WCAB
Farmer Brothers Coffee v. Workers' Compensation Appeals Board
Opinion
Opinion
Hastings, J.
BACKGROUND
We issued a writ of review on April 4, 2005, with regard to two workers’ compensation matters and consolidated them for argument and decision. Each petition contends that the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA), title 8 United States Code section 1101 et seq., preempts Labor Code section 1171.5, which provides that immigration status is irrelevant to the issue of liability under state labor and employment laws, and Labor Code section 3351, which includes aliens in the definition of “employee,” even those unlawfully employed. In each case, it was undisputed that the employee was an alien, unauthorized to work in the United States at the time of the injury. We have subsequently severed the two matters, and now proceed only with the petition of Farmer Brothers Coffee.
The bifurcated issue of Rafael Ruiz against his employer, Farmer Brothers Coffee, whether he was an employee within the context of the California workers’ compensation scheme was submitted on documentary evidence and depositions, in addition to additional testimony from Ruiz and Andy Lee, the employer’s warehouse and shipping manager. On November 5, 2004, the workers’ compensation…