July 2, 2019
I've Been Injured On The Job, How Can I Get Help?
Rosa was working on an H-2A visa harvesting lettuce in central California when she fell off a tractor and broke her leg. After she fell, her foreman told her to go “rest it off” in the trailer where she was housed. Rosa never reported the injury to human resources and had to get medical care at a clinic where she personally paid for her medical expenses. Rosa went home to Guanajuato before the season was over and lost thousands of dollars after paying for medical care on her own.
What were Rosa’s options?
In most cases, employers have to buy insurance to pay the medical costs and lost wages of workers who are injured on the job. This is called workers’ compensation. ALL employers of H-2A visa agricultural workers have to buy workers’ compensation coverage.
Workers’ compensation is state law, and the steps a worker must take to get benefits vary. Usually, to qualify for benefits, you must:
Have suffered an injury while you were working
Report your injury to company management as soon as possible
Fill out paperwork with your employer to be sent to the insurer and/or the state workers’ compensation agency
Tell the doctor you see that you were injured on the job
To learn more about how to get workers’ compensation benefits where you are working, visit this page. It lists the contact information for the government workers’ compensation board in all 50 states in the U.S.
Keep in mind that this post is NOT legal advice. If you need help with a workplace injury, call Centro de los Derechos del Migrante from the U.S. at 1-855-234-9699 or from Mexico at 01-855-590-1773.