President Trump's Executive Order, Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States is impacting some workers who seek workers' compensation benefits.
Showing posts with label Undocumented workers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Undocumented workers. Show all posts
Friday, February 3, 2017
Friday, December 2, 2016
Victimizing Undocumented Injured Workers
NY TIMES QUOTATION OF THE DAY
"I was shot by terrorists, and it feels like the people I worked with are
victimizing me all over again."
VALERIE KALLIS-WEBER, 59, a victim of a mass shooting in San Bernardino, Calif., last year, on medical treatments that have been denied or delayed under the workers' compensation system that covers her care.
In New Jersey, "...without benefit of a legislative directive to the contrary, undocumented aliens are entitled to workers' compensation benefits. While undocumented aliens are not performing any illegal work, the court has reasoned that the New Jersey Workers' Compensation Act is not subject to any prohibitions similar to the unemployment law of each state which must comply with Federal standards; granting unemployment benefits to undocumented aliens would violate these standards."
Montoya v. Gateway Ins. Co., 168 N.J.Super. 100, 401 A.2d 1102 (App.Div.1979), certif. den. 81 N.J. 402, 408 A.2d 796 (1979). "The need for medical treatment is not a benefit derived from immigration status but rather from employment status. Mendoza v. Monmouth Recycling Corporation, 288 N.J.Super. 240, 672 A.2d 221 (App.Div.1996)." Gelman, Jon L., 38 N.J. Prac., Workers' Compensation Law § 11.8 (3d ed.).
…
Jon L. Gelman of Wayne NJ is the author of NJ Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thomson-Reuters) and co-author of the national treatise, Modern Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thomson-Reuters).
For over 4 decades the Law Offices of Jon L Gelman 1.973.696.7900 jon@gelmans.com has been representing injured workers and their families who have suffered occupational accidents and illnesses.
Monday, June 16, 2014
Undocumented Aliens Ensnared By Workers' Compensation
Peter Rousmaniere comments today about the problems, threats and fears that undocumented aliens confront with the nation's patchwork of compensation programs. Injured undocumented aliens in states than mandate the submission of a social security number to file an initial application for workers' compensation benefits are particular targets for criminal fraud enforcement.
"The eight million undocumented workers comprise about 6% of the total civilian workforce. By studying estimates of undocumented worker penetration by occupations ranked by injury risk, one can reasonably project that undocumented workers sustain one out of every ten work injuries. This high volume is invisible to almost everyone except for adjusters, case managers, lawyers and others who work directly with injured workers and have learned their work and life patterns. The rate varies greatly, from maybe 2% in West Virginia, a low foreign-born population state, to over half within the fruit and vegetable producing counties of southern California."
Reconciliation of this issue remains uncertain for a multitude of reasons. The future of immediate national reform of immigration laws this election cycle now looks bleak with Eric Cantor's recent primary defeat. States will continue to use Social Security information for tax collection and enforcement, in addition to the reconciliation of other programs such as Medicare and unemployment benefits.
Ironically as Rousmaniere points out in his commentary, the power of the employer over the employee, is a huge challenge to the improvement of safety and health in the workplace. Shifting the burden from employers to US taxpayers is problematic. As the Affordable Care Act is fined tuned in the years ahead, the issue of undocumented aliens will become both a more dominate moral and legal issue in need of reform.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)