Ruiz v. Belk Masonry Co.: North Carolina Affirms Undocumented Worker's Right to Worker's Compensation

IMMIGRANTS & EMPLOYMENT

Immigrants' Employment Rights and Remedies

RUIZ V. BELK MASONRY CO., ET AL.: NORTH CAROLINA AFFIRMS UNDOCUMENTED WORKER'S RIGHT TO WORKER'S COMPENSATION
Immigrants' Rights Update, Vol. 16, No. 2, April 12, 2002

The Court of Appeals of North Carolina has affirmed the right of undocumented workers to receive worker's compensation benefits regardless of their immigration status, rejecting an employer's arguments that an undocumented worker cannot legally be considered an "employee."

The worker whose case the court decided, a Mr. Ruiz, was critically injured on the job in October 1997 after falling approximately seventy feet from a forklift. He suffered traumatic brain injuries and several fractures, for which he was hospitalized for about one month. He was then transferred to a rehabilitation center for another month and was later placed in an outpatient program under his brother's care. In February 1998, the treating physician found Ruiz to be "permanently and totally disabled," and the North Carolina Industrial Commission awarded him worker's compensation benefits and benefits for the attendant care provided by his brother.

The employer appealed the commission's award, first arguing that Ruiz was not entitled to benefits because he was undocumented. The court of appeals rejected that argument based on the relevant state statute (see N.C. Gen. Stat. § 97-2(2) (1999)), which defines "employee" for worker's compensation purposes as "every person engaged in an employment under any appointment or contract of hire or apprenticeship, express or implied, oral or written, including aliens, and also minors, whether lawfully or unlawfully employed." The court agreed with the commission's position that the employer "received the benefits of plaintiff's labor up to the time of his injury, and it would be repugnant to now deny plaintiff a benefit of the same agreement." Moreover, the court relied on a prior decision, Rivera v. Trapp, 519 S.E.2d 777 (N.C. App. 1999), which addressed a similar issue, and held that an undocumented worker "can, despite his or her status, demonstrate an earning capacity in" North Carolina.

In its appeal, the employer also argued that the federal Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA) preempts the North Carolina statute by making it unlawful for employers to knowingly hire undocumented workers. Because of this, argued the employer, an undocumented worker can never be considered an "employee" under a federal or state labor statute. The court relied on Congress's intent as set forth in IRCA's legislative history, as well as the reasoning of other courts, in holding that IRCA does not preempt the North Carolina worker's compensation statute's definition of "employee," nor does it prevent undocumented workers from receiving worker's compensation benefits solely because of their immigration status.

Ruiz v. Belk Masonry Co., et al., 559 S.E.2d 249, 2002 N.C. App. LEXIS 50, (N.C. App. 2002).