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JURADO v. POPEJOY CONSTR. CO.5/28/1993
The opinion of the court was delivered by
This is a workers compensation appeal involving the constitutionality of a statute limiting nonresident alien dependents' death benefits to $750. Under the Workers Compensation Act, all other dependents' death benefits are fixed in an amount not to exceed $200,000. The trial court upheld the constitutionality of the statute. We reverse and remand for further proceedings consistent with our opinion.
On August 21, 1990, 39-year-old Fermin A. Jurado, a resident alien of Mexico, died as a result of massive head injuries he received while working for Popejoy Construction Company (Popejoy) located near Syracuse, Kansas. He had lived and worked in Kansas since 1988. He moved to Kansas to learn English and eventually pursue his profession as an engineer in this country. He had received an engineering degree from the Technological Institute of the City of Juarez in Mexico in 1979. At the time of his death, he was survived by his wife and three children, ages 7, 4, and 2, all of whom were residents and citizens of the
Republic of Mexico. It was his plan to move his dependents to the United States as soon as he had mastered the English language well enough to obtain employment as an engineer.
Upon his death, Aetna Life and Casualty Company issued a check to his dependents in the amount of $750 on behalf of Popejoy, paid pursuant to K.S.A. 44-510b(i), which provides:
"If the [deceased] employee does not leave any dependents who are citizens of or residing at the time of the accident in the United States, the amount of compensation shall not exceed in any case the sum of $750." All other dependents, including resident alien dependents, are covered by K.S.A. 44-510b(h), which authorizes compensation benefits "not exceed a total amount of $200,000."
In upholding the constitutionality of K.S.A. 44-510b(i), the district court concluded that neither the state nor federal Equal Protection Clauses extend to nonresident aliens. The dependents filed their appeal with the Court of Appeals. On motion, we granted a transfer of the appeal to this court.
While this appeal involves only one issue, the approach used in deciding this issue is of critical importance. A threshold question must first be resolved as to whether our determination involves a consideration of the constitutional rights of the deceased employee, or whether the resolution involves a consideration of the constitutional rights of the employee's dependents. Consistent with the conclusion of the district court, Popejoy urges this court to find that the dependents, as nonresident aliens, are afforded no constitutional protections. Thus, according to its contention, because nonresident aliens have no constitutional rights to advance, the statutory amount awarded must stand. The dependents, however, urge us to consider the constitutionality of this statute based upon the constitutional protections afforded to the resident alien employee.
Employee's or Dependents' Rights
We begin our discussion with the conclusion that the issue before us does not depend upon the existence or nonexistence of the rights of the dependents but, rather, involves a consideration of the constitutional rights of the resident alien employee, now deceased.
In a recent case decided by the Florida Supreme Court involving almost identical facts, the court concluded:
"However, we do not perceive this case as hinging on the constitutional rights of the surviving dependents, but on the constitutional rights of the worker, now deceased." De Ayala v. Florida Farm Bureau Cas. Ins., 543 S
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