Investigation ordered on Garapan retail business

The Department of Labor Hearing Office has ordered an investigation into the management of a retail store and barber business whose only local corporate officer was found to know nothing about the corporation.

In an Oct. 8 order, hearing officer Jerry Cody referred Qing Lang Corp., doing business as Xing Rong Market, to the Labor director for investigation into the nature of the management of the business.

Cody made this recommendation, as he decided on the work permit applications filed by Qing Lang to renew the employment of two nonresident workers.

Labor records showed that Qing Lang Corp. filed an application to renew the employment of Zong Li as barber and He Guo Ping as storekeeper earlier this year.

Each application, however, was missing a health certificate and a certified job vacancy announcement. The employer was sent a deficiency notice for each application.

In June 2004, the Division of Labor denied the applications based on the employer’s failure to correct the deficiencies. The appeal followed.

Qing Lang produced the JVAs and health clearances for the workers at the hearing. However, a review of the JVAs showed that the employer was financially capable to employ only one nonresident employees.

Accordingly, the Division of Employment Services and Training certified the company as solvent to employ He, but insolvent for the employment of Zong.

The employer did not refute DETS’s conclusion regarding the corporation. As a result, Cody affirmed the denial of Zong’s employment application. However, Zong was given until Nov. 22 to find a new employer.

Cody deferred action on He’s application, pending the outcome of the investigation into the “serious questions” raised about the management of the corporation.

At the hearing, Qing Lang’s corporate secretary, Frances Serrano, who currently works as a kitchen helper at a local hotel, said that she knows nothing about the business. “Serrano signs whatever papers that Kwon, Soon Young hands her to sign, but otherwise has no involvement in company affairs,” Cody noted.

Meanwhile, the other corporate officers of Qing Lang reside in China.

The corporate president, He Guo Hut, pays the salary of his sister, worker He, by making monthly payments in China to their mother. Further, company employees are working without the use of time cards.

Cody said this may be a violation of the Nonresident Workers Act, which requires that wages paid in cash be paid in U.S. dollars, at least bi-weekly, and in conjunction with a receipt specifying wages, hours, and deductions.