Labor investigating 7 cases vs employees

The Department of Labor is currently investigating seven cases against department employees who have been accused of misconduct and other allegations.

In his report at yesterday’s Cabinet meeting, Labor Secretary Joaquin Tenorio said the department’s Office of Internal Affairs received 24 complaints against Labor personnel in 2004. This, he added, represents a dramatic reduction from the 100 cases received in 2003.

“[Investigations of these cases] have resulted in findings that employees had not engaged in misconduct. A number of disciplinary actions have been initiated and several employees have resigned with investigations pending,” Tenorio said.

According to the secretary, some of the seven pending cases involve serious allegations, the details of which were not disclosed pending conclusion of the probe.

He said the investigations came after the reactivation of Labor’s Internal Affairs Office in February 2003.

Headed by Barry Hirshbein, the office has since opened 125 files.

Most of the filed cases involved allegations from anonymous callers and letters about departmental employees engaging in misconduct or improper activities, Tenorio said.

Earlier reports indicated that some employees were allegedly extorting money from Labor customers in exchange for expedited processing of employment applications, among other things.

“The goal of [the Internal Affairs Office] is to continue to detect and investigate alleged misconduct by department employees involving fraud, waste, or abuse of laws, policies, procedures, and rules,” Tenorio said. “The primary objectives are protection of the public, protection of the department, protection of the employee, discipline or removal of unfit personnel, and prevention of abuse.”

Aside from investigating employee misconduct, the office has also uncovered 65 cases of submission of fraudulent U.S. Labor documents in support of applications for CNMI Labor assistance.

Alien workers who have pending labor cases at the U.S. Labor may receive temporary work authorization from the local agency.

Tenorio said the investigation of = labor and immigration fraud cases resulted in the arrest of a translator.

Further, the Internal Affairs Office has also been designated as lead investigator for the “Old Case Task Force,” whose task is to identify and resolve old pending labor cases, Tenorio said.

He disclosed that some of these cases date back to 1997.

“These investigations have resulted in the completion and development of a database that has identified more than 2,000 resident workers in the private sector, and been associated with 20 percent of the compliance statements submitted by employers,” Tenorio said.