Coverage for Farm Workers: Required (with limitations)

Limitations: Employers must provide workers' compensation only if they employ 10 or more full-time nonseasonal farm laborers.

Statute: N.C. Gen. Stat. Ann. § 97-13(b) (2011)

Coverage for Undocumented Workers: Yes

Case Law: Gayton v. Gage Carolina Metals Inc., 560 S.E.2d 870 (N.C. Ct. App. 2002) (holding that status as illegal alien did not bar recovery under workers' compensation and that because employer had failed to establish employee was able to return to work, employer could not terminate workers' compensation benefits); Rivera v. Trapp, 519 S.E.2d 777 (N.C. Ct. App. 1999) (noting that definition of "employee" includes every person engaged in employment including aliens).

Benefits Available for Undocumented Workers: Undocumented workers can receive wage-loss benefits and temporary total disability benefits. Gayton v. Gage Carolina Metals Inc., 560 S.E.2d 870, 874 (N.C. Ct. App. 2002) (finding that undocumented worker could receive "total incapacity" benefits until employer demonstrated that "but for" his illegal status the worker could obtain a job; in other words, as long as the worker remained physically disabled, he was eligible for benefits); Ruiz v. Belk Masonry Co., Inc., 559 S.E.2d 249, 254 (N.C. Ct. App. 2002) (affirming an award of total permanent disability benefits to an undocumented worker); Roset-Eredia v. F.W. Dellinger, Inc., 190 N.C. App. 520 (N.C. Ct. App. 2008) (affirming a determination of temporarily totally disabled of an undocumented worker).