Immigrant Workers Compensation

I' m sure a wealth of 2-cents has been shared on this topic already. I'm a week or so late commenting.

The AP reported on 22 November that a state judge has ruled that an illegal immigrant is eligible for workers compensation benefits from his employer despite being in the country illegally. The worker, a teen, was paralyzed while working on a home construction site. The Home Builders Association of Alabama intervened in the case, citing the immigration status of the worker when it asked the judge to deny the benefits. The employer disagreed with the judge's decision but said it would not appeal.

Note note that is was not an "activist" federal judge but an popularly elected circuit judge who reached this conclusion.

As illegal immigration continues to be of growing concern, I think it is only fitting that a business who hires illegal immigrants must pay these kinds of benefits if the worker would otherwise qualify for them if he or she was in the country legally. One of the draws - the main draw - to America for illegal immigrants is the work and the money they can earn. It is illegal for employers to hire these individuals and they should use due diligence in doing so. And if they don't, then there should be penalties the business has to pay.

For the court to have said a legal American could have gotten these benefits but not an illegal immigrant would have given businesses just one more incentive to use foreign labor to replace workers who are here legally - by birth or by choice.

The article includes the following:

[blockquote]An official with the Home Builders Association, W. Russell Davis, said the organization encourages members to hire only legal immigrants, but added that there is no way for contractors to check the immigration status of everyone working on a construction site. Paying benefits to illegal immigrants, he said, "is just part of it."[/blockquote]

This guy wants to spin this issue both ways. First of all, that Association said that the worker wasn't eligible for the benefits. Then he states that since his businesses have "no way" to check the immigration status of every worker, he accepts the payment of benefits as a cost of doing business.

He is, of course, being disingenuous. There are ways for a business to exercise due diligence in determining a worker's immigration status. Yes, some prospective employees may have fraudulent credentials that can be used to scam an employer. But in general an employer is able to ensure the legality of its employees' immigration status.

In this case, it seems that this construction business should be investigated for immigration violations. Unfortunately, that will probably not happen; if you find it has, let me know. But at least the business will be punished by having to live up to its moral - and legal - obligation to this worker.