Untimely filing prompts Labor to order departure of woman

The Department of Labor has ordered an alien worker to depart from the CNMI after she missed the deadline to seek an employer due to her just giving birth.

Labor administrative hearing officer Jerry Cody affirmed the Labor director’s decision to deny the permit transfer application filed by Aloha Corp. to hire Mingu Guo as a commercial cleaner.

Cody ruled that Guo no longer has a valid work status to remain in the CNMI and directed her to depart the Commonwealth.

“The facts establish that Guo already was granted special consideration and given 30 days more than the regular 45 days to seek employment. Yet, she still failed to meet the deadline,” the hearing officer noted.

He said Guo missed the transfer deadline through her own inaction rather than due to any fault of her transfer employer.

“In short, no mitigating or extenuating facts have been presented that would justify affording this worker additional equitable relief from the transfer deadline set forth in the transfer order,” Cody said.

Labor records show that Guo was formerly employed by Neo Fashion Inc. on a nonresident work permit. After Neo Fashion closed, Labor filed a case against the company to resolve the status of the workers affected by the closure.

Guo was among 50 Neo Fashion workers who were granted transfer relief.

In an administrative issued on Dec. 1, 2005, 49 Neo Fashion employees were granted 45 days—until Jan. 15, 2006—to find new employers and submit transfer applications.

Guo was given special consideration by the hearing officer due to her advanced state of pregnancy at the time of the hearing.

At the Nov. 7, 2005 hearing, Guo requested a more extended transfer period due to her advanced pregnancy.

Hearing officer Maya Kara granted Guo transfer relief extending 45 days “after her due date of Jan. 1, 2006, thus ending on Feb. 15, 2006.”

In effect, Guo was given one month after more than her co-workers were given to find new employment.

Guo failed to find a new employer within the Feb. 15 deadline.

Two days after the deadline expired, on Feb. 17, Guo approached the president of Aloha Corp. in search of a job. The president decided to hire Guo as a commercial cleaner and then prepared and filed the transfer papers on Feb. 21, 2006.

On April 11, 2006, the Labor director denied the application for being untimely filed, as it was filed six days after the transfer deadline expired.

When asked why she has failed to find an employer within the prescribed 45 days, she replied that she had given birth on Dec. 30, 2005, and then had to stay home to care of her baby.

Labor took no position with respect to this transfer relief, but left the matter to the discretion of the hearing officer.

In his order, Cody cited that under Public Law 11-6, as amended, a nonresident worker has 45 days after the expiration of her work/entry permit to secure a new employer and have a transfer application filed on her behalf.

Cody said that, for transfers granted at the conclusion of a labor case, Labor regularly seeks an administrative order granting workers the standard 45 days to secure a transfer employer.

In this case, he said, Labor and the hearing officer gave special consideration to Guo on account of the fact that she was in the late stage of her pregnancy and would be hampered in either finding work or departing the CNMI during that pregnancy.

Accordingly, hearing officer Maya Kara gave Guo an extension such that the 45 days began to run only after the birth of the child. Despite the extension, she failed to find an employer within the transfer period.

Cody said the prospective employer filed a transfer application on Guo’s behalf after the deadline, which was denied as untimely.