NMC sued for illegal termination

A former employee of the Northern Marianas College has sued NMC for alleged illegal termination of her contract after she provided the House of Representatives a copy of the cost-cutting plan of the college during an oversight hearing in 1999.

An employee of NMC since July 1987, Malinda S. Matson has held several positions at the college where she first worked as director of Library Services and most recently as acting radio station manager until her termination.

In a civil suit filed before the Superior Court through her lawyer Richard W. Pierce, Ms. Matson is seeking reinstatement to a position for which she is qualified at NMC. She is also seeking monetary damages including the loss of salary and the value of benefits denied to her.

According to the complaint, Ms. Matson entered into a two-year contract with the college on December 23, 1997 which stipulated that she could be transferred to different positions within NMC in accordance with the NMC Personnel Manual.

In her prior contract, she was initially appointed to the position of director of Planning, Budget and Grants. However, she was reassigned to the position of director of Information and Technology Service and later on appointed acting radio station manager.

Prior to her termination, Ms. Matson was appointed to head the committee which studied the cost-cutting measures to be implemented at the college as a result of the downturn in the economy.

During the summer and fall of 1998, the committee made a report which provided a detailed recommendation on what actions should be taken by NMC to make its operation more efficient.

In December 1998, Ms. McPhetres sent a memo to all the faculty and staff regarding the organizational changes at the college, which also provided that Ms. Matson would be made acting radio station manager under the Marketing and Relations Section since NMC had already abolished the position of ITS director.

In October 1998, the reorganization proposal had placed her in charge of the radio station but did not put her in acting capacity. Even before that, Ms. McPhetres had informed her that she wanted her to become radio station manager and that she had worked extensively supervising the station for more than two years.

The Board of Regents even met and adopted the College Reorganization Chart on Dec. 31, 1999 which no longer contained the Office of Information and Technology Services.

In February and March 1999, the CNMI Legislature conducted oversight hearings into the operations of NMC wherein to the embarrassment of the former president as well as the BOR, the contents of the cost-cutting report were discussed. The complaint claimed that Ms. McPhetres and the BOR believed that it was Ms. Matson who released the report.