Egg farm victim’s family wants his pay, benefits

The family of a Mexican national killed last week in a Union County egg farm accident is asking New Day Farms for his back pay and fair compensation toward his funeral costs.

Company representatives sent condolences and two representatives to 24-year-old Josue Adan Mezhua Hernandez’s funeral on Wednesday in Marion. But because he was not a U.S. citizen or legally in this country, they say he’s owed nothing, including workers’ compensation death benefits, Audrey Aguilera, a cousin, said she was told.

“They’re saying they can’t do anything, that their hands are tied,” said Aguilera, 23, of Chase, Kansas.

New Day Farms did not return a call from The Dispatch seeking comment.

The Ohio Revised Code states that workers’ compensation benefits apply equally to “aliens,” or foreign-born residents of another country who have not become naturalized U.S. citizens. Unlike other sections of the ORC, the workers’ compensation section does not address “illegal aliens.”

As a government employee, Aguilera said she knows how easy it is for an employer to check legal status by matching passport data with Social Security numbers and Mexican Consulate identification.

“You can play stupid and hire as many illegal immigrants as you want... and then wash your hands clean when something like this happens,” she said.

According to his death certificate, Mezhua Hernandez died instantly Aug. 8 of blunt force trauma to the head, with electrocution as a possible secondary cause. A preliminary investigation found that he was repairing a manure-transport belt in a barn atop a 15-foot ladder and was not wearing a safety harness when he was possibly shocked before falling to the concrete floor.

He had worked at the plant for four years along with two cousins and his aunt, all here illegally, Aguilera said.

The incident is being investigated by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.