Legal opinion sought for hospital’s CW petitions

Nonresident hospital employees are facing uncertainties in their housing allowances due to legal questions surrounding their petitions for CW, or contract worker’s visa, according to the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. board.

Due to this uncertainty, corporation CEO Juan N. Babauta was asked by the board to seek the legal opinion of the Office of the Attorney General on the proper thing to do with these employees’ housing benefits.

“There are some legal questions whether those CW petitions are entitled to the housing allowance,” said board chair Joaquin Torres during Friday’s board meeting. “I would like the CEO to seek a legal opinion whether there’s really legal entitlement.”

The corporation provides a monthly housing allowance to employees who were hired from outside the CNMI. Unmarried ones get $600 while those with families get $800. Due to the scarcity of the corporation’s resources, this benefit may be reduced, if not eliminated in its entirety.

After hearing the pleas of affected personnel on Friday, the board decided to create an employee committee that will convey their concerns to the management on how much they are willing to compromise on the benefit amount.

According to Torres, the housing benefits-now delayed for five months this week-will for now be provided to those with existing contracts that stipulate the housing commitment.

Saipan Tribune learned that many of those who were petitioned for CW visas are nurses who were recruited mostly from the Philippines. It was learned that no contracts have been provided them besides these petitions.

Many of the affected personnel told the board that they continue to work even without new contracts because they were informed by the corporation’s human resource department that no changes will be made to their compensation package, which means they will continue to get their housing benefit.

Nursing director Leticia Reyes and director for Medical Affairs Dr. Jeremy Richards earlier warned the board that eliminating the housing allowance will result in the exodus of medical professionals from the hospital.

Reyes said that a “big percentage of nurses” have already expressed their intention to resign if the housing allowance is eliminated or further reduced.

Torres, for his part, stressed the corporation’s need to keep these medical professionals.

“We need these folks. I think we need to meet halfway at least [in order to keep them]. Not paying their housing is not an option because we know the consequences,” he added.