Florida Illegal Immigrant Caught in Catch-22

Court Affirms Denial of Benefits Based on Improper Social Security Number.

Signaling how easy it is in Florida to deny workers’ compensation benefits to an injured illegal immigrant, yesterday a Florida appellate court affirmed an order by a Judge of Compensation Claims (JCC) that had denied benefits to an injured worker described by the court as “an illegal alien without a valid SSN” [Hernandez v. Food Mkt. Corp., 2019 Fla. App. LEXIS 16441 (1st DCA, Oct. 30, 2019)]. In its decision, the court ratified what amounted to a Catch-22 for the worker: if she failed to fill in the SSN box on a “registration” form at her medical care provider, the claim would be denied. If she filled it in with an invalid number—she had no valid SSN number herself—the claim could be denied based on “fraud” [see § 440.105(4)(b)]. “Heads the employer wins; tails the worker loses.”

Background

Edna Hernandez, the “illegal alien without a SSN” in question, suffered injuries while working for the employer and was directed to a medical care provider for treatment. As noted above, she was given a “registration form” to be completed prior to treatment. The form indicated her claim could be denied if she failed to provide the requested information. Testifying later that she felt as if medical treatment would be denied if she left the SSN box blank, she filled it in with an invalid SSN.

JCC’s Decision

Utilizing § 440.09(4)(a), Fla. Stat., which prohibits an employee from receiving workers’ compensation benefits if he or she commits any act described in § 440.105, Fla. Stat., “for the purpose of securing workers’ compensation benefits,” the JCC found (a) that Hernandez had made a false or misleading statement and (b) that she made that statement for the purpose of obtaining workers’ compensation benefits. Accordingly, the JCC denied the claim.

Hernandez’s Contentions on Appeal

On appeal, Hernandez contended that § 440.105, Fla. Stat., was unconstitutional as to her because it was preempted by the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA). She cited Arizona v. United States, 567 U.S. 387, 401 (2012), and State v. Garcia, 401 P.3d 588 (Kan. 2017), cert. granted in part, 139 S. Ct. 1317 (2019), but the appellate court found both cases unsupportive of Hernandez’s claim.

The court added that Hernandez had cited no provision of IRCA prohibiting information potentially relevant to an employee’s immigration status—that was not provided to obtain employment—from being used for any other purpose. Citing the court’s earlier decision in Arreola v. Admin. Concepts, 17 So. 3d 792 (Fla. 1st DCA 2009), the court stressed that claimant’s lack of lawful immigration status was not a defense to providing fraudulent information to obtain benefits.

Florida’s Message is Clear

As noted above, Hernandez faced a stacked deck. If she left the SSN box blank, she’d get no medical care for her injuries and her claim would be denied. If she completed the box, since she did not have a valid SSN, the claim would be denied. Her employer wins either way, all the while looking the other way when taking applications for employment. The message to employers: continue to hire illegal immigrants. You won’t have to pay for workers’ compensation claims if they are injured. The message for illegal immigrants: Don’t get hurt. Yeah, right.