In a case that has yo-yo’d between a federal district court (W.D. Tenn.) and the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, the latter affirmed, in relevant part, a decision by the...
Sixth Circuit Affirms $50K Punitive Damages Award for TN Employer’s Retaliation Against Undocumented Worker Sixth Circuit Affirms $50K Punitive Damages Award for TN Employer’s Retaliation Against Undocumented WorkerThe Supreme Court of Nevada reiterated that the state’s workers’ compensation statutes clearly and unambiguously protected every person in the service of an employer, whether lawfully or unlawfully employed, including...
NV High Court Reiterates That Undocumented Workers May Recover Indemnity Benefits NV High Court Reiterates That Undocumented Workers May Recover Indemnity BenefitsIn an unpublished decision, the Supreme Court of Nevada affirmed an award of permanent total disability benefits to an undocumented worker who sustained severe injuries to his head when a...
Nevada Court Affirms PTD Award to Undocumented Worker on Odd-Lot Basis Nevada Court Affirms PTD Award to Undocumented Worker on Odd-Lot BasisYesterday, a federal district court held that a Tennessee employer had violated state employment law regarding retaliatory discharge where the employee in question was fired within one hour of the...
Surreptitious Recording Reveals Firing Was Connected to Comp Claim and Not Immigration Status Surreptitious Recording Reveals Firing Was Connected to Comp Claim and Not Immigration StatusIn a deeply divided (3-2) decision, a New York appellate court reversed a decision by the state's Workers' Compensation Compensation Board that had found an injured, undocumented construction worker had failed to establish, through a diligent, relevant search for employment, that he maintained the required connection to the labor market....
Opinion Mondays: Those Hiring Undocumented Workers Should Not be Allowed to Game the System Opinion Mondays: Those Hiring Undocumented Workers Should Not be Allowed to Game the SystemCourt Affirms Denial of Benefits Based on Improper Social Security Number. Signaling how easy it is in Florida to deny workers’ compensation benefits to an injured illegal immigrant, yesterday a...
Florida Illegal Immigrant Caught in Catch-22 Florida Illegal Immigrant Caught in Catch-22While hypothetical questions may have been the standard in law school courses taught via the Socratic Method, the Sixth Circuit recently held such questions are not to be considered by...
Sixth Circuit Side-Steps Federal Immigration Issue in Retaliatory Discharge Action Sixth Circuit Side-Steps Federal Immigration Issue in Retaliatory Discharge ActionIn a divided decision, the Supreme Court of Minnesota held that an injured undocumented worker had raised a genuine issue of material fact as to whether an employer had discharged...
Rock and a Hard Place: Placing Injured Undocumented Worker on Unpaid Leave May Be Retaliatory Discharge Rock and a Hard Place: Placing Injured Undocumented Worker on Unpaid Leave May Be Retaliatory DischargeWhile the workers’ compensation laws of virtually all states include illegally employed persons—e.g., minors and undocumented “aliens”—within the term “employee,” Wyoming’s definition is more restrictive. Only those aliens whom the...
Wyoming Employer Need Not Keep Immigration Documentation on Hand Wyoming Employer Need Not Keep Immigration Documentation on HandOn Monday, in Cruz v. Workers’ Comp. Appeal Bd. (Kennett Square Specialties), 2014 Pa. LEXIS 1772 (July 21, 2014), the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania held that as to the proper...
Pennsylvania: Claimant’s Invocation of Self-Incrimination Rights Cannot, Standing Alone, Furnish Sufficient Evidence to Suspend Comp Benefits Pennsylvania: Claimant’s Invocation of Self-Incrimination Rights Cannot, Standing Alone, Furnish Sufficient Evidence to Suspend Comp BenefitsThe Supreme Court of Iowa recently held in relevant part that undocumented workers are not excluded from the Workers’ Compensation Act’s definition of “employee” and that the contract of employment...
Iowa: Undocumented Workers Are Protected by the Workers’ Compensation Act Iowa: Undocumented Workers Are Protected by the Workers’ Compensation ActIn spite of the fact that the Federal Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA) makes it unlawful to knowingly hire undocumented (illegal) aliens [see 8 U.S.C.S. § 1324a],...
New York: By Hiring Illegal Alien, Employer Did Not Give Up Protection Against Third-Party Claims for Contribution and/or Indemnification New York: By Hiring Illegal Alien, Employer Did Not Give Up Protection Against Third-Party Claims for Contribution and/or Indemnification