Nevada: Undocumented Worker Awarded PTD Benefits under "Odd-Lot" Doctrine

Quoting Larson's Workers' Compensation Law, the Supreme Court of Nevada, in an unpublished decision, held that a worker's status as an undocumented worker was not relevant to the issue of whether he qualified for permanent total disability benefits. The Court observed that Nevada’s industrial insurance system covered “every person in the service of an employer … whether lawfully or unlawfully employed,” including “[a]liens” [see NRS 616A.105(1)]. It also noted that under the "odd-lot" doctrine, as described in Larson, a worker, while not altogether incapacitated for work, might still be so handicapped that he or she would not be employed regularly in any well-known branch of the labor market. Such a worker, whether an undocumented alien or not, could be awarded permanent total disability benefits.

Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., the Feature National Columnist for the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter, is co-author of Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law (LexisNexis).

LexisNexis Online Subscribers: Citations below link to Lexis Advance.

See Associated Risk Mgmt. v. Ibanez, 2020 Nev. Unpub. LEXIS 1124 (Nov. 23, 2020)

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 83.01.

Source: Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, the nation’s leading authority on workers’ compensation law

For a more detailed discussion of the case, see

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