Tennessee Benefit Limits for Undocumented Workers Ruled Unconstitutional

A Nashville judge has found a state law that limits the amount of workers’ compensation benefits laborers living in the U.S. illegally can receive is unconstitutional.

The ruling stems from the case of a Guatemalan man, Carlos Martinez, whose left arm was severely injured when he fell and it was run over by a lawnmower.

Davidson County Chancellor Russell Perkins said the U.S. Constitution gives the federal government the authority to set immigration policy and not the state legislature. Perkins also said that a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court decision, which struck down an Arizona anti-immigrant law, noted that the constitution gives the federal government “broad, undoubted power over immigration.”

Perkins found that the legislature, by limiting the benefits to the workers, intended to establish what amounts to a state immigration policy, but that could not trump federal law. He also said the state law, which limited the amount of money employers would potentially pay, could encourage employers to hire workers who are living in the country illegally.

“This undermines the goals of federal immigration law by providing a potential incentive for employers to circumvent the law,” the ruling said.

The opinion noted Martinez’s employer, Commercial Services, knew he was in the U.S. illegally and still employed him.

As a result, he said Martinez, a 39-year-old making about $400 a week working for the company, is entitled to $45,000 in benefits.

The state Attorney General’s office said in a statement it is reviewing the decision and considering its options.