Injured Undocumented Aliens

When an employee is a legal resident, he is entitled to the same rights as a citizen as far as workers’ compensation is concerned. However, Federal Immigration and Reform and Control Act (IRCA) makes it illegal for employers to knowingly hire undocumented aliens. It is also illegal for an employer to continue to employ the undocumented alien once he has discovered that the employee is not in the United States legally. Even so, the usual outcome for the employee is to be awarded compensation, but there are some exceptions.

There are some states that provide workers’ compensation coverage to employees whether or not they are legally employed. Those states hold that illegally employed aliens are covered by IRCA. Other states have the term “alien” in their statutory definition of a covered employee and do not distinguish between the employees legal or illegal status. States that do not mention aliens in their definition of “employee” may have other provisions that provide for coverage. Finally, in some states, the courts have held that illegal aliens are to be included in the definition of covered employees, whether or not there are any other provisions that address the issue.

There have been several arguments for and against allowing illegal aliens the protections of a state’s workers’ compensation laws. Opponents claim that IRCA trumps the state laws. While This maybe true, the problem with this argument is that IRCA only addresses the cases of employers who hire undocumented employees, not the employees themselves. Courts have found that the purpose of IRCA is to discourage employers from hiring undocumented workers and to put the burden on the employers to make sure, before hiring, employees are in the country legally. IRCA was not intended to deny workers’ compensation benefits to undocumented workers.

B. The Distinction Between Employee And Independent Contractor

D. Illegally Hired Minors

F. Employee Has Falsified Employment Application