Thread: S.C. court: hurt illegal immigrant due workers comp benefits

S.C. court: hurt illegal immigrant due benefits
By The Associated Press
Posted on Fri, Dec. 28, 2007

Illegal immigrants who are injured on the job are entitled to workers' compensation, the South Carolina Supreme Court has ruled.

The court issued the opinion after an employer claimed a Mexican citizen who injured his right eye on a demolition job in Charleston should not get workers' compensation benefits because federal law prohibits hiring illegal immigrants.

In an opinion issued late last week, the court disagreed.

"Disallowing benefits would mean unscrupulous employers could hire undocumented workers without the burden of insuring them, a consequence that would encourage rather than discourage the hiring of illegal workers," Justice James Moore wrote in the unanimous opinion.

The state's high court cited a similar ruling in North Carolina and said other states have also ruled that way.

Estimates of illegal immigrants in South Carolina have run from 75,000 to 400,000.

An attorney for the employer, Environmental Management Services, said Mario Curiel of Mexico submitted fraudulent documents to get hired and was employed under false pretenses.

"If the employer is doing everything you're supposed to be doing and is the victim of an individual perpetrating fraud on you, in that situation the employer ought to be able to void the employment contract," company attorney Hubert Wood III told The (Myrtle Beach) Sun News.

Wood also argued that Curiel had a previous injury to his left eye that he never told the company about.

The court said Curiel could receive benefits if the combined injuries resulted in a greater disability. The court ordered the Workers' Compensation Commission to determine the combined effect.
http://www.thestate.com/business/story/268528.html

A dangerous president in my opinion.

"If the employer is doing everything you're supposed to be doing and is the victim of an individual perpetrating fraud on you, in that situation the employer ought to be able to void the employment contract,"

Oh pullleeeeezzzeeee! Funny how these employers always seem to miraculously discover their employee's are illegal..only AFTER they've been injured.

This ruling should make an illegal worker less competitive.

The penalties for defrauding an employer are spelled out in the law. Those don't include loss of an eye. The employer should now seek to have the worker prosecuted for his crime.

The employer benefitted from the work of this employee and should be liable for the injury. Hopefully, the Workman's Comp insurer will balk at paying this claim as the company does seem to be negligent in their hiring process. Awards should not be paid out of insurance funds that are to compensate legal workers.