Staff Management and New Hampshire Insurance Company v. Pascuala Jimenez

I join in my colleagues’ well-reasoned opinion but write separately to emphasize one point. I agree that under Iowa law, an employee’s undocumented status does not deprive her of workers’ compensation benefits where she suffers a job-related injury. At the same time, however, under Iowa law, an employee’s undocumented status does not entitle her to enhanced benefits.

In this case, the employer argues that it terminated Pascuala Jimenez’s employment on January 22, 2008, because it received confirmation from United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement she could not legally work in the…