Design Kitchen and Baths v. Lagos

• Citation: 388 Md. 718,882 A.2d 817
• Decision Date: 12 September 2005
• Docket Number: No. 82,82
• Parties: DESIGN KITCHEN AND BATHS, et al. v. Diego E. LAGOS.
• Court: Maryland Court of Appeals

882 A.2d 817

388 Md. 718

DESIGN KITCHEN AND BATHS, et al. v. Diego E. LAGOS.

No. 82, Sept. Term, 2003.

Court of Appeals of Maryland.

September 12, 2005.

James R. Forrester (Anthony J. Zaccagnini of Semmes, Bowen & Semmes, P.C., on brief), Baltimore, for Appellants.

Luiz R.S. Simmons (Auerbach & Simmons, on brief), Silver Spring, for Appellee.

Joshua N. Auerbach, Murnaghan Appellate Advocacy Fellow, Baltimore; Marielena Hincapie, Nat. Immigration Center, Oakland, CA; Rebecca Smith, Amy Sugimori, Nat. Employment Law Project, Olympia, WA, brief of Amici Curiae Public Justice Center, Nat. Employment Law Project, and Nat. Immigration Center.

Argued before BELL, C.J., RAKER, WILNER, CATHELL, HARRELL, BATTAGLIA and GREENE JJ.

BELL, Chief Judge.

We granted certiorari in this case to decide the eligibility of an undocumented alien to receive workers' compensation pursuant to Maryland Code (1991, 1999 Repl. Vol.) Title 9 of the Labor and Employment Article, the Maryland Workers' Compensation Act ("the Act"), as a result of an injury sustained in the course of employment, which, except for the illegal resident status, would be compensable. The Maryland Workers' Compensation Commission ("the Commission") ruled that Diego E. Lagos, the appellee, although an undocumented alien, was an employee, as defined by § 9-202, who sustained a work related injury, for which he was eligible to receive workers' compensation benefits. The Circuit Court for Montgomery County, on judicial review, affirmed. This Court, on its own initiative and prior to review of the issue by the Court of Special Appeals, granted the petition filed by Design Kitchen and Baths and its insurer, Princeton Insurance Co., the appellants, for a writ of certiorari. Design Kitchen and Baths v. Lagos, 378 Md. 176, 835 A.2d 1103 (2003). We shall affirm the judgment of the Circuit Court.

I.

The appellee, while operating a saw in the employ of Design Kitchen and Baths, sustained an injury to his left hand, which required, in addition to other medical treatment, two surgical procedures to repair. As a result, he filed a claim for workers' compensation with the Commission. Aside from the issues of accidental injury, causal relationship, average weekly wage, and who was the responsible insurer, the Commission was required to address, at the insistence of the appellants, the appellee's eligibility, as an undocumented alien, to receive workers' compensation benefits. The parties agree that the facts surrounding the appellee's injury meet all the necessary requirements of a compensable injury under the Maryland Worker's Compensation Act and that, but for the appellee's undocumented/illegal resident status,¹ his claim would be compensable.

The Commission found in favor of the appellee. It held that the appellee suffered "an accidental injury arising out of and in the course of employment on August 20, 2001; and [found] that the disability of the claimant is the result of the aforesaid accidental injury; and that as a result thereof the claimant was temporarily totally disabled from May 14, 2002 to June 17, 2002 inclusive."

The appellants filed a petition for judicial review in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County. They subsequently filed a motion for summary judgment, relying on the appellee's undocumented alien status and, specifically, his answer to interrogatories, in particular, Interrogatory No. 1, in which the appellee confirmed that he had no social security number. The appellee cross-moved for summary judgment. The Circuit Court denied the appellants' summary judgment motion and granted the appellee's cross-motion for summary judgment. It then remanded the case to the Commission. The appellants, in response, timely noted an appeal. As indicated, we granted certiorari on our own motion to consider what we discern to be the sole issue presented by this appeal, whether the appellee's undocumented worker status affects his eligibility to receive worker's compensation benefits under the Act.²

II.

The appellants contend that the appellee's status as an undocumented/illegal alien prohibits his legal employment, thus precluding his being, or being able to prove that he is, a "covered employee." More particularly, they argue that, inasmuch as the appellee is prohibited by his undocumented/illegal alien status from entering into an employment contract and, in any event, "any alleged contract of employment is void as it is in direct conflict with the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986," his claim for workers' compensation benefits must be denied. This result is mandated, they submit, by "the absence of an employment contract" — "[w]ithout a social security number, there can be no legal contract for hire" — and the lack of current case law and immigration policy favorable to the appellee's position.

