Undocumented Immigrants Eligible for Workers’ Compensation

Undocumented immigrants who suffer work-related injuries in many states are eligible for workers’ compensation.

But many people are divided over whether or not they should be precluded from workers’ compensation. In the past few years, several states have introduced legislation that would limit workers’ compensation benefits for undocumented immigrants, but most of those bills have failed to pass.

The Debate Over Benefits for Undocumented Workers

In over two dozen states, undocumented immigrants are eligible to receive 100 percent of their wages, plus medical care costs and even funeral arrangements if they are killed in a work-related accident.

Some people believe undocumented immigrants shouldn’t receive workers’ compensation because their status should have prevented them from being hired in the first place.

Once they are injured, the undocumented immigrants can receive payments of more than a million dollars for lost wages and medical care, and opponents believe this is a drain on a company’s resources that could be provided to legal workers.

The Obama administration has recently cracked down on workplaces that hire undocumented workers, using tools like the E-Verify program, which checks workers’ eligibility to be employed in the US once they are hired. However, even though there has been a slight decrease in the number of undocumented workers coming into the US, millions of immigrants find still work illegally every year.

Returning to Work is Not an Option

The millions of undocumented workers who are employed in the US are often working some of the most hazardous and least desirable jobs available. Because they don’t want their illegal status to be discovered, many workers are not properly trained.

Many jobs hire undocumented immigrants knowing full well their illegal status, then do not offer them the benefits that legal workers receive, like health care and overtime pay. However, if undocumented immigrants are injured on the job, they are entitled to workers’ compensation regardless of whether or not they had insurance through their jobs.

However, once undocumented immigrants file for workers’ compensation, their illegal status is revealed, barring them from returning to work in the future. But if the injured worker leaves the country, he or she is giving up medical care and lost wages.

Many states have determined that allowing workers’ compensation for undocumented immigrants is not a drain on resources simply because many immigrants choose not to file for workers’ comp, as they will never be able to return to work.

Whether people believe it is right or wrong for an undocumented immigrant to be eligible for workers’ compensation, it is clearly a complicated conundrum that cannot be solved by one simple law.