Thread: Trial may decide illegal worker's rights

http://www.postherald.com/me090105.shtml

Trial may decide illegal worker's rights
By ROSA RAMIREZ
BIRMINGHAM POST-HERALD
Whether an undocumented immigrant injured in an on-the-job accident in Alabama can receive compensation is at the core of a trial under way in Birmingham.
Omar Santos Cruz, 18, an illegal immigrant, was seriously injured after falling at a construction site at Greystone in March 2004. He was a minor at the time.

His attorney, Vicenta Bonet Smith, is seeking at least $500,000 in damages from contractor Henry Lambert. Lambert contends that the job was sub-contracted and that he was not the teen's employer.

But a witness, Regulo Mar-Cruz, testified that Lambert pressured him to say he was the subcontractor responsible for hiring Cruz and his brother, Salvador.

On Wednesday, during the second day of arguments in Jefferson County Circuit Court, Fred Fohrell, who represents the Alabama Home Builders Self Insurers Fund and is part of Lambert's defense team, argued that "illegal aliens should not be able to recover (compensation) under worker's compensation" because they are not authorized to legally work in the United States.

Fohrell added that there cannot be a "loss of earning" because the worker, at the time of employment, was not working legally.

"There cannot be a loss of earning" when someone is working without legal documents. He made an analogy to that of a prisoner claiming loss of earnings.

Smith responded that Alabama's code states the word "alien" but does not state specifically that an immigrant worker has to be legally in the United States to receive worker's compensation if he or she is injured. She said it is up to the employer to verify the legal status of employees before hiring them.

"The employer needs to fill out a I-9 (form) and verify the (legal) status of the person. Once he took that employee, he cannot ... deprive him of any of his rights," Smith said.

The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 requires employers to verify the employment status of newly hired employees regardless of whether they are U.S. citizens. It also makes it unlawful for employers to knowingly hire illegal immigrants.

On Monday, the first day of the civil trial, Salvador Santos Cruz, the brother of Omar Santos Cruz, was asked by lawyers about his and his brother's legal status.

Salvador Santos Cruz said neither he nor his brother had a visa or a work permit.

During the cross-examination of Mar-Cruz, Clay Clark, Lambert's lawyer, asked why Mar-Cruz omitted from a testimony given to the U.S. Department of Labor that Omar Santos Cruz was using a nail gun. The use of a power tool by a minor on the job is a violatition of federal child labor laws.

Mar-Cruz said he was pressured by Lambert to deny that the teen was using a power tool at the time he fell.

Kind of funny that illegals seem to find a way into our legal system when they want to seek redress for a perceived wrong, but they avoid that system at all costs otherwise.
Side note on this article...Ms. Ramirez of the Post-Herald is employed by the P-H and used as one of their "liaisons" with the illegal alien community (surprise). Through my dealings with the paper, I've learned that they're mostly left-leaning and anti-police. They wrote one good article about me and my fight against illegals, but the follow-up was just about hokey.
The Post-Herald would like nothing better than for this illegal to win his case, and allow them to say that they helped him to do it by providing some sort of "pressure".
And it's REALLY funny that this illegal's lawyer is bringing up an employer's responsibility to file an I-9, etc. That's the best joke...

try being a citizen that was unlawfully discriminated against ...

bamaburgess, I hope you are an advocate for state's rights ...