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Federal labor ombudsman selected
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Posted on May 03 2009
A new federal labor ombudsman may start working next month, according to acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for the U.S. Interior’s Office of Insular Affairs Nikolao Pula.
Pula neither confirmed nor denied the selection of Pamela Brown as the federal labor ombudsman, a position she held from 1999 to 2002.
“The new ombudsman will probably begin next month. We’re actually waiting to clear some of the background checking,” Pula said.
He said the federal labor ombudsman selected is already in the CNMI.
“It won’t be a surprise,” he added.
The federal labor ombudsman’s position has been vacant since Sept. 15, 2008, when Jim Benedetto resigned to join the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The U.S. Congress created the Federal Ombudsman’s Office in 1998 amid unfavorable news stories documenting labor and human rights abuses against alien workers in the CNMI.
The office provides assistance to the CNMI’s nonresident workers with labor and immigration complaints. Specifically, it screens worker complaints to determine whether there may be violations of CNMI and federal labor laws.
In 1999, attorney Pamela Brown was appointed to become the first federal ombudsman. Benedetto succeeded her in October 2002, and in November 2007, the U.S. Department of the Interior extended Benedetto’s contract for another three years.
There were 53 applicants for the job. Four of them made the “competitive certificate list.” Each of the four who made the list had a Saipan mailing address.
According to a job announcement posted on the official federal government website last year, the DOI is looking for candidates who have “a strong background in managing an office and supervising others and extensive knowledge of labor, immigration, civil rights and or criminal law.”
Appointments to the position will be for two years, with possible extensions of up to a total of four years. The salary range is from $68,625 t $105,420 a year, plus a cost of living adjustment of up to 25 percent.
