Being hurt at work is frightening enough. When you’re undocumented, the fear of what comes next can feel paralyzing. Filing a claim means dealing with a government agency, and that thought alone is enough to make some workers stay quiet, lose wages, and go without medical care. We understand that fear, and we want to answer the question directly: yes, undocumented workers in New York are entitled to workers’ compensation benefits.
That answer isn’t a legal opinion or a hopeful interpretation. It’s written into the statute. New York’s Workers’ Compensation Law covers workers regardless of immigration status, and over the more than 25 years our team has handled these claims in-house, we’ve helped clients who were afraid to ask this exact question get the medical care and wage benefits they were owed. The law is on your side. What matters is knowing what it actually says and what filing actually requires.
The Statute Is Clear: Coverage Doesn’t Depend on Immigration Status
The statutory basis is Workers’ Compensation Law Section 17, which provides that compensation for noncitizens who aren’t residents of the United States or Canada is the same in amount as provided for residents. The law draws no distinction based on immigration status, visa category, or work authorization. If you were injured doing a job in New York, you’re covered.
There is one narrow exception worth understanding clearly: if a worker dies and their dependents live in a foreign country, the death benefit for those overseas dependents is limited to a surviving spouse and children, or if there are none, a supported parent. That limitation applies only to surviving family members living abroad. It doesn’t reduce medical benefits, doesn’t cut disability wage payments, and doesn’t affect the injured worker’s own claim in any way.
Filing also doesn’t require a Social Security number. Form C-3, the Employee Claim form filed with the New York State Workers’ Compensation Board, doesn’t require one. The absence of a Social Security number isn’t grounds to deny a claim.
Two Things Other Sources Get Wrong
If you’ve already been researching this topic, you’ve probably seen the name Balbuena v. IDR Realty LLC cited as the reason undocumented workers can receive workers’ comp benefits. That framing is inaccurate, and it matters.
Balbuena was a personal injury and Labor Law case, not a workers’ compensation case. In that 2006 decision, New York’s Court of Appeals held that the federal Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) the federal law that prohibits employers from knowingly hiring unauthorized workers doesn’t preempt New York Labor Law. The court ruled that an undocumented worker’s immigration status doesn’t bar recovery for lost wages in a personal injury action. That’s an important ruling for tort cases and Labor Law Section 240 scaffold law claims, but it’s a distinct legal path from a workers’ compensation claim. The actual foundation for workers’ comp eligibility regardless of status is WCL Section 17 combined with the Board’s established administrative practice. Citing Balbuena as the comp authority conflates two separate bodies of law and can leave injured workers confused about which protections actually apply to their situation.
The second correction involves a January 2024 announcement from the Workers’ Compensation Board about an interagency partnership with the Department of Homeland Security. Under a program called Deferred Action for Labor Enforcement (DALE), noncitizen workers filing certain labor claims could apply for temporary protection from deportation. Some websites built around that announcement still describe it as an active protection. It isn’t. The DALE program was among the federal policies overturned in the days following the January 2025 change in administration, and USCIS stopped processing applications. We’re flagging this because relying on information that was accurate in 2024 but is no longer operative could lead someone to make decisions based on a protection that no longer exists.
What Filing Looks Like Without a Social Security Number
One of the most practical concerns workers raise is whether being paid in cash or working without formal documentation disqualifies a claim. It doesn’t. Cash pay and off-the-books employment don’t strip a worker of coverage. When an employer carries workers’ comp insurance, a claim goes through that carrier. When an employer was uninsured, the benefits still exist but flow through the Uninsured Employers Fund, a state fund created for exactly this situation. A worker doesn’t lose their claim because their employer broke the law by not carrying coverage.
Documenting wages without pay stubs takes more preparation, but there are real options:
- Bank deposit records showing regular deposits consistent with your pay schedule
- Witness statements from coworkers or others who can attest to what you earned and the work you performed
- Tax records filed under an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) if you’ve been filing taxes without a Social Security number
- Text messages or written communications from a supervisor or employer referencing wages or work assignments
Average Weekly Wage (AWW), the figure used to calculate how much you receive in wage replacement benefits, is based on the wages you can document. The stronger your documentation, the more accurately your wage loss can be established. Having our attorneys involved early makes a concrete difference in how thoroughly that foundation is built.
For workers in this area, claims and hearings are generally handled through the Workers’ Compensation Board Queens District Office at 168-46 91st Avenue, 3rd Floor, Jamaica, NY 11432. Knowing where your case will be processed matters when you’re trying to understand what to expect.
Retaliation Is Illegal — and So Is Using Immigration Status as a Threat
Workers’ Compensation Law Section 120 prohibits employers from retaliating against any employee for filing a workers’ comp claim. That protection applies regardless of immigration status. An employer who fires, demotes, cuts hours, or otherwise punishes a worker for filing is violating state law.
If an employer goes further and threatens to report a worker’s immigration status as a way to pressure them into dropping a claim, that conduct can carry additional legal consequences under enforcement by the New York Attorney General’s office, including the possibility of liquidated damages. Using immigration status as leverage against a worker exercising their legal rights is treated seriously under New York law.
On the question of what happens to your information when you file: the Workers’ Compensation Board is a state administrative agency. Its function is processing injury claims, not enforcing immigration law. Filing a Form C-3 with the Board doesn’t trigger any automatic reporting to federal immigration authorities, and the Board doesn’t share immigration status with enforcement agencies as part of the claims process.
That doesn’t mean the political climate around immigration is irrelevant. Federal enforcement priorities shift, and we won’t tell you that the environment is the same as it was five years ago. What we can tell you is that the statutory right to file exists, the retaliation prohibition is real, and the claim process itself is run by a state agency focused on your injury.
What Your Benefits Can Cover
Undocumented workers who file and have their claims approved are entitled to the same benefit types as any other covered worker in New York. Those include:
- Medical treatment for injuries caused by or related to the workplace accident, paid directly by the workers’ comp carrier or the Uninsured Employers Fund
- Wage replacement generally equal to two-thirds of your average weekly wage, up to a state maximum that adjusts annually
- Schedule Loss of Use (SLU) awards for permanent partial injuries to specific body parts, calculated according to a schedule set by the Board
- Death benefits to eligible dependents living in the United States if a work-related injury results in death, subject to the foreign-dependent limitation described above
Schedule Loss of Use awards can represent significant compensation for injuries affecting vision, hearing, or function in a limb. Understanding what you may be entitled to before settling a claim is something we work through carefully with every client.
The Statutory Right Exists. What Changes the Outcome Is How the Claim Is Built.
Federal immigration policy will keep shifting. That’s the honest reality. But the statutory right to workers’ compensation in New York isn’t contingent on those shifts. WCL Section 17 has been on the books for decades, and the Board has consistently processed claims from workers without legal status.
What changes the outcome of a claim is whether it’s filed correctly, whether wages are documented thoroughly, and whether someone is advocating for the full scope of available benefits. Our in-house, multilingual team at Harris Firm, LLC works directly with workers in Queens and across New York City to document these claims, communicate with carriers and the Board, and push for the medical and wage benefits our clients are entitled to under the law. If you’ve been injured at work, call us at (212) 487-8669.