Question

A story appeared in the national newspaper USA TODAY on June 7, 2006, regarding the vital, but illegal, immigrant workers who labored on post-Hurricane Katrina reconstruction in New Orleans. A study conducted by professors at Tulane University and the University of California at Berkeley found that the workers were distinctly vulnerable to exploitation due to their illegal status. Despite the fact that under federal labor law illegal workers are to be afforded the same protections as their legal counterparts, these illegal workers often worked in unsafe conditions without the benefit of safety gear and typically earned much less – $6.50 less on average—than documented workers performing the same duties. Immigrant workers can, however, sue their employers regardless of their legal status. Do you agree that illegal immigrant workers should receive the same protections under the federal Occupational Safety and Health Act as American workers and legal immigrants? If OSHA inspects a site for safety violations and the inspector suspects that illegal workers are employed at the site, should s/he be required to report this suspicion to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency? What if the OSHA inspection was prompted by a call or complaint from one of the illegal workers? Does this change your answer?

Answer 1

Worker safety is independent of the legal status of the citizen. All workers, whether legal or illegal face the same work situations and hazards. Hence, it is important that illegal immigrant workers receive the same protections under the federal OSHA.

All federal agencies have a responsibility to aid each other in the performance of their duties. Thus, if OSHA must report any suspicion to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

Even if the call was made by an illegal worker, the answer above does not change. If OSHA has sufficient reasons to report a suspicion, then it may do so qualifying clearly that is a suspicion.