Some New Jersey legislators want to exclude undocumented immigrants from workers’ comp benefits, a move that could create serious administrative complications for providers who treat injured workers.

If Senate Bill 1521 passes, a New Jersey provider who treats an injured worker may find themselves in a battle for reimbursement. If the payer claims that the injured worker was not lawfully present in the US at the time of the injury, the provider may become collateral damage in the ensuing fight over who is liable to pay for treatment.

Like a similar bill in Florida, this attempt to punish employers who hire undocumented workers could make it even more financially risky for providers to accept workers’ comp patients.

NJ Senate Bill 1521

The bill, from cosponsors Carmen Amato and Douglas Steinhardt, would redefine “employee” under New Jersey law by amending Revised Statute 34:15-36, which currently defines an “employee” as someone who “perform[s] service for an employer for financial consideration…”

S1521 would tweak this definition of “employee” to be “exclusive of” persons “who are aliens,” unless they were:

• “lawfully admitted for permanent residence at the time the employment was performed”
• “lawfully present for the purpose of performing the employment”
• “permanently residing in the United States under color of law at the time the employment was performed”

Stripped of the legal designation of “employee,” an undocumented worker would no longer be eligible for workers’ comp benefits.

This has the potential to ignite liability disputes about an injured worker’s legal status “at the time the employment was performed.” For example, if a worker entered the US illegally, but has a pending asylum claim, as is the case for many immigrants, does the payer owe the provider reimbursement?

Another Layer of Billing Friction for Providers

S1521 creates an obvious (though perhaps not obvious to the bill’s sponsors) problem for providers, who would have no way of knowing who is liable to pay for treatment.

When an injured worker arrives at a practice, treating physicians typically do not have a way to verify immigration status. Do Senators Amato and Steinhardt expect providers to include proof of citizenship or legal residency in their intake process?

If S1521 passes, the risk of not receiving reimbursement (already a concern for most workers’ comp providers) will increase, further deterring providers from participating in a system where injured workers already struggle to access care.

In their zeal to crack down on unlawful immigration and signal their partisan bona fides, these state Senators risk adding another layer of complexity and potential obstacles to the already burdensome workers’ comp billing landscape.

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