Health-checks law given second look

Following the initiative of the administration, legislators are seriously looking into the mandatory health screening for foreign workers implemented by the NMI government after the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Community ruled that it violated federal laws.

Senate President Paul A. Manglona has instructed their legal counsel to review the medical requirement to determine whether the legislature needs to act on the concerns of the local business community over the implication of the EEOC ruling.

Earlier, Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio had asked the Attorney General to evaluate the legality of the health screening, but maintained it will remain in an effort to protect the island from communicable diseases.

“There is a problem in trying to apply the requirement across the board to cover all contract workers,” Manglona told in an interview yesterday.

He added, however, that prevention through information campaign is still the best way to avoid widespread transmission of diseases such as tuberculosis and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome or AIDS.

EEOC, in a decision following legal questions raised by two hotel workers here on the HIV test, said the hotel and the commonwealth government violated the disabilities act that prohibits employers from inquiring on employees disability-related injuries unless it is relevant to their jobs.

According to Manglona, a similar case can occur if all government employees are subjected to mandatory drug tests when only police and law enforcement officers should take them.

“This is a big concern for the legislature,” the senator explained. “We will seriously look into the concerns” of the Hotel Association of Northern Mariana Islands which has written a letter to the legislature after the EEOC ruling, Manglona added.

The health regulation was imposed by the Department of Public Health early this year after the Atlanta-based Center for Disease Control raised alarm over the rise in cases of TB and other sexually-transmitted diseases on the island.

Both federal and CNMI officials have blamed the problem on nonresident workers as most cases were found among the large alien population here.

CDC, in particular, cited the increase in TB cases which swelled 10 times higher than the rate in the U.S. mainland over a period of 12 months.

Last February, the island government expanded the health screening to include chest X-ray, HIV and syphilis tests for all the thousands of alien workers regardless of employment category. So far, a number of them have found to be AIDS carrier or suffering from communicable diseases.