Any time an employee is injured on the job, several issues must be addressed in order to fully and properly protect each party's rights. Matters are further complicated when the injured employee is in the United States illegally.

Considering the impact of a worker's status on a work-related injury is not easy. From a policy standpoint, it does not seem fair for an employer, especially one who knowingly hires the worker, to profit off the employee's labor but then deny that person the rights afforded to other employees under state workers' compensation law in the event of an injury. In the alternative, it is wrong for a worker who purposefully breaks the law by entering the country illegally, obtains fraudulent documents, and places an employer at serious legal risk, to suddenly claim rights and be afforded benefits and protection under the law, and at the expense of the employer and society, when that person needs it.

Four states (California, Florida, Nevada, and Virginia) include language in their statutes that appear to clearly cover illegal aliens in their workers' compensation statutes. Twelve states -- Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas and Utah -- employ statutory language that references "aliens," without making a legal distinction. Arizona recognizes an "unauthorized alien" as "an alien who does not have the legal right or authorization under federal law to work in the United States."