crack down on the cash payments to employees and independent contractors. A debtor can bounce back and forth between jobs, by using false ID's and docs for years now.
But the state can easily charge anyone with presenting a false ID, SSN, or other documentation. They can fine the aliens right the hell out of California just by following through on the laws only recently passed. We don't have to wait on federal intervention to solve a whole lot of crime in California. Only a bunch of agitated citizenry willing to give prosthetic spinal columns to state employees.