It is critical to the appellants' argument that § 9-202 does not expressly address the effect undocumented/illegal alien status and/or illegal employment for other than minors has on "covered employee" status. Of equal significance to their argument is the clarity of § 9-202; because it is a provision of the Workers' Compensation Act, a remedial statute, it is subject to the rule that, "[the Act] should be construed as liberally in favor of injured employees as its provisions will permit in order to effectuate its benevolent purposes. Any uncertainty in the law should be resolved in favor of the claimant," Harris v. Board of Education of Howard County, 375 Md. 21, 57, 825 A.2d 365, 387 (2003); Podgurski v. OneBeacon Ins. Co., 374 Md. 133, 142, 821 A.2d 400, 406 (2003) (citing Watson v. Grimm, 200 Md. 461, 472, 90 A.2d 180, 185 (1952)); Mayor & City Council of Baltimore v. Cassidy, 338 Md. 88, 97, 656 A.2d 757, 761-762 (1995) (quoting Victor v. Proctor & Gamble Mfg. Co., 318 Md. 624, 629, 569 A.2d 697, 700 (1990)); Lovellette v. Mayor & City Council of Baltimore, 297 Md. 271, 282, 465 A.2d 1141, 1147 (1983), and thus interpretation of its provisions may depend upon whether its terms are clear or ambiguous. As to the latter point, the appellants maintain that, rather than ambiguous or unclear, § 9-202 is simply silent on the issue of the effect of undocumented/illegal alien status or illegal employment on eligibility for workers' compensation benefits. Consequently, they assert, liberal interpretation of § 9-202, in that regard, is neither required nor permitted.

Also essential to the appellants' argument is the Immigration Reform and Control Act ("IRCA"), 8 U.S.C.A. § 1324, and its interpretation by the Supreme Court in Hoffman Plastic Compounds, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board, 535 U.S. 137, 122 S.Ct. 1275, 152 L.Ed.2d 271 (2002). Characterized by the Supreme Court as "a comprehensive scheme," Hoffman Plastic Compounds, 535 U.S. at 147, 122 S.Ct. at 1282, 152 L.Ed.2d at 281, by its enactment of the IRCA, Congress declared that "it is unlawful for a person or other entity to hire, or to recruit or refer for a fee, for employment in the United States an alien knowing the alien is an unauthorized alien³ with respect to such employment." 8 U.S.C. § 1324a (1)(a). Emphasizing the reasoning of the Supreme Court in Hoffman Plastic Compounds, that the award of backpay to an illegal alien, who legally could not have earned the wages upon which the backpay is based, who fraudulently obtained the job in the first place and whose qualification to receive it depended on his remaining in the country illegally, "trivialize[s] the immigration laws, it also condones and encourages future violations," id. at 150, 122 S.Ct. at 1284, 152 L.Ed.2d at 283, the appellants analogize that case to this one.⁴ They reason:

"Regardless of whether it was the Claimant or the Employer who violated the IRCA, it is the Claimant that seeks indemnity and medical benefits for wages he could not have legally earned at a job, which was borne of a fraudulent act. The Supreme Court made no distinction as to who circumvented the IRCA, only that the undocumented alien was not eligible for backpay as a result of his undocumented status."

The appellants rely heavily on the Virginia experience, as well. They point out that the Virginia Supreme Court, presented with the identical issue with which this case presents this Court, under a similar factual pattern, construed § 65.2-101 of the Virginia Workers' Compensation Act,⁵ the Virginia analog to § 9-202, in conjunction with the IRCA, concluding that the claimant, an illegal alien, was not an "employee" under the Virginia Act. Granados v. Windson Development Corp., 257 Va. 103, 108-109, 509 S.E.2d 290, 293 (1999). The court explained:

"Granados was not in the service of Windson under any contract of hire because, under the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, an illegal alien cannot be employed lawfully in the United States. See 8 U.S.C. § 1324a; see also Code § 40.1-11.1.⁶ Therefore, Granados was not eligible to receive compensation benefits as an `employee' under the Act because his purported contract of hire was void and unenforceable."

Id.

Subsequent to the Granados case, and in response to it, the Virginia Legislature amended § 65.2-101 to broaden the definition of "employee." That statute now provides, as relevant, that an "employee" is "[e]very person, including aliens and minors, in the service of another under any contract of hire or apprenticeship, written or implied, whether lawfully or unlawfully employed." (Emphasis added). See Rios v. Ryan, 35 Va.App. 40, 542 S.E.2d 790, 792 (2001)

What the appellants find significant about the Virginia experience, and persuasive, as well, is that the original statute was silent as to the issue of undocumented/illegal aliens. It was an act of the Virginia Legislature, not the Commonwealth's appellate courts, that amended the statutory definition of "employee."

III

The definition of "covered employee" is set forth in Md. Code (1991, 1999 Repl.Vol.), § 9-202 of the Labor and...