Previous Story
Don’t include class action members on Labor’s overstayers list—lawyer
|
Posted on Feb 19 2009
Attorney Robert Myers objected yesterday to the Department of Labor’s inclusion of some of his class action clients on the Department of Labor’s list of alleged overstaying aliens.
Myers told Saipan Tribune that the names of the alien workers are on the exhibit in the class action suit against Labor and its officials yet the department still included these workers on its overstayers’ list.
“Deanne Siemer, as special counsel for Labor, knows well enough that the case law, even the new Commonwealth Employment Act’s rules and regulations, says that if you filed a complaint with the court, you are entitled to a stay from deportation,” he said.
The lawyer said he has been getting a lot of calls from worried class action clients after seeing their names on the overstayers list.
Myers encouraged those class members who are on the list to contact him so he could help prevent their being harassed or arrested for deportation.
The lawyer also encouraged other alien workers who are on that same list to contact him so they may learn more about their legal rights.
“They can call me at 234-3184 extension 104, or fax at 234-3077, or e-mail me at Lwyr4u@gmail.com, or visit my website at www.Lwyr4u.com,” Myers said.
Labor published last Dec. 1 a list containing the names of 624 people who are allegedly overstaying for the years 2003 through 2007.
Alien workers who sued their former employers for wage and overtime violations and had been awarded damages filed the class action against Labor, Secretary Gil M. San Nicolas, Deputy Secretary Cinta Kaipat, and Director Barry Hirshbein to enforce the collection of the money owed them. The class action also named as co-defendants 20 unnamed surety or bonding or insurance companies.
Myers had asked the Superior Court to compel Labor and co-defendants to enforce the surety’s obligations under the statutory labor bonds.
The total proceeds of the labor bonds involved in the class action filed by 127 alien workers amounts to $557,977, according to Myers.
Siemer has denied that the Commonwealth Employment Act of 2007 requires Labor to collect awards made in the administrative orders issued in Labor cases.
