• There are an estimated 7.2 million undocumented immigrants (out of some 12 million undocumented immigrants) who work in the United States. That's 4.9 percent of the civilian labor force.
• Undocumented workers contribute an estimated $7 billion per year to the Social Security Trust Fund through payroll taxes paid on Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers and fraudulent Social Security numbers.
• The United States would face a shortfall of 2.5 million low-skill workers if undocumented workers were removed from the labor force.

Although a diverse group, Latino culture shares a lot of the same values including unquestioning respect and deference to authority figures such as work supervisors, foremen, business owners and they like, and they won’t disagree or question a person in authority. Latinos, generally, trust mostly family, extended family members and other Latinos and are likely to not trust employers, especially if they are non-Latino. They don’t want to rock the boat and many fear deportation so the potential for underreporting safety issues, injuries and other problems at the workplace is huge.

Distressingly, the blog also reports that fatalities among Latinos have increased 67 percent between 1992 and 2001. Even worse, these grim statistics may underestimate the problem because of underreporting when illegal immigrants are involved.

Indeed, cultural differences and fears of deportation are likely keeping many Latinos from reporting injuries that happen on the job and claiming workers’ compensation benefits that are due them.

I think it’s important to once again emphasize that under the law undocumented workers are entitled to the same benefits if they are injured or killed on the job.

For the full story:

HispanicTrending - http://juantornoe.blogs.com/hispanictrending/

Francisco Antonio Alaman-Renderoz, 45, fell to his death while putting in a fireplace wall during construction of a private cabin. According to OSHA regulations, construction workers should use a harness, safety line or railing f they're working at heights over six feet.  Alaman-Renderoz, who was working 25 to 35 feet off the ground , was not wearing any kind of safety equipment when he fell.

This tragic story illustrates the danger that many Hispanic workers face every day when the go to work. Hispanics hold a quarter of all construction jobs, according to the Pew Hispanic Center and that puts them at high risk for on-the-job injuries and even death.

Construction-related deaths are most common among Hispanic workers, according to Salt Lake City-based Greg Summerhays of Workers Compensation, an insurance company that writes accident policies for employers.

"Hispanics are getting injured a lot more than anyone else, partly because they're working in the most dangerous jobs, but there's also a lack of training"- said Summerhays.

Surprisingly, Summerhays' company is making an effort to reduce Hispanic workers' job-related injured and to educate them about their benefits if they are hurt.

"To educate them on the fact they do have rights and benefits, and if their employers are asking them to do something unsafe they can refuse to do that," said Summerhays. "From a business standpoint, it's smart for us to explain their rights because we save injuries." For the last year and a half, his company, Workers Compensation has provided an English safety program to policy holders and attended Hispanic community events to offer information. They have also developed a separate Hispanic program, because while deaths were falling among other workers, they were increasing among Hispanics.

it's heartening to hear about an insurance company that is working to educate workers about their benefits.

Evaristo Enrique Chimal Librado, 43, was killed when a house he was helping to build collapsed on him. He was an undocumented worker from Mexico.

By Georgia law, a maximum workers’ compensation award would provide Librado's family with the greater of two-thirds of Librado’s salary for 400 weeks, or $125,000, according to an article at MainStreetNews.com. It would also provide a $7,500 death benefit.

Even though Librado wasn't in this country legally, he should still be entitled to workers' compensation benefits. But this case is complicated by the fact that Librado worked for a subcontractor. Attorneys for his family are still trying to sort out who his direct employer was and therefore which company is legally responsible for his injuries.

Stats show that Latino workers are injured on the job at a disproportionate rate.

The real tragedy occurs when an undocumented worker is injured. Many employers try to deny these employees workers' compensation benefits, and they're often successful in doing so.

According to an article from McClatchy Newspapers:

"In one national study, university researchers surveyed 2,660 day laborers, most of them working illegally. One in five said he'd suffered a work injury. Among those who were hurt in the last year, 54 percent said they didn't receive the medical care they needed, and only 6 percent got workers' comp benefits."

But the law is clear.  Undocumented workers, even if they are working in the U.S. illegally are entitled to workers' compensation benefits -- lost wages and medical treatment.

From the same article:

"Employers in at least 20 states, arguing that their employees shouldn't receive injury benefits because they're illegal immigrants, have fought and lost in courts and review boards. Among those employees were a California laborer who hurt his back lifting sacks of coffee, an Arizona auto mechanic who was hit in the eye by flying debris, a Maryland carpenter who cut his hand on a saw, and a North Carolina construction worker who suffered a brain injury when he fell 30 feet onto a concrete floor."

I encourage you to read the entire McClatchy article to learn more about how some workers are being denied benefits to which they are lawfully entitled.

Read http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2007/02/24/0225metinjury.html 

We have created a new category , "Undocumented workers and Workers' Compensation" and hope to compile more stories and comments about this emerging issue. 

In the past, we have rarely seen WC claims filed by hispanic workers. The number one reason preventing this is fear of deportation of not only themselves, but also their families. We hope that further discussion and exposure will give people confidence to come forth.

In North Carolina, undocumented workers are entitled to workers' compensation.  Many people are unaware of this including insurance adjusters who wrongly deny claims because they feel undocumented workers should not be entitled to such a benefit.