A family friend hired an illegal alien some years ago to assist him around his apartment building.The father has since passed away and the children are managing the building. The children did not know this gentleman is illegal until recently after he injured his back on the property and had to have surgery. The illegal gentleman is threating to sue the family. Does this gentleman has a case? Since we just found out that he is illegal,what would be the right thing to do at this point.
If the back injury occurred while the illegal alien was performing job related duties, it might be covered under workers comp. That is, if your the employer carries workers comp insurance. Since workers comp is a no fault system, the injured worker would not be able to sue his employer if he was covered under workers comp. I'm just not sure myself if illegal aliens can recover workers comp benefits.
If the injured worker really seems set on pursuing legal action, your friend should probably speak to a lawyer as well to find out the best way to handle this situation.
Billy
10-19-2009 @ 8:53 PM