Accidents in the WorkplaceA New York Court of Appeals has ruled that immigration status is not to be considered a factor when undocumented workers sue for wages lost when they are hurt on the job. The ruling stemmed from civil lawsuits filed by two New York City men. Gorgonio Balbuena, from Mexico, fell from a ramp at a Manhattan construction site in April 2000, sustaining head injuries, and Stanislaw Majlinger, from Poland, was injured in January 2001 when a scaffold collapsed. Because other parties were involved, the wage claims did not fall under worker's compensation.
The new legal precedent rectified an inconsistency in the lower courts concerning a US Supreme Court ruling, known as the Hoffman Plastics decision, denying back pay to an undocumented worker. In that case, the court said making such awards conflicted with federal immigration policies.
In favour of the ruling is the argument that labour protections don't and should not rest upon ones immigration status to be considered for compensation. Furthermore, disallowing injury related lawsuits from immigrants would only encourage unscrupulous employers to hire only undocumented workers, knowing that they would have no recourse if injured on the job.
Opposing argument states that federal immigration laws overrule state labour laws. Therefore, allowing such lawsuits gives illegal immigrants worker rights and thus the benefits that should only be afforded to legal workers.
What employers need to know: Undocumented workers now have the same protections as others under state labour law on such issues as minimum wage, overtime pay, occupational safety and worker's compensation. The state Court of Appeals has affirmed that they have the same right to seek compensation for lost earnings resulting from an injury, when that injury is related to violations of labour law.
"It's an incredibly positive development for, I think, all workers in New York State," said Daniel Werner, an attorney with the Kingston-based Workers' Rights Law Centre. "The practical effect, I would hope, would be that undocumented workers would be willing to step forward and call for the enforcement of labour laws, without fear. There's been a huge influx of immigrant workers, and certainly this will open the door for those workers to bring claims and to be covered by the same laws that cover everybody else," he said.
Supporting part of the ruling, the state Attorney General's Office agreed that denying such rights to undocumented workers gave employers an even greater financial incentive to hire them.
OTHER RELATED ARTICLES:
|
