April 22: Employers’ 1st PWS deadline

The first round of the 2019 CNMI Prevailing Wage Survey will end on April 22, 2019. That’s this Monday.

Employers must submit their employee wage data before this deadline to be processed within the first tabulation of wages. If they fail to meet that deadline, the employer may experience a delay in receiving the prevailing wage for their employees’ industries. 

This year’s survey is a condensed questionnaire intended to provide an accurate wage for businesses to plan for your labor needs under the Northern Mariana Islands U.S. Workforce Act of 2018.

DOL message

Labor Secretary Vicky Benavente is calling on all businesses to complete the 2019 CNMI Prevailing Wage Survey before the April 22 deadline.

In a conference call with the U.S. Department of Labor officials, the need for a full cross-industry representation in the survey was reiterated to Benavente and Division of Employment Services director Eugene Tebuteb.

“The CNMI Department of Labor strongly advises businesses to respond to the prevailing wage survey in order for accurate data to be generated for specific occupations in the CNMI,” said Benavente.  “We cannot emphasize enough the importance of responding to and submitting the prevailing wage survey.”

How to

Detailed instructions on how to fill out the form can be found on the front page of www.cnmiprevailingwage.com. Answers to frequently-asked-questions such as how to record earnings, overtime pay, and reference period can be found at www.cnmiprevailingwage.com/faq.

All forms needed to complete the PWS can be downloaded at www.cnmiprevailingwage.com. Once the survey is completed, email it directly to cnmi.csd@commerce.gov.mp with the subject line “2019 CNMI PWS”. Forms must be submitted as Excel files (i.e., not PDF).

Fill out all the listed fields with the required information and use the provided resources to ensure your employee data is accurate and correctly formatted. Errors in formatting or the presence of omissions will prevent the timely calculation of prevailing wages.

If you own two or more businesses, fill out one survey per business. If you are an agent of multiple businesses, provide this survey to your client(s).

For additional questions not found at www.cnmiprevailingwage.com/faq, employers may call (670) 664-3006/7 or emailinfo@cnmiprevailingwage.com for more information.

The survey is being conducted through a collaboration between the Office of the Governor, the Saipan Chamber of Commerce, the U.S. Department of Labor, CNMI Department of Labor, and the CNMI Central Statistics Division under the CNMI Department of Commerce. They encourage the Commonwealth’s businesses and employers to participate in the 2019 CNMI Prevailing Wage Survey before submitting CW-1 applications and petitions for renewals. 

Under the Northern Mariana Islands US Workforce Act of 2018, the CNMI must have a prevailing wage survey each calendar year in order for USDOL to issue a temporary employment certification. For this reason, it is of the utmost importance for employers to submit their employee wage data before April 22, 2019. (PR)

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TO ACCESS ONLINE SURVEY

Go to https://www.cnmiprevailingwage.com and download the 2019 Prevailing Wage Survey form. The survey must be completed and emailed to cnmi.csd@commerce.gov.mp.

Any employer having difficulty filling out the survey or needing additional assistance may send an email to info@cnmiprevailingwage.com or contact the CNMI Department of Labor at 664-3196/664-3190.