Don’t get a work injury if you live in Arizona…

…and are an illegal immigrant. It can also be very costly to the employer. Apparently businesses are penalized now, in fact can be put out of business, if they hire illegal immigrants, but workers comp benefits still apply to these workers. Some in the legislature aim to strip workers comp benefits from illegal workers.
Illegal immigrants who have jobs in Arizona are covered under the state’s workers’ compensation system, and businesses want it to stay that way — despite a new state law that can put them out of business for hiring undocumented workers.
This from the Phoenix Business Journal….
If illegal labor were excluded from the state’s workers’ comp umbrella, that could leave injured migrant workers without care and create a morass of legal troubles for businesses that unlawfully employ illegal immigrants.
“It definitely opens up an entire can of worms, and employers are definitely aware of that right now,” said Abbe Goncharsky, an employment attorney with the Phoenix law office of Lewis and Roca LLP.
There were efforts this year at the state Legislature to exclude illegal immigrants from workers’ comp benefits, and the contentious issue is expected to come up again in 2008