Previous Story
Employer sanctioned for abandoning worker
|
Posted on Oct 13 2004
The Department of Labor has disqualified an employer from hiring new alien workers in the Commonwealth for abandoning a nonresident employee.
Hearing officer Herbert D. Soll also imposed a $1,000 fine against employer Owen Leslie A. Asayas and ordered him to pay worker Zenaida A. Manabat $1,586 for back wages.
In an Oct. 5 administrative order, Soll related that Manabat was employed by Asayas as a house worker. The employment contract was about three months from completion when Asayas and his family left the CNMI in 2001.
Asayas made no provision for Manabat other than signing a consensual transfer document. This act, Soll noted, did not conform to legal requirements in that there was no receiving employer to accept the transfer.
Manabat reported her status to Labor and remained unemployed for the balance of the contract period of three months—May through July 2001. She is owed wages by Asayas amounting to $1,586.
While investigation was ongoing, Manabat was able to work on a temporary work authorization for George F. David.
At the hearing of the compliance case, David stated that he wished to become her permanent employer. Soll granted the transfer and instructed David to file an application for the employment of Manabat within 30 days.
Soll gave Asayas 15 days to settle Manabat’s unpaid wages. He said the surety, Royal Crown Insurance Corp., will be liable for payment to Manabat if the amount is not received within the 15-day period.
“The respondent is permanently disqualified from employing nonresident workers in the Commonwealth. [Asayas is also] sanctioned in the amount of $1,000 for his violation of the Nonresident Workers Act in breaching the contract and abandoning his employee,” Soll said.
