The 1st District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee has upheld a lower court's ruling that an illegal alien working in Florida is entitled to workers' compensation when injured on the job.

Luis Aragon, who illegally crossed the border into the U.S. 11 years ago when he was 16, was working at HDV Construction Systems, Inc. in Jacksonville when he fell 30 feet and injured his foot and arm in September 2007.

When he was awarded permanent total disability (PTD) benefits from the Judge of Compensation Claims, HDV and its insurer, Gallagher Bassett Services, Inc., resisted, saying that because Aragon was illegally working he was not entitled to PTD.

The court rejected that argument, ruling that the "that the employer knew or should have known that claimant, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, was without the legal right to work" in the U.S. and "the employer hired and continued to unlawfully employ claimant until he was injured in a significant workplace accident." Aragon did not have a Social Security number or a green card.

The opinion from the appeal court says, "Although there is no shortage of debate that can be had on the issue of illegal labor and its effect on our state, there is no dispute that the Florida Legislature has expressed an unyielding, textual intent that aliens, including those who are illegal and unlawfully employed, be covered and compensated under the Florida Workers' Compensation Law."

The three-judge panel further notes that a company that "knowingly employs unlawful labor should not be able to shirk the cost of the injuries it creates — and in turn, shift the cost of the damages that it has knowingly created on the taxpaying public.''

A bill requiring Florida employers to use the federal E-verify system to help ensure a person's eligibility to work in the U.S. never made it past the House in the recent 2011 legislative session.

Special Reports /

Illegal Entitled to Work Comp, Florida Appeal Court Determines

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