I would go lenient on the 18 year old but at the same time this is his responsibility and he might as well learn his lesson now. When an injured employee goes to the hospital it is neither here nor there if the employer has a license or not, the only thing that matters to the hospital is how it is going to be paid for. I would think his health insurance would cover the cost in the absence of workers comp however the health insurance company might have recourse to collect from the employer. Additionally in Alabama small contractors (I think 5 employees or less) can exempt from having to carry worker's comp insurance but this does leave the contractor open to a lot of liability. As for a license, if the contractor is just doing small jobs all he has to do is go to the courthouse and get a business license. If he does larger jobs it is a bit more complex however the business license is all that is required if he is doing small jobs and if the line at the courthouse is short this would have taken him about 20 minutes and not very much money.