Thread: S.C.: Workers' Compensation for Illegal Immigrants

Workers' Compensation for Illegal Immigrants
Location: Charleston, SC
Reporter: Renee Williams
Posted: December 27, 2007 10:12 PM EST


The South Carolina Supreme Court sends a message to illegal immigrants and the people who employ them.

Today, the Court ruled illegal immigrants are entitled to worker’s compensation benefits if injured on the job.

Senator Glenn McConnell says he disagrees with the court’s decision.

He also says illegal immigrants have “unclean handsâ€

The Illegal should have been able to sue the employer ... not collect money at the tax payers expense because of the illegal activity of the employer

This decision comes after Environmental Management Services claimed one of their employees, a Mexican immigrant, should not get worker's comp because federal laws prohibits hiring illegal immigrants.

I agree with you Airbornesapper.
In the meantime, the federal government should go after Environmental Management Services for hiring illegal(s) and fine them twice the amount the illegal is going to collect in his lifetime in workman's compensation.

Fences make good neighbors.

the Court ruled illegal immigrants are entitled to worker’s compensation

WHAT???!!! This is insanity!!! Illegals are entitled to NOTHING. They are not citizens of this country. The South Carolina Supreme Court are a bunch of idiots.

Originally Posted by AirborneSapper7

The Illegal should have been able to sue the employer ... not collect money at the tax payers expense because of the illegal activity of the employer

Workman's comp. is "set up" to favor the injuried employee. This is intentional. It prevents the employer from being sued. I believe the Court made the correct decision. The employer should do MORE to verify emploees are legal. They can use the E-Verify system for free.

I recommend the illegal worker get worker's compensation and the state sue the employer to recoup the cost. This protects the injuried and the taxpayer.

Doing this just MIGHT cause some employers to start verifing employee social security numbers. Of course the employers would all cry a river.

If the rates are going up, the employers need to better educate and train. They need to put more than the minimum into their safety programs. Too many employers do too little.

I' afraid anything else would result in more illegals being hired. Then when they are injured, the emploer merely terminates them w/o any compensation for their injury.

Businesses React to Illegal Immigrant Granted Worker's Comp

Dec 28, 2007

Columbia (WLTX)- Old San Juan, and Ktee's Irish Pub: the two restaurants are just yards apart in Columbia's Fortune Square Mall.

But owners Carlos Otero and Karen Garrels opinions are also a bit distant on wether illegal immigrants should get workers compensation. "If they're illegal or not they should be allowed to have the benefits," says Otero.

But Garrels says, "They shouldn't have illegals working for them." The state supreme court has ruled in the Charleston County case involving Mario Curiel vs. Environmental Management Services.

It agreed that Curiel is entitled to workers compensation for injuries suffered on the job. Here's where Otero and Garrels both see eye to eye.

They say employers who hire undocumented workers should be held accountable. "Your hiring somebody and you know their illegal so you've broken the law too, because your not going to pay benefits so your the one stealing from the government," says Otero.

Garrels agrees. "The employers should protect them, it's important because it protects the employer."

To lend weight to the ruling, the court cited a similar ruling in North Carolina.

http://www.wltx.com/news/story.aspx?storyid=56917

My point is I do not want an Employer protected from a law suit if he / she is hiring undocumented workers just to pay a lower scale.

I only want employers covered IF, he / she is following the law by hiring only American citizens.

When employers are allowed to bend and twist rules to make a bigger profit.. American citizens are the ones that pay the cost.

I want these activities to stop. Thats why I would like to see the illegal alien sue the company blind and recoup money.

When an employee files a claim with workers comp and workers comp has to pay for an injured workers... rates for everyone goes up.

Not only is it not fair, it is corrupt and forces other companies to do the same thing to be competitive.

Now that is a big part of the issue going on today. Everyone feels like they have to cheat to be competitive or to keep from being forced out of business.

No.. I disagree, the Illegal Alien should be able to sue the employer blind to create a chain reaction across America and force companies to play by set rules

Originally Posted by wilro

the Court ruled illegal immigrants are entitled to worker’s compensation

WHAT???!!! This is insanity!!! Illegals are entitled to NOTHING. They are not citizens of this country. The South Carolina Supreme Court are a bunch of idiots.

The lead Justice of the SC Supreme Court, Jean Toal, has left the scene of two different accidents she caused. One under the influence by the way. These scions of justice recently voided a question on a bar exam, enabling the kids of some politicians to get their law licenses unfairly.

The Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that illegal workers were not entitled to any benefit of work illegally obtained or performed..
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/g ... ol=00-1595
HOFFMAN PLASTIC COMPOUND v. NLRB
Reinquist wrote the majority opinion..which states in part:
"Under the IRCA regime, it is impossible for an undocumented alien to obtain employment in the United States without some party directly contravening explicit congressional policies. Either the undocumented alien tenders fraudulent identification, which subverts the cornerstone of IRCA's enforcement mechanism, or the employer knowingly hires the undocumented alien in direct contradiction of its IRCA obligations. The Board asks that we overlook this fact and allow it to award backpay to an illegal alien for years of work not performed, for wages that could not lawfully have been earned, and for a job obtained in the first instance by a criminal fraud. "

"There is no reason to think that Congress nonetheless intended to permit backpay where but for an employer's unfair labor practices, an alien-employee would have remained in the United States illegally, and continued to work illegally, all the while successfully evading apprehension by immigration authorities. Far from "accommodating" IRCA, the Board's position, recognizing employer misconduct but discounting the misconduct of illegal alien employees, subverts it.

Indeed, awarding backpay in a case like this not only trivializes the immigration laws, it also condones and encourages future violations"

Welcome aboard xyz. Yes, that's a good point. Any tolerance (eg. non-enforcement of existing laws) necessarily places other federal laws in contradiction of many others.
... In short, illegal is illegal is illegal is illegal - ok, I'm sure you know...

Please stick around and jump right in with us