Civil Service chair to serve as temporary hearing officer

Civil Service Commission will be resuming work on resolving grievances and appeals that are still pending. The hearing officer position has been vacant leaving all pending cases on hold. While the commission waits for budget approval this fiscal year to fund a hearing officer position, the chairman of the Civil Service Commission, Herman R. Deleon Guerrero, volunteered his time to serve as a temporary hearing officer. The counsels for the aggrieved employees have been notified of his appointment by the commission.

“I feel it is not right to put on hold employees’ grievance cases. They must be attended to as soon as possible,” stated the chairman. “I’ll do my best to see that government employees don’t have to wait any longer to have their grievances and appeals heard. We’ll move the process on.”

Deleon Guerrero has been the chairman of the Civil Service Commission since its reorganization in December 2013. He served in the NMI Senate from 1978 until his retirement as the Senate minority leader in 1991, and also served as chairman of the Saipan Legislative Delegation during his last two years in the Senate. Prior to his time in the Senate, he served as executive director of the Local Anti-Poverty Federal Program, president of Micronesian Legal Services and, also, president of the Micronesian Community Action Directors Organization during the period from 1968 to 1974. In 1974 he was elected to the Congress of Micronesia, which was merged in 1976 with the Marianas District Legislature.

In both organizations, the members were named Senators by Executive Order of President Ford in preparation for the transition into the new political status with the United States as a Commonwealth in 1978. Deleon Guerrero also served as a member of the 902 Consultations for the CNMI from 1986 to 1991.

“Civil service employees have a right to have their grievances and appeals heard. We’re working with the governor to get approval and funding for a permanent commission executive assistant who will also be the hearing officer. Until we accomplish that, I’ll fill the gap, working with our legal counsel,” said Deleon Guerrero.

The government’s civil service regulations provide procedures to allow Civil Service employees to submit a grievance on matters of concern or dissatisfaction with employer/employee relations and appeals to disciplinary adverse actions. Such actions, if not resolved at lower administrative levels may be heard by the Civil Service Commission for final decision and resolution. The hearing officer is the opportunity for resolution prior to a Commission hearing.

“Since its reorganization in December 2012,” Deleon Guerrero stated, “the Civil Service Commission has been active in representing the Commonwealth’s Civil Service employees. With the support of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) in its efforts to resolve a backlog of personnel grievances and appeals, and its attempts to revise the current outdated compensation plan and restart the within-grade increase program, the commission has been seeking to improve the employment conditions for the Civil Service employees of the government.”

The current members of the Civil Service Commission are Deleon Guerrero; Felicitas “Tee” P. Abraham, vice chairman; and Charles M. Calvo, Arsene M. Borja, Catalina L. Tebit and Valerie Q. Apatang, commissioners. (PR)