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Labor hearing officer orders probe vs worker, agent
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Posted on Nov 15 2004
The Department of Labor Hearing Office has ordered an investigation against an alien worker and an employment agent for possible irregularity.
Hearing officer Herbert D. Soll issued the instruction as he affirmed the Labor director’s decision to deny the permit application filed by employer Victoria Cabrera for worker Sarah G. Gascon.
Cabrera filed the application on April 26, 2004, but it was found deficient. On June 15, the Division of Labor issued a deficiency notice, but failed to draw a response from the applicant. The application was finally denied on July 8. An agent, Agnes Guerrero, appealed the denial.
At the Nov. 10 hearing, Cabrera testified that early in the year, her regular house worker had to return to the Philippines on family business. She said she did not want to be without household help for a period of months, so she requested a temporary employee.
The agent, Guerrero, brought her papers to sign it. Cabrera claimed not to have read the papers, but she said she signed them at the agent’s direction.
Further, Cabrera said, she was not asked to pay the required application fee, nor any fees that arise in the processing of nonresident workers contracts.
She said she also never met the worker, as Gascon never showed up to work for her.
Cabrera’s regular house worker has now returned to Saipan and resumed her employment.
The employer said she did not intend to hire anyone, but a temporary worker and when the prospective employee did not appear, she thought the matter was over.
At the hearing, she asked that the denial be affirmed and that she have no further involvement with the incident.
In a Nov. 12 order, Soll did affirm the denial of the application. He also ordered investigation against Gascon and Guerrero.
“It is recommended that the department investigate the status of Sarah G. Gascon and refer any irregularity to the Division of Immigration. The involvement and actions of the agent, Agnes Guerrero, should also be subject to department scrutiny,” Soll said.
