I haven’t attempted to be all political and indignant in awhile, but a story that ran in the paper yesterday stuck as well as led me into several lengthy discussions that I’m still trying to process.
Our good buddy JB wrote a story (which y’all can peep in all its glory after the jump) about an illegal from Mexico who killed his back while working for this dude. Insurance covered his injury for about 2 months when it discovered that the SSN the cat provided was false and thus stopped paying. Well now, the cat is suing to get paid.
As a rule, I’m not anti-immigrant, and I cringe whenever I hear about these nutbags wanting to build walls along the border with gun turrets and all that crap. But I have to say, I got a little pissed off when I got to the part where the guy said:
I want to work, but I can’t. And now, they aren’t paying me.
“What do you MEAN, they aren’t paying you?” I thought to myself. “When I’m ill or hurt or decide to take time off, do you think I get paid? Fuck no I don’t get paid, and I’m born and bred here. I don’t even have freakin’ health insurance if I DID get ill or hurt. But you, sir, are in the country illegally, and you provided false ID. What makes you think you’re entitled to anything!??”
I took my indignance along with questions over to JB; I didn’t cover the story, so obviously there were facts to which I wasn’t privy, as in specifically, what is the employer’s responsibility in ensuring that the identification a job applicant provides is legit. Well, regardless of whether the employer provided the ID for him or he provided it on his own, therein lies the problem: All the employer’s going to have to say is, “Well, we thought he was legal. Bad us!” and he’ll get off scot free (which totally baffles me because with all the ways we have to check on a brother or sister these days? Please, but whatever). I don’t agree one bit that the insurance company should pay for the guy because rules are rules. Then again, small businesses (and even large ones, undoubtedly) always cry about the wages they have to pay people, so then lawmakers end up looking the other way when it comes to immigrant labor, thereby circumventing a whole other set of rules altogether, and now my head hurts.
Story’s beneath the fold. Any thoughts, y’all?
Nobody disputes the fact Benjamin Marrufo injured his back on the job.
But Marrufo is an illegal immigrant, so the compensation he is due for that injury is a matter of considerable dispute.
Marrufo, a 47-year-old East Chicago resident, came to the U.S. illegally eight years ago from Durango, Mexico. He hurt his back in May moving a locker while working at George O’Day’s Inc. in Hammond.
Hanover Insurance Co., which holds the worker’s compensation policy for George O’Day’s, contends his illegal status precludes Marrufo from collecting wage supplement payments during the time he cannot work.
Marrufo said he received payments initially from the insurance company for his medical treatments.
But the payments stopped two months after his work accident, which left him with two bulging discs in his back.
“I want to work, but I can’t,” Marrufo said, speaking in Spanish. “And now, they aren’t paying me.”
Hanover’s position is supported by a U.S. Supreme Court decision but has not been tested in Indiana courts, according to Allan Mindel, Marrufo’s attorney.
The insurance company’s tactic is becoming more common, Mindel said.
“It’s like the insurance companies realized within the past year or so that they can check the Social Security numbers these guys submit, and challenge the claims if the numbers come back as fakes,” Mindel said.
George O’Day’s sells and delivers new and used lockers to companies that need to store linens or employees’ uniforms.
Company president Steve O’Day referred questions about the case to Dana Larbus, an attorney for Hanover Insurance.
Larbus could not be reached Thursday for comment.
Mindel said insurance companies’ positions amount to exploitation of the undocumented workers.
“The insurance companies are collecting premiums from businesses for these workers, then refusing to pay out when they get hurt,” Mindel said.
State Worker’s Compensation Board hearing member James Dowling deferred the matter Thursday, ruling invalid forms were used to file the claim in the case. The case was heard at the Lake County Government Center in Crown Point.
Oh, whatEVER. 
