A federal appeals court upheld $51,000 in punitive and emotional stress damages to an injured, undocumented worker who claimed he was fired after trying to get his employer to cover a medical bill related to his injury.

Ricardo Torres injured his back in 2012 while working for manufacturer Precision Industries Inc. He had been employed by the company from January 2011 until he was fired in September 2012, a period when he was not legally authorized to work in the United States, according to documents in Ricardo Torres v. Precision Industries, Inc., filed in the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati.

Mr. Torres reported the injury to Precision’s safety manager, who scheduled a doctor’s appointment for later that day. A week later, Torres returned to work — but the pain got worse. The safety manager did not schedule a new doctor’s appointment, so Mr. Torres scheduled his own and presented Precision with the doctor’s bill, which Precision wouldn't pay, according to documents.

Mr. Torres then hired a lawyer to pursue a workers compensation claim, a move that led to Mr. Torre’s firing — which included a “profanity-laced diatribe” by a manager that Mr. Torres recorded, according to documents.

Mr. Torres then sued, claiming Precision violated Tennessee law by firing him in retaliation for filing a workers compensation claim. A district court granted Precision’s motion that Mr. Torres was not entitled to recover backpay or non-economic damages, that the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 precluded his state law retaliation claim.

A federal appeals court reversed, holding the district court erred by deciding the preemption question without first deciding whether Precision was liable and, if so, what damages were available under Tennessee law. On remand, the district court found Precision liable for retaliatory discharge and held that federal law did not preempt a damage award. The court awarded Torres backpay, $1,000 compensatory damages for emotional distress, and $50,000 in punitive damages. Precision appealed again.

In the latest appeal, the federal court affirmed the compensatory and punitive damages, yet reduced by $4,160 backpay on the argument that Mr. Torres, who used a fabricated Social Security number to gain employment, was not authorized to work in the United States until five months after being fired.

“Federal law makes it illegal to employ undocumented aliens, but Tennessee’s workers’ compensation law still protects them. So if a Tennessee company fires an undocumented employee for filing a workers’ compensation claim, the employee can sue for damages. Because of federal law, the company cannot be required to pay lost wages that the alien was not allowed to earn. But it’s still on the hook for wages the employee could have lawfully received, as well as for other damages unrelated to the employee’s immigration status,” the appeals court wrote.