DOL chief dodges illegal OT suit

Julia Victoria “Vicky” Benavente

CNMI Labor Secretary Julia Victoria “Vicky” Benavente has dodged the alleged illegal Typhoon Yutu overtime pay lawsuit that the Office of the Attorney General has been filing against some Torres administration Cabinet members.

The Office of the Attorney General, through Chief Solicitor Robert Glass Jr., voluntarily dismissed last Wednesday its complaint it filed against Benavente in Superior Court over allegedly excessive typhoon overtime pay.

According to Glass, the NMI Rule of Civil Procedure allows the plaintiff to dismiss the case without a court order by filing a notice of dismissal before the opposing party answers or makes a motion for summary judgment.

“Neither an answer or a motion for summary judgement has been served in this case. Therefore, the plaintiff moves to voluntarily dismiss this action,” Glass said.

He did not elaborate on the reason why the AG’s office was dismissing the lawsuit against Benavente.

Attorney General Edward Manibusan has been filing complaints this past week in Superior Court against department heads under the Torres administration for allegedly receiving illegal Yutu overtime compensation.

In the recent filings, Manibusan reiterated that he is filing the suits on behalf of the people of the Commonwealth, who were harmed and have been harmed by the excessive compensation received by Commonwealth government employees who were not entitled to typhoon emergency premium compensation, overtime, or extra pay for work performed during the declared major disaster and state of significant emergency relating to Super Typhoon Yutu.

Benavente, specifically, received a total of $36,198.43 in overtime pay related to Typhoon Yutu.

In its earlier lawsuit, the AG’s office sought to have Benavente pay back the over $31,000 in allegedly illegal overtime pay she received back in fiscal year 2019 and 2020.

According to the lawsuit, Benavente received typhoon emergency premium pay on multiple occasions and her typhoon emergency premium pay was paid at a rate of 2.5 times her base salary.

On Nov. 21, 2018, she received gross wages in the amount of $1,337.05 as typhoon emergency premium pay. The following month, Dec. 19, 2018, Benavente received gross wages in the amount of $6,578.13 as typhoon emergency premium pay.

On Dec. 29, 2018, she received gross wages in the amount of $5,276.77 as typhoon emergency premium pay.

A few days later, Dec. 31, 2018, she received gross wages in the amount of $3,375.06 as typhoon emergency premium pay.

The last time she received compensation was Nov. 8, 2019, when Benavente received gross wages in the amount of $6,756.61 as typhoon emergency premium pay.