{"id":2703,"date":"2022-05-04T02:30:16","date_gmt":"2022-05-04T02:30:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/?p=2703"},"modified":"2022-05-04T03:18:05","modified_gmt":"2022-05-04T03:18:05","slug":"michigan-court-advances-lawsuit-advocating-for-workers-compensation-for-undocumented-workers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/2022\/05\/04\/michigan-court-advances-lawsuit-advocating-for-workers-compensation-for-undocumented-workers\/","title":{"rendered":"Michigan Court advances lawsuit advocating for Workers\u2019 Compensation for Undocumented Workers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-2704 alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/mirc-300x201.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"201\" srcset=\"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/mirc-300x201.jpg 300w, https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/mirc.jpg 700w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>LANSING, April 29, 2022: Yesterday, the State of Michigan Court of Claims\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/food.publicjustice.net\/resource-materials\/opinion-and-order-denying-defendants-motion-for-summary-disposition-mirc\/\">ruled to deny<\/a>\u00a0the defendant\u2019s motion for summary disposition in a case concerning workers\u2019 compensation for undocumented immigrants in Michigan. This allows the case to proceed.<\/p>\n<p>The case is brought by the <em>Michigan Immigrant Rights Center (MIRC),<\/em> a legal resource center for Michigan\u2019s immigrant communities, against the Governor of Michigan. The lawsuit challenges the Michigan Court of Appeals\u2019 2003 decision in\u00a0<em>Sanchez v. Eagle Alloy<\/em>, which lets employers and insurance companies off the hook for failing to compensate undocumented workers injured on the job. MIRC alleges that the state\u2019s continued denial of undocumented workers\u2019 access to workers\u2019 compensation wages contravenes Michigan and United States Supreme Court precedent and violates due process.<\/p>\n<p>For more than 17 years, undocumented workers in Michigan have been denied workers\u2019 compensation wages after suffering serious workplace injuries. This challenge seeks to stop that practice, ensuring the State and insurance companies provide the compensation owed to undocumented workers.<\/p>\n<p>MIRC first\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/food.publicjustice.net\/immigrant-rights-group-files-lawsuit-to-ensure-undocumented-workers-receive-workers-compensation-in-michigan\/\">filed its lawsuit in November 2021<\/a>. In response, Michigan filed for summary disposition to dismiss the case on procedural grounds. In today\u2019s ruling, the Michigan Court held that MIRC has standing to sue:<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cBecause the complaint requests declaratory and injunctive relief to prevent future harm, the wrongs sought to be vindicated have not yet occurred, and the one-year notice period set forth in MCL 600.643(1) does not apply [&#8230;] Defendant accurately observes that there is no Michigan caselaw adopting (or rejecting) organizational standing in the context of the issue presented in this case [&#8230;] Applying these principles to the organizational standing concept described in federal caselaw, the Court readily concludes that MIRC has organizational standing to sue.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u201cEveryone deserves a safe and healthy workplace and the support needed to recover when injured \u2013 no matter who you are or where you\u2019re from. Immigrant food and farm workers perform some of the hardest, most dangerous, and most essential work. They should receive the same protections under the law as other workers,\u201d said Public Justice Food Project Litigation Director <em>David Muraskin.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u201cMichigan\u2019s practice of punishing injured undocumented workers and shielding employers and insurance companies from responsibility must end,\u201d said MIRC Staff Attorney <em>Anna Hill Galendez<\/em>. \u201cThis is an issue that affects us all. Ensuring that undocumented people receive workers\u2019 compensation wages when injured would create more dignified, fair, and healthy workplaces for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>MIRC is represented by Public Justice and the Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LANSING, April 29, 2022: Yesterday, the State of Michigan Court of Claims\u00a0ruled to deny\u00a0the defendant\u2019s motion for summary disposition in a case concerning workers\u2019 compensation for undocumented immigrants in Michigan. This allows the case to proceed. The case is brought by the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center (MIRC), a legal resource center for Michigan\u2019s immigrant communities,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2704,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_rtcl_gb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[67,7],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[72],"class_list":["post-2703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headline","category-michigan"],"aioseo_notices":[],"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/mirc.jpg",700,468,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/mirc.jpg",700,468,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/mirc.jpg",700,468,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/mirc-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/mirc-300x201.jpg",300,201,true],"large":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/mirc.jpg",640,428,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/mirc.jpg",700,468,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/mirc.jpg",700,468,false],"rtcl-gallery":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/mirc-700x462.jpg",700,462,true],"rtcl-thumbnail":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/mirc-320x240.jpg",320,240,true],"rtcl-gallery-thumbnail":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/mirc-150x105.jpg",150,105,true],"psacp-medium":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/mirc.jpg",500,334,false],"rpwe-thumbnail":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/mirc-45x45.jpg",45,45,true]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"LaPrensa Newspaper","author_link":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/author\/laprensa\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"<a href=\"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/category\/articles\/headline\/\" rel=\"category tag\">headline<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/category\/articles\/michigan\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Michigan<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"LANSING, April 29, 2022: Yesterday, the State of Michigan Court of Claims\u00a0ruled to deny\u00a0the defendant\u2019s motion for summary disposition in a case concerning workers\u2019 compensation for undocumented immigrants in Michigan. This allows the case to proceed. The case is brought by the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center (MIRC), a legal resource center for Michigan\u2019s immigrant communities,","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2703"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2703\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2705,"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2703\/revisions\/2705"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2703"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=2703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}