Undocumented Injured Worker Released by ICE Amid Potential Employer Misconduct Probe

Tuesday, June 6, 2017 | 0

The attorney for an undocumented worker who was arrested by federal immigration officials after meeting with his employer about a workers' compensation claim says authorities may be investigating whether his employer reported him, WBUR-FM 90.9 reports. 

Jose Flores, 37, was recently released from federal custody after two weeks, and his deportation has been postponed. Although U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents didn't specify why they released him, Flores' immigration attorney said she knows that investigative agencies have reached out to ICE about potential illegal retaliation against Flores by Tara Construction. 

Flores fell from a ladder at a Boston work site at the end of March, fracturing his femur. Tara Construction, his employer, did not have workers' compensation coverage the day of the accident, WBUR-FM reports. After Flores filed a workers' compensation claim, a manager at Tara Construction asked to meet with him, supposedly to offer some cash to help his family. 

After leaving the meeting, Flores was detained by ICE agents, who he says were waiting about a block away.

If Tara Construction managers reported Flores, which they deny, they did so in violation of a statute in Massachusetts workers' compensation law forbidding employers from retaliating against employees for filing workers' compensation claims. Like many states, Massachusetts does not take a worker's immigration status into account when determining eligibility for workers' comp benefits.

Workers' rights advocate Diego Low of the Metrowest Workers' Center told WBUR-FM that he was concerned that the situation would deter immigrants from reporting on-the-job injuries and issues such as wage theft (a problem documented in Los Angeles recently).

"These folks will not leave the workforce but will work cheaper and be less able to speak up for themselves," Low says. "Ultimately, that undermines the working conditions of all workers because there's this major portion of the workforce that will put up with pretty much anything."

Read WBUR-FM's story here.