Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The owner of a Warwick tree-service company decided to pay up Tuesday rather than face fines or prison. William J. Gorman Jr. handed over $900 -- three monthly installments he owes to a Mexican illegal immigrant who slashed his face open with a chainsaw while working for Gorman.

The worker, Edgar Velasquez, returned to Mexico in December of 2007, shortly before he won a $30,000 workers' compensation claim against Gorman in a groundbreaking case. Gorman's payment schedule stretches over 10 years, allowing for no payments during winter months when the tree business is slow.

Gorman had paid his first $300 last fall, but then fell behind on his payments. Velasquez's lawyers, Stephen J. Dennis and Maureen Gemma, took Gorman back to court to collect the fines.

Chief Workers Compensation Judge George E. Healey Jr. told Gorman that if he didn't keep up with the payment schedule, "there can be jail or other penalties. I don't think you want that."

Velasquez returned from Mexico to Rhode Island on a humanitarian visa in 2007 to press his workers' compensation claim against Gorman. The chainsaw accident was in 2006.
According to Dr. Antonio Barajas, president of the Mexican-American Association of Rhode Island, Velasquez spent his first $300 check on hospital bills for his mother, who had pneumonia. Barajas was one of a group of people who helped Velasquez return to Rhode Island to press his claim.

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