Should Undocumented Workers Be Able to Sue?

Wed11Jan2006

Should Undocumented Workers Be Able to Sue?

11:00 H | Topics: Immigration - Labor - New York City

Today the New York a court will begin to hear a case which will likely set a precedent in labor relations. The case will determine if undocumented workers injured on the job are protected by labor laws and thus have the right to sue for injuries sustained or if their families would have the right to sue for negligence. At the center of the case is New York Labor Law 240, which was created in 1921 to protect child laborers, sweatshop workers, and mine and tunnel workers. Does this law also apply to undocumented workers? Pro-Immigrant organizations and even New York Attorney General Elliott Spitzer have weighed in in support of Gorgonio Balbuena, the Colombian who is suing his former employers, ID Realty, LLC & Dora Wecler.