Lawmaker: No workers' comp for entrants

Proposal runs into opposition from Chamber

By Howard Fischer

CAPITOL MEDIA SERVICES

PHOENIX — Rep. Russell Pearce doesn't think that people who are working in this country illegally should be able to get benefits if they're injured on the job.

But Pearce's effort to bar compensation is getting a fight from business interests that fear that the alternative would be far worse: lawsuits.

David Selden, a member of the board of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the workers' compensation program is set up as a no-fault system. Companies agree to cover medical bills and a percentage of lost wages regardless of whether the injury is due to employee or company negligence.

In exchange, though, employers generally cannot be sued: The workers have to accept the benefits within the workers'- comp law.

But Selden said that if the injured employees are denied benefits, then they are free to sue. And Selden said even if the company eventually wins in court, that can be an expensive process.

Pearce, a Republican, is unmoved by business protests. He said any company that hires an undocumented worker probably deserves to be sued.