Posts
July 1, 2009
Siemer said there is no commonality of status among the individual plaintiffs or the bonding companies and denied that PL 15-108 provides that DOL is responsible for issuing notice of claim to a bonding company or for collection of awards made in DOL-issued administrative orders.
DOL regulations lack enforcement, and place the responsible for collecting unpaid judgments upon the cheated workers.
The CNMI Department of Labor has refused to enforce their own judgments issued under their administrative orders, and has refused to compel insurance companies to honor bonds when cheating employers fail to pay the employees. This is an interesting decision since this week the Fitial Administration will claim that their dysfunctional local labor system is "oh-so-wonderful" in the United Stated District Court in Washington, DC. Unfortunately, for far too many of he cheated and abused workers this is an outright lie.
The judge ruled that the primary reason the workers could not collect their bonds was that the DOL has not attempted to enforce the insurance companies obligations to pay the bonds. Have advocates and the guest workers not been saying this for years?
DOL:New Rules for cheated workers to chase down their money
Parents of U.S. citizen children sue CNMI Department of Labor
CNMI Labor News: Two Interesting Points to Ponder
Judge Inos: DOL, Not Courts Should Enforced Bonds
Class Action Suit Against DOL
CNMI Labor News
Overstayers' List Questioned
Siemer responds to Class Action Suit
Class Action Suit Filed Against DOL
Superior Court Associate Judge David Wiseman ordered the CNMI Department of Labor to issue temporary work authorizations for the 127 foreign contract workers who are suing the CNMI DOL and officials for not enforcing their own laws.
Attorney Robert Meyers is defending the 127 foreign workers in a class action lawsuit that he filed in December 2008.
For years alien workers have routinely been cheated by employers. The DOL system is an unjust system that puts the burden of recovering unpaid judgments on the victims. The bonding and insurance companies also neglected their lawful obligation to pay the workers when the employers defaulted on the judgments.
The lawsuit was filed against Labor Secretary Gil M. San Nicolas, Labor Deputy Secretary Cinta Kaipat and Labor Director Barry Hirshbein with 20 “Does” that are surety or bonding or insurance companies that issued statutory surety labor bonds to the employers of the guest workers.
According to the Saipan Tribune:
The lawsuit was filed against Labor Secretary Gil M. San Nicolas, Labor Deputy Secretary Cinta Kaipat and Labor Director Barry Hirshbein with 20 “Does” that are surety or bonding or insurance companies that issued statutory surety labor bonds to the employers of the guest workers.
According to the Saipan Tribune:
Public Law 15-108 provides that a nonresident worker may request a court order directing the Labor Director to issue a TWA if that foreign national worker is pursuing a claim or case in the CNMI court system.
“While such a request is not well known about, it is something that every foreign national worker should ask their lawyer to request for them [if they're in the court system],” Myers told Saipan Tribune yesterday.
The TWA, he said, is essentially an “unlimited” one while the case is pending in court, even if the alien worker is not able to find a job after receiving an initial TWA.
“I don't believe the Department of Labor likes that reality but that's what the law provides. And it makes sense, given that question of how a foreign national worker is to support themselves and their loves ones,” Myers said.
A total of 127 alien workers who sued their former employers for wage and overtime violations and had been awarded damages by Labor filed the petition for judicial review in court.
In the petition, Myers asked the court to compel Labor and its officials to enforce the surety's obligations under the statutory labor bonds.
Siemer: DOL not responsible for enforcement
In January 2009 "Special Counsel for Labor", Deanne Siemer responded to the lawsuit claiming that the Superior Court did not have jurisdiction as the case failed to meet the requirements for a class action lawsuit.Siemer said there is no commonality of status among the individual plaintiffs or the bonding companies and denied that PL 15-108 provides that DOL is responsible for issuing notice of claim to a bonding company or for collection of awards made in DOL-issued administrative orders.
DOL regulations lack enforcement, and place the responsible for collecting unpaid judgments upon the cheated workers.
From the January 14, 2009 issue of the Saipan Tribune:
The $6.1 million in unpaid judgments collected last year illustrates that DOL does not enforce their policies, and cheated workers have no path to justice.
In response to that collection, DOL came up with a scheme to have workers collect unpaid judgments in small claims court. The scheme even called for the cheated workers to serve their former unscrupulous employers who ripped them off.
In a May 14, 2008, Saipan Tribune article DOL "public education and outreach director" Rose Ada-Hocog said that they "just want to stress to workers that Labor is not a collection agency."
Siemer denied that the Commonwealth Employment Act of 2007 provides that Labor is responsible for collection of awards made in the administrative orders that Labor issues in cases filed by alien workers against employers.Last year Deputy Labor Secretary Cinta Kaipat, Director Barry Hirshbein, and the "volunteer" all stated that the DOL was not responsible for enforcing the judgments.
Siemer denied that the Nonresident Workers Act and its predecessors have any force and effect as they were repealed by the Commonwealth Employment Act of 2007.
She also denied that the Commonwealth Employment Act of 2007 requires Labor to issue any notice of claim to any bonding company.
Under the Commonwealth Employment Act of 2007, the special counsel said, Labor has no power to act against bonding companies.
Licensing and regulatory authority, she pointed out, is vested in the Department of Commerce.
The $6.1 million in unpaid judgments collected last year illustrates that DOL does not enforce their policies, and cheated workers have no path to justice.
In response to that collection, DOL came up with a scheme to have workers collect unpaid judgments in small claims court. The scheme even called for the cheated workers to serve their former unscrupulous employers who ripped them off.
In a May 14, 2008, Saipan Tribune article DOL "public education and outreach director" Rose Ada-Hocog said that they "just want to stress to workers that Labor is not a collection agency."
Associate Judge Inos Says DOL, not courts should enforce bonds.
In March 2009 Superior Court Associate Judge Perry Inos dismissed, for lack of jurisdiction, the consolidated small claims suit against bonding companies filed by 11 cheated Chinese workers. He ruled that the courts do not have the authority to enforce their bonds.The CNMI Department of Labor has refused to enforce their own judgments issued under their administrative orders, and has refused to compel insurance companies to honor bonds when cheating employers fail to pay the employees. This is an interesting decision since this week the Fitial Administration will claim that their dysfunctional local labor system is "oh-so-wonderful" in the United Stated District Court in Washington, DC. Unfortunately, for far too many of he cheated and abused workers this is an outright lie.
The judge ruled that the primary reason the workers could not collect their bonds was that the DOL has not attempted to enforce the insurance companies obligations to pay the bonds. Have advocates and the guest workers not been saying this for years?
The Saipan Tribune quoted Judge Inos as saying that the workers need to compel DOL to do their job:
“Although there were administrative proceedings that preceded these actions, the plaintiffs have not filed petitions for judicial review or for mandamus to compel Labor to take action,” Inos said.
In response to the order issued by Associate Judge Inos, the DOL is now requesting that foreign contract workers with bond claims register at the DOL.
See also these posts for more information:
DOL:New Rules for cheated workers to chase down their money
Parents of U.S. citizen children sue CNMI Department of Labor
CNMI Labor News: Two Interesting Points to Ponder
Judge Inos: DOL, Not Courts Should Enforced Bonds
Class Action Suit Against DOL
CNMI Labor News
Overstayers' List Questioned
Siemer responds to Class Action Suit
Class Action Suit Filed Against DOL
