Court rules illegal workers eligible for workers' comp

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Illegal immigrants who are injured on the job are entitled to workers' compensation, the South Carolina Supreme Court has ruled.

The court issued the opinion after an employer claimed a Mexican citizen who injured his right eye on a demolition job in Charleston should not get workers' compensation benefits because federal law prohibits hiring illegal immigrants.

In an opinion issued late last week, the court disagreed.

"Disallowing benefits would mean unscrupulous employers could hire undocumented workers without the burden of insuring them, a consequence that would encourage rather than discourage the hiring of illegal workers," Justice James Moore wrote in the unanimous opinion.

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