Undocumented workers who are injured on the job are entitled to seek
workers’ compensation benefits, a California Court of Appeals has ruled.
The
case arose when coffee roaster Farmer Bros. Co., based in Torrance,
challenged a workers’ comp claim filed by an employee who was
unauthorized to work in the U.S. at the time he was injured at
work. Farmer Bros. argued that the state workers’ compensation system
was superseded by the federal Immigration Reform and Control Act of
1986 (IRCA). But a workers’ compensation judge concluded that the
worker, Rafael Ruiz, was an employee for purposes of California
workers’ compensation laws, despite his immigration status.
In
upholding the judge’s decision, the appeals court explained that
“California law has expressly declared immigration status irrelevant to
the issue of liability to pay compensation to an injured worker.”
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