Case concerns state’s responsibility to ensure workers’ compensation access regardless of immigration status; Lower court ruling being upheld would keep Michiganders from challenging wide range of illegal state actions
On Monday, October 6, advocates for civil liberties, and for the rights of immigrants and food system workers, will discuss how a case before Michigan’s Supreme Court on October 8 will determine whether the state can violate the rights of Michiganders with impunity.
WHAT: Virtual press conference about MIRC v. Whitmer case before the Michigan Supreme Court, with oral argument on October 8
WHO: Representatives from Michigan Immigrant Rights Center (plaintiff in the underlying case), FarmSTAND (representing MIRC), The Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice (representing MIRC), ACLU of Michigan (filed amicus brief in the case), United Farm Workers Foundation (filed amicus brief in the case)
WHEN: Noon-12:45 ET, Monday, October 6
WHERE: Virtual; Contact aidan@farmstand.org to register for this Zoom Webinar.
The case before Michigan’s Supreme Court is a challenge brought by the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center to the state’s continued denial of workers’ compensation wages to undocumented workers who suffer serious injuries at work. This practice violates Michigan Supreme Court precedent and due process.
In May 2024, Michigan’s Court of Appeals ruled that a lower court should have granted the state’s motion for summary disposition in the case. The Court of Appeals panel did not rule on the merits of the state’s legal obligations to undocumented workers. It ruled instead that MIRC’s suit was not “timely” because the state allegedly started violating workers’ rights more than a year prior, holding that the state’s persistent misconduct is what insulates it from suit. MIRC is appealing this holding – dangerous to any Michigander whose rights might be violated by the state government – to the Michigan Supreme Court, which will hear oral argument on October 8 at 1PM. The Court will stream that argument live.