DOLI sued for denying work permit

A houseworker and her employer have asked the Superior Court to declare null and void the decision by the Department of Labor and Immigration denying the employment application of the nonresident worker.

In a civil suit filed through their lawyer Danilo T. Aguilar, employer Marie F. Rimorin and her houseworker Mercedes Abubo have appealed to the court to reverse the decision of DOLI and compel the labor agency to issue a nonresident worker entry permit.

On July 12, 2000, Ms. Rimorin authorized and instructed Ms. Abubo to submit an application for renewal of nonresident worker’s permit and other supporting documents.

Two months later, DOLI denied the renewal of application. Ms. Rimorin then filed a timely appeal to the administrative hearing office to review the denial of application.

On Nov. 8, 2000, an administrative hearing was held to consider the basis for the Division of Labor’s denial of employment application. After a week, the administrative hearing office issued a decision affirming the denial of the employment application and imposing sanctions and penalties against both petitioners.

DOLI Hearing Officer Cinta M. Kaipat ruled that there was no real employee-employer relationship in existence after Ms. Rimorin and her family relocated to Guam on or about July 2, 2000. Even then, Ms. Abubo continued to work for Ms. Rimorin as housekeeper.

The department argued that Ms. Rimorin has failed to notify DOLI about the move so that she could arrange to terminate the contract properly and enable Ms. Abubo to find another employer.

According to DOLI, Ms. Rimorin’s move to Guam changed the contract in a material way and that the agreement that was struck between Ms. Rimorin and her housekeeper Ms. Abubo was not the contract that the director of Labor approved.

As a result, DOLI ruled that Ms. Abubo should be denied transfer and banned from reentering the CNMI for a period of five years for employment purposes.

The department also sanctioned Ms. Rimorin in the amount of $1,000 and permanently barred from employing a nonresident worker in the CNMI.

In her appeal to the decision of the hearing officer, Ms. Rimorin claimed that she gave Ms. Abubo assigned tasks which she was to do on her own. This means that Ms. Abubo not only set her own schedule but served as her own supervisor as well.

However, DOLI claims that such an “arrangement” makes a mockery of the CNMI labor and immigration laws.

The petition maintained that the factual basis for DOLI’s decision should be reviewed anew at the trial so that the court may examine the factual basis of DOLI’s decision.

“While it is within the discretion of DOLI to improve sanctions of labor, the degree and severity of the sanctions imposed upon petitions for alleged violations of labor is a clear abuse of that discretion,” the petition said. (Lindablue F. Romero)