Copycat complaints reach about 500 in FY04

The Department of Labor is hoping that recent administrative orders bidding workers to depart the CNMI as sanction for filing a frivolous complaint will serve as a lesson for other nonresident workers.

In a report, Labor secretary Joaquin Tenorio said the department received approximately 500 “copycat” complaints in the previous fiscal year.

“Copycat” complaints are nearly identical, often frivolous claims filed mostly by garment workers whose sole purpose is to be able to transfer to another garment factory. “Many of the complainants in these cases refuse to engage in good faith mediation of their labor disputes, and instead, seek a memorandum to seek work for other employers,” he said.

Tenorio said the Labor Hearing Office has taken two approaches to deal with the situation.

First, under recently amended regulations, the mediator may now deny a worker’s request for a memorandum if the worker has failed to make a good faith effort to settle the complaint. Faced with a denial of their request, many workers return to work with their employers, Tenorio said.

Another approach is by conducting hearings of cases that the department has determined to be frivolous. Several of these cases, Tenorio said, have ended with an administrative order that orders the worker to depart the CNMI as sanction for filing a frivolous complaint.

“The department hopes that its diligent mediation, investigation and prosecution of these copycat complaints will send a message to the alien worker community that discourages the filing of such merit-less claims,” Tenorio said.

“In fact, a number of complainants recently decided during mediation to dismiss their complaints and return to work based on the department’s firm response to frivolous complaints,” he added.

Currently on appeal is a labor case filed by Li Yan Ni, a garment worker who has been referred to the Division of Immigration for voluntary repatriation, or for possible deportation.

In a Sept. 20 order, hearing officer Linn H. Asper also barred Li from returning to the CNMI as a nonresident worker for a two-year period for filing a frivolous complaint.

Among Li’s complaints were that her room was too small; her workplace was hot and dusty; she was discriminated against because Chinese workers are subjected to searches when they leave the workplace; and there was no water or toilet paper in the barracks.

The heart of Li’s complaint was her assertion that there was too much pressure in the workplace. She said the work was too difficult for her and that her supervisors belittled her and verbally abused her because she was too slow.

However, Asper maintained that Li has either failed to prove her labor complaints, or has alleged facts that do not amount to labor law violations, even if established.

In another case of a frivolous complaint, Asper revoked the temporary work authorization of an alien worker and ordered him to depart the CNMI.

Worker Wang Qing Yun had complained that work was too stressful due to a high garment quota; she had to work 15 minutes a day without pay; her supervisor yelled at her; the food and living quarters provided by the employer were of poor quality; and she had to pay a large recruitment fee, but she did not earn enough in Saipan.

On review of Wang’s claims, Asper concluded in a June 22 order that the complaint was frivolous, and “not justified in fact or law.”