CARSON CITY, Nev. (Legal Newsline) – Undocumented aliens hurt on the job in Nevada are eligible for Workers’ Compensation benefits.
That’s according to a Dec. 31 ruling from the state’s supreme court, which used the case of Manuel Ibanez to reinforce a decision it made 20 years ago.
In that older case, the court, said the federal Immigration Reform and Control Act preempted laws that would provide undocumented aliens with employment but still awarded permanent partial disability benefits to one.
Ibanez suffered severe injuries when a two-by-four fell and hit him in the head, shoulder and back. He applied for permanent total disability in June 2018, but Associated Risk Management, the insurance administrator for Ibanez’s employer, argued Ibanez was not entitled to benefits because he is an undocumented alien.
“Our opinion in Tarango clearly held that undocumented workers cannot obtain reemployment or vocational training…” Justice Lidia Stiglich wrote.
“But our opinion did not bar ‘compensatory benefits which award monetary relief.’ Far from holding those benefits preempted, we expressly affirmed an award of such benefits. That result was, and is, sound.”
Though IRCA makes it illegal to knowingly employ an undocumented alien, it does nothing to prevent Workers’ Comp benefits to one, the decision says.