High-Risk, Low-Reward
A bill has just been introduced in the Ohio State Legislature that would require workers injured on the job to submit proof of identity to determine their legal status before workers compensation benefits would be paid. Those undocumented workers no longer eligible to receive benefits could sue their employers to pay for medical rehabilitation for injuries sustained on the job, provided that they could prove that the employer hired them knowing that they were not legally authorized to work in the U.S. Currently, Florida, Idaho, Michigan and Wyoming prohibit illegal aliens from receiving workers compensation benefits. Advocates for illegal immigrants point out that these workers are over-represented in high-risk occupations, such as in the construction and meat and poultry packing industries, are without health insurance and receive little safety training. Exclusion from the workers compensation system may incent them to seek higher-cost treatment in emergency rooms. Employers are incented to use low-cost, illegal labor, as it would not count in the determination of workers compensation premiums. Issues such as this one illustrate why we need a comprehensive approach to dealing with illegal immigrants. The status quo simply allows noncompliant businesses to capture the benefits of low-cost labor while externalizing the associated social costs.