The League of Iowa
Human & Civil Rights Agencies

The Nebraska Court of Appeals pushed a hot button when it ruled earlier this month that an illegal immigrant was entitled to workers’ compensation benefits. Predictably, the ruling drew scores of comments on the Journal Star’s Web site. The Journal Star editorial board believes the ruling was correctly and properly based on state law. Given current language in state statutes, it’s difficult to see how the Worker Compensation Court and the appellate court could have reached a...

An illegal immigrant injured on the job is entitled to state worker compensation benefits, according to a Nebraska Court of Appeals decision released Tuesday. Odilon Visoso was injured May 9, 2006, at Cargill in Schuyler when a 100-pound slab of meat fell from a hook and hit the back of his head, neck and shoulder. Visoso, who used the name Adam Rodriguez, continued to work at Cargill on light duty until surgery in early October 2008. The company fired him late that same month because he was ...