By Todd Knode

Workers’ compensation laws were created to compensate an employee for injuries sustained while on the job.  One of the most debated issues in the area of worker’s compensation is whether workers who have entered the country illegally should be granted the same work place protections that legal employees have.  Some argue that illegal immigrants should NOT be entitled to workers compensation if injured while working because they are not lawful employees. Others argue that illegal immigrants SHOULD be covered by the worker’s compensation laws so that employers don’t have more of an incentive to hire illegals as a way to avoid workers compensation liability.  The states vary in how they have addressed that question. Most recently, South Carolina ruled in favor of coverage for illegal workers.

In Curiel v. Environmental Management Services the South Carolina Supreme Court unanimously ruled that illegal immigrants are eligible for worker’s compensation if they are hurt on the job.  In that case Curiel, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, was a construction worker for Environmental Management Services (EMS).  While on the job he injured his eye and filed for worker’s compensation benefits because of the injury. The state workers compensation law defines an employee as “every person engaged in an employment… whether lawfully or unlawfully employed” However, EMS argued Curiel could not collect the benefits because federal law forbids the employment of illegal aliens, and thus the state worker’s compensation laws could not apply to him.

For several reasons the state court ruled that Curiel should be granted worker’s compensation for his injury.  As to the conflict between granting benefits to an illegal worker, the court stated that if employers could escape liability for claims brought by illegal immigrants, then a ruling for EMS would only encourage employers to continue to hire illegal workers.  The court also held that the state law allowing payment of benefits is not preempted by federal immigration laws because Congress did not intend to “undermine or diminish” any existing state labor law protections.

However, because the Commerce Clause in the Constitution does grant Congress the ability to preempt state laws in certain areas, Congress may in the future explicitly decide whether illegal immigrants are protected under worker’s compensation laws.