Why is Ohio providing workers’ compensation benefits to illegal aliens?

“We all agree that Ohio government should put Ohioans first.

That’s especially true when it comes to Ohio’s workers.

So why is Ohio’s workers compensation system providing benefits to illegal aliens?

It’s time to close this loophole and protect Ohio jobs, Ohio workers and the safety net that is designed to help Ohioans injured on the job. That’s what we’re doing with House Bill 380, the Ohio Workers First Act.

Remarkably, under current law, illegal aliens are eligible to receive workers’ compensation benefits, the same as legal Ohio workers. No questions asked.

This loophole creates a perverse incentive for rogue businesses to hire lower cost unskilled labor provided by illegal aliens because illegal workers injured on the job are the financial responsibility of Ohio’s workers compensation system – not the sole responsibility of the business which broke the rules and hired them in the first place.

Under House Bill 380, Ohio businesses who follow the rules and create jobs for Ohioans will no longer be responsible for funding workers compensation benefits for illegal aliens.

Passage of this reform plan will put Ohio’s workers’ compensation system in line with federal law. And it sends the message that Ohio believes in the rule of law and doesn’t support illegal immigration.

The Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation is the largest state-fund workers’ compensation insurance system in the nation and has made great strides in recent years to better serve Ohio’s businesses and injured workers.

The good news is that Ohio’s workers and the vast majority of the more than 244,000 employers who are part of Ohio’s workers’ compensation system work hard and play by the rules each and every day. They should not be effectively penalized by a handful of rogue employers.

House Bill 380 is good public policy for Ohio jobs and Ohio businesses.”