CA Worker's comp case advice

My dad had an upper limb amputation due to a tragic accident while working in 2011. Since then, He is disabled. He is getting med treatment and disability checks (I guess lost wages checks) paid by the workplace's insurance.
Recently, we received a letter from the insurance company requesting us to fill out a form for medicare/social security benefits. My dad was working with invalid documents. Idk how, but my dad found out that the ssn belongs to a death US citizen. I told him to DONT send nor sign for government benefits since he doesnt qualify. However, according to his attorney, he does qualify for CA state disability.

Now, the insurance's attorney is requesting an interview, copy of his ID and insurance cards (he doesnt have any). I am afraid they found out documentation irregularities and take legal action against him

Is anybody familiar with CA worker's compensation benefits for undocumented workers??? Is such interview a normal work comp process??? I dont want him to have problems in the future when he tries to adjust his status.

Even if he is undocumented, he is entitled to full benefits from the insurance company. I'll PM you.

I think he might qualify for CA state disability but if he hasn't told his attorney he is undocumented he needs to do it now. Maybe go see an immigration attorney that specializes in both workers comp and immigration.

[quote=ivycali;416300]
First off, sorry to hear about your dad.

Even if he is undocumented, he is entitled to full benefits from the insurance company. For the CA state benefits, I don't know. Does your lawyer know about his status? Let's see what other people say, otherwise I recommend that you call other worker's compensation attorney's to ask that question and that your dad tells his lawyer. Your dad's lawyer won't report him to anyone under client-attorney privileges.

Depositions (interview with the insurance company) are standard in any worker's compensation case. Usually, there are no questions about status but some insurance lawyers are nasty and might ask. In that case, your dad's lawyer should say "i do not recommend my client to answer that question" I forget the exact words, but something to that effect.

If he does get California state benefits, when he gets a settlement from the insurance company, California will put a lien against the settlement. Meaning that California will want to get reimbursed for what they paid your dad, so it isn't like "free" money and the lien will be taken out of the final settlement. So let's say you do get 15K for the next year, if the case settles for 100K California will want their 15k back and you are left with the rest. A lot of people don't know this and get surprised when their settlement is less.

In case of permanent disability, they injured person might qualify for some sort of other state/fed benefits (ssi maybe?) I don't know though.

I recommend that you stay on top of your dad's lawyer to get the maximum settlement for your dad. These cases drag on though, so don't get discouraged if it's taking a long time. Also, make sure that your lawyer explains to you whether the payments that he is receiving from the insurance company are coming from the "final" settlement. There is a point in which they do and some clients then don't understand why their final settlement payment is less.

This is in NO WAY legal advice, just recommendations about what you should be asking your attorney.

Save all the receipts for any parking fees from going to see the doctor, any pharmacy fees, log down your miles, etc. The insurance company should reimburse you for all of that, they usually do it on a separate check on top of the disability check. Ask your lawyer how to get them to do this if they haven't done so already.

About the ID thing-- hmm, what did your lawyer say? they just want to confirm his identity to avoid worker's comp fraud, so he might even just be able to send copy of his passport, but once again ask the lawyer.

His lawyer knows his status. They told us he does qualify, but as you may understand n our situation, iwe tend to be really cautious when it comes to legal stuff. And yes, I'll see an immigration attorney.

According to the lawyer, yes...his lawyer is going w/ my dad and that there is nothing to worry about, but I am worried. The employer tried to fool my mom once by asking her to sign a blank piece of paper once and they did not cooperate with the OSHA investigator. The employer, insurance company and the defendant lawyer are I think trying to play around with the system. This is why, I think they will do ANYTHING it takes to give a smaller compensation...including, reporting him with DHS if they found out his status

=( That is awful. Is it a small business? Or is it a large company? The bosses sound awful =(

I remember a case where the guy left to Mexico- he was able to settle his case from there. He sent in a notary signature of the signed settlement agreement and then he collected his settlement from there without even coming back. Not that we would want this to happen to your dad, but just saying that if something like that were to happen then the employer isn't off the hook.

Its a factory, so you may imagine the type of treatment the employees receive. Oh I see, I hope we dont have to get to that point. Thanks for the info. I hope everything turns out okay for my dad.

Wow, what a terrible situation to have to be in. Luckily there's a lot of resources online to find professionals if you need any advice on senior insurance in California.