Undocumented California Workers Compensation Legal Rights
Undocumented California Workers Compensation Legal Rights Allow Claiming Industrial Injury Compensation and Medical Benefits. Illegal immigration, particularly from Mexico, has been an issue in the United States for many years now. With a changing executive and a changing legislature, the governments stance on immigration policy fluctuates from hostile to ambivalent. To date, immigrants continue to arrive on American soil illegally in California. Currently, those illegal immigrants are considered human beings entitled to the same basic rights under the workers’ compensation laws of California as those who arrive legally.
More Undocumented Workers in California Than Any Other State In The United United States
California Undocumented Workers In the Fields
California has the largest number of undocumented immigrants of any state in the country. This is perhaps due to the close proximity to Mexico, and Central and South America. It is estimated that about 11 million undocumented immigrants currently live across the nation. A quarter of that statistic reside in California (approximately 2.67 million). Furthermore, undocumented immigrants in California make about 6% of the total state population and 10% of the labor force, according to the Public Policy Institute of California). These workers therefore play a significant role in the state workforce and economy. Due to the significant role that immigrants play in California, California has became one of the few states to grant full rights to all workers regardless of their immigration status. Allowing employers to avoid providing workers’ compensation insurance to undocumented laborers would encourage the hiring of illegal immigrants for labor exploitation. Therefore, providing industrial accident insurance to undocumented workers is not only smart to discourage the hiring of illegals, it is the only way to enforce humane treatment of the State’s labor force.
The Department of Industrial Relations Requires Basic Rights For Illegals
Employees without papers are still entitled the following rights according to the California Department of Industrial Relations (or DIR for short):
- Whether individuals are legally authorized to work or not, their wages and working conditions are protected by California’s state laws.
- Undocumented workers should receive $10.00 per hour beginning January 1, 2016
- Similar to any other legal worker, undocumented workers have the right to earn overtime pay in cases they work beyond the 8 hours a day or the 40 hours a week
- In case of state wage law violation, undocumented workers have the right to file a claim against their employer with the state labor commissioner
- Because their workers rights are protected, undocumented workers have the right to file workplace safety and health complaints with CAL/OSHA
- The environment in which these workers work in has to be safe, because they are entitled to a work environment free from retaliation
Given the department’s enforcement practices in regards to undocumented workers, it asserts that it will not question workers about their immigration status. Therefore, the department is committed to:
- Without regarding the immigration status of a worker, the department will process all wage claims
- In cases of unpaid wages, the department will hold hearings to recover these wages and consequently represent the worker without regard to his/her immigration status
- Because a work environment free of retaliation is a right to every worker regardless of their legal status, the department will investigate all retaliation complaints. It will also file court actions to redeem compensation for any worker who fell a victim to retaliation or any type of action that hindered the safety of his/her work environment
Undocumented Immigrants Are Entitled to Receive Workers Compensation Benefits
Undocumented California Workers Compensation Legal Rights
In California, undocumented immigrants are expressly included in the workers compensation statutes. It is a humane responsibility to recover the damages sustained by a working individual who helps provide goods and services to the rest of the population. Accidents in the workplace where injuries may occur do not solely affect lawful workers. Undocumented workers who make up about 10% of the total California workforce are also likely to be injured at work. Therefore, the California State appeals court ruled that undocumented workers have full entitlement to workers compensation.
Many state laws make undocumented immigrants eligible for workers compensation. Others do not, and some states have unknown status. The only state that completely excludes undocumented workers from their workers compensation statute is Wyoming. Here is a list of states known to include undocumented workers into the state’s statutes:
Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Virginia.
The State of California protects all of its workers, regardless of whether they obtained their employment legally or not. Such state policy encourages legal employment and more importantly discourages discrimination, abuse and taking advantage of undocumented individuals.
